[The Maw:]
"The carnival never ends. That's what I tell them. That's what I tell myself. The lights never go out. The music never stops. The hunger never rests."
[A long exhale. The sound of a latch clicking shut.]
"But tonight… tonight, it ends. Just for a few hours. Just until the sun comes up and the dust settles and the world pretends it's not hungry too. Then the lights come back. The tents go up. The screams start again."
---
[Footsteps on sawdust. A chair creaking.]
"They think I'm the monster. They think I'm the teeth. They think I'm the reason they can't leave. They're right. But they're wrong about why. It's not because I keep them. It's because they want to stay. They want the lights. They want the music. They want the feeling of being seen, even if what sees them is a mouth."
[A low, tired laugh.]
"I know the feeling. I was them once. A long time ago. Before the tent. Before the lights. Before the hunger had a name. Before I became the thing that feeds it."
---
[The bulb flickers. The wind picks up. His voice drops to a whisper.]
"You want to know the truth? The real truth? The one I don't tell the crowd? There is no carnival. There never was. There's just me. Just the hunger. Just the thing that sits in the dark and waits for someone to come close enough to see. And when they see… they stay. They always stay. Because the hunger is lonely. And loneliness… loneliness is the oldest hunger of all."
[A long silence. The wind fades.]
---
[The bulb goes out. Darkness. His voice, soft, almost peaceful:]
"The carnival closes now. The tents come down. The lights go out. The music stops. The hunger… the hunger waits. That's what it does. That's what I do. I wait. For the next one. For the next crowd. For the next chance to pretend I'm not alone."
[A pause. A breath.]
"Don't worry. I'll be here when you come back. I'm always here. I'm the teeth. I'm the Maw. I'm the thing that waits at the center of the tent."
[A smile you can hear, soft, sad, eternal.]
"Goodnight… if you can sleep."
---
[Silence. A single, distant carnival note. Fades. Fades. Fades.]
[Nothing.]
AsheTheHyena
