ENGS002 #002 : Jackfruit.

Your eyes scan the room like a hungry man looking for something to devour. Every smell and every sound attracts your attention, and people who notice you turn away in disgust. For a while, you feel ashamed of yourself, finding refuge only in the fact that if you weren't as poor as a mouse, you wouldn't be sitting outside the Blue Marlin, dressed in rags and smelling like cow dung. You wouldn't be licking your lips at every roasted chicken served or at every glass of iced tea that seem to be happily sitting on the table, waiting to be drunk by thirsty customers.

A few moments pass and finally, your embarrassment outweighs your purpose. Just as you decide to go home, a woman with aqua-blue peepers and pale, slender arms approaches with a kind smile on her face. She doesn't speak but motions for you to come closer. As if in a trance, you do as you're told and realizes that she is not a woman but a young lady, with an air of innocence the damned world has lost so many years ago. Still without speaking, she reaches for your hand and gives you a strange-looking object, yellow in color but as cool as ice. She instantly vanishes before your eyes and you, not knowing what else to do, mumble a thanks and turn away. 

As soon as you reach your house - a tiny shack built using scraps of wood, tin, boxes, and cardboard paper - you take a closer look at the strange object and discover it's edibility. Without thinking, you swallow it whole. You faint a few seconds later.

An unexplainable smell awakens you from your slumber. You prop yourself up on one elbow and look around with blurry eyes. Something's wrong, you tell yourself, and before you go to your room, you notice the strange swelling on your right hand. Bringing it nearer to your nose, you find that the foul smell is emanating from the swell. "Yuck!" You cry out in both shock and repulsion. What's happening?

The next few days are spent with you trying to figure out the cure to this sudden condition, but with each attempt, you get no results and instead, the swelling becomes larger.

Finally, it bursts open.

You sigh to yourself and say, "At least I won't grow hungry again."

--- END OF HW #2 ---

(Note: A rough idea for a roughly, ugly colored doodle. I wonder... if I ever make this into a real short story and fix the plot... would it turn out great? I need to practice more, for sure. The hands look very stiff and solid, and the face is very disproportional. Do I also need to point out that my digital coloring skills aren't very good? The only details I'm satisfied with are the water / liquid-like substance and the Jackfruit fingers.)

Idea came from this image:

THANKS for READING! :D