We resided in a crude makeshift hut. Flimsy wooden scaffoldings with a green square of rags drooping on top of it. Droplets of water seeped through when it rained. Then one day Lusk showed up.
Carn, Mun and I held hands and walked on and on led by Lusk. He told stories about how his mansion was filled with sweets and delicacies, which could all be ours. No more leaking roofs, no more faulty walls. It all seemed like a fairytale, a dream. Such tantalizing promises in his words. I asked if really us tiding up his house was enough for all that. Lusk chuckled. He had a sly smile. His lips stretching ear to ear when he did.
"Of course. I promised, didn't I?"
He nudged at Carn. She too smiles. Not a real one. The same smile she made when she went begging near the town and a generous hurl of coins hit her face. People laughed at Carn, who ruffled to pick up the money. A smile concealing hurt pride. Of disgust.
We reached his mansion. The size of the building perfectly matched every one of Lusk's boastful words. Tall walls, fanciful gates, and a gleaming rooftop. Having walked inside Lusk pointed toward the end of a long hallway. Carpets laced with red silk decorations covered the floors. He said the room on the far left could be ours.

It had beds, lamps, and tables. Mun leaped onto the bed and starting bouncing. Happy Mun. Carn crawled down in a corner. She sighed, then buried her face in herself. I asked if anything was wrong. Carn said she had promised Lusk to do some extra work for us to come here, and just thinking about it tired her out. I said we could take turns if it was so hard that she already didn't want to do it. Carn laughed. She murmured incoherently.

Something about how she doubts Lusk would be that disgusting and a slimy snake of a man. When I stared into her eyes, puzzled, she faintly smiled and said it was very difficult work and she also especially promised Lusk about how only she would have to do it. I said I was glad she worked hard for us. Carn burst out into laughter.

Lusk brought us food on a silver shining tray. Bread that didn't cut its way down my throat and milk without sour odors. We all ate in joy. Every bite, as I savored each and every one, infused me with comfort; the realization of not having to continue the seemingly everlasting battles against hunger and starvation. The war for survival has come to a ceasefire. Absolute happiness rushed through me.

Carn, on the hand, did not seem to share my incremental pleasures which came from each morsel we stuffed down ourselves. Quite the contrary. With every continuing piece of bread, her face ever so slightly twisted with some anticipation of terror. I assumed the extra work she was to do required greatly hefty efforts.
Lusk, who stuck around as the rest of us ate, observed anxiously at Carn eating. He worked at his fingernails, chipping them off little by little. Glances were sent to the silver tray as if he were checking for how long would it be till she finished her meal. A sinister gleam shone in his eyes.

When we finally finished, Lusk banged on the doors to the room. Two servants in black hastily stepped into the room. Lusk barked at them with even greater haste.
"You! Take away the trays. And you! Prepare a room for the two of us."
One of the servants picked up the tray now with empty plates with breadcrumbs sprinkled on it while the other hurried out as instructed. Lusk gave a smile, a creepy one. He bowed and offered a hand to Carn.
"Shall we?"
Carn looked toward him, then averted her sight back to me and Mun. She swallowed and spoke.
"Stay put guys. I'll be... doing some work off somewhere with Lusk."
Mun and I nodded. We were young, but we still got the nuance that for the food and the bed to continue listening to her was paramount. Lusk, hearing this, jerked his head back as he laughed and clapped.
"Work? Certainly right! Carn here is doing great work to keep you all fed!"
He reached out toward Carn, attempting to grasp her. Carn slapped his hands away.
"Not in front of them!"
Carn angrily exclaimed.
"You agreed. That's why I came here in the first place."
Lusk stepped back, chuckling.
"Right, right. Where are my manners?"

They walked away. Soon another servant, the same one who took away our trays came back with some clothes. He said his name was Alk. He said we should change into these.

We got out of our tattered overalls and put the new ones on. Much nicer and soft. I asked the Alk what work Carn was going to do with Lusk. He too hesitated before answering. Turning around the subject, he asked if we'd like to listen to a story. We said yes, and he told us the story of the first hearer, about how he practiced controlling all his emotions and became the first and the only speaker in this world. Mun seemed especially interested.

We must've fallen asleep sometime during the story. When I opened my eyes the servant was gone. Carn was back too. She lied on the bed covering her face with a pillow. The pillow was wet. She supposedly wept. I shook her awake. Her eyes red and moist. I asked what was wrong.
"Stay strong, Sacrial."
She sniffed, wiped down her eyes and patted my head.

The days continued and Lusk kept bringing us food as Carn frequently left to do work with him afterward. Carn no longer looked so upset. A hint of surrendering misted her expression.
One day, a day just like any other, Lusk brought food then he and Carn walked off, while only I and Mun were in our room, shouts were heard coming from the hallways.
Carn's voice.
"No! No you sick bastard! Your disgusting tastes are not going to drag HER into this!"
Lusk's voice.
"Who in the WORLD do you think you're yelling at? I'm the damn guy keeping your pile of kids alive!"
"Is it not enough with just me? Does your demonic maw need more to sate its perverted desires?"
Stomps grew increasingly closer. The door burst open. Half naked Carn stood over us. She screamed out at us in rage.
"Guys pack up! We're leaving."
Another pair of feet came to the door. Lusk, also half naked.
"Oh I don't think so!"
He grabbed Carn's arm.
"Let go of me you pig!"
She shakes him away. Steam blows out of Lusk. His face is absolutely red with anger. He bangs on the walls and shouts.
"Alk! Jihnip! Get over here!"
Two servants rushed toward Lusk. Lusk barks at them.
"You! Get the kids away from here. You! Take her to my room!"
They do so as ordered. Carn screams frantically as she tries to break free. One servant walks into our and closes the door. He has a face twisting with guilt. I'm frightened. Mun's crying. Mun and I couldn't understood what was going on. Amidst the comfort and the luxurious meals, a stormed brewed up. A violent gush of wind to wreck and annihilate all that surrounded us. The servant in the room held us. He murmurs he's sorry. Carn's now crazed shouts echos farther and farther away. Then it fades out completely. The servant says we should sleep; all would be better if when we woke up. He tries to read us another story. He can't seem to concentrate on the reading. We can't seem to focus on the listening. Our hearts pounded.

The servant lied. We woke up to see Carn was nowhere to be found. A gaping hole opened up in my heart. Mun wouldn't stop crying. He says he wants to see Mun. His tears torment my mind in such an odd way. Hatred toward his discomfort. I can't stand to endure Mun's sorrow.  I want him to be happy.
Lusk didn't bring us the silver tray that day. Mun and I were once again faced a similar sense we have been feeling; hunger. Some vile pain from the insides marked in our bones ever since we could remember.
When Lusk finally walked in, he wasn't holding any trays. I asked where Carn was.
"Somewhere. She broke our promise. She had to.... leave."
A chill ran down my spine. Lusk says now we should clean up around his house like we promised. I remembered him saying that, though we never did any cleaning work while Carn was here.

We're young and we can't do work very well. I keep tipping things over. Lusk yells at us when I do. Mun complains he's hungry. Lusk shouts we can eat when we are done. His voice now sounded different. Frustration and anger coated his words. It was no longer the overly sweet and caring sentences he used to speak.
When we do finally finish we're brought food. Lusk says since we did bad work we get bad food. I tried to imagine how rigorous Carn had been working like for the good food we had eaten thus far. The bread is rough and dry. It's worse than the food back from the shaggy tent. Mun found molds in his bread. Lusk grunts that Mun should not eat anything if he was going to keep on whining. We're hungry. We silently ate. The story-times ended too.

Life became as it were back in the leaky shack; hungry, cold, and uncomfortable. The difference was Carn was no longer here and we also had angry Lusk making us do work and screaming.
I can't stand Mun being sad
A weird voice started to ring in my head from then.

One day, Mun and I are sleeping. Someone shakes me up. It's Lusk. He puts his fingers on his lips and points to Mun, who's also sleeping. Supposedly he didn't want to wake Mun up. He grabs my hand and leads me outside of our room. He has the same kindly look he had when we first came to his mansion. All smiling and creepy.

He says since Carn is no longer here, how would I like to fill in for the extra work she had been doing. I asked him, puzzled.
"But I thought I couldn't do that work because it's so difficult. Carn said so."
Lusk chuckles. A serpent-like smile. It raises bumps in my skin. He said Carn was exaggerating. I only needed to listen to him very well. He says if I put in the extra work we can have the good food and the story-times back.

I said yes. If the work was easy, I would like very much to get those things back. I'd like it. Mun would like it even more. He loved the story-times. Lusk sniggers sinisterly, then called Alk, who had apparently been standing behind him the whole time.
"Prepare a room, like you did for the other girl."
Alk's face distorts with disgust. He looks at me. He's breathing under his breath anxiously. Lusk glares at him and orders again.
"I said prepare a room."
"....yes sir."
Alk grabs my hand and leads me off to another room. He whispers in my ears, trembling.
"I'm so sorry."
I didn't understand.
Lusk was whistling joyfully from the distant hallway. The melody echoed throughout the mansion.