1 Chapter 1: The Victim, The Cannibal, And The Detective.

"Hi, I'm a grave digger I'd love to tell you my name but I have to keep it a secret for now, but you guys can call me X. One might call me a "Grave Digger" but I don't dig graves, alright? What I do has something to do with "unveiling the past of the deceased from already desecrated graves." X said. I know some might call it stealing but let's call it a bonus for letting their stories live on with me. It really sucks though thinking that even in death they still cannot rest because of people destroying their resting place for houses to live in. But enough about me. This is the story of how this "person" we'll call him 01 who's name has blurred out from the wear and tear of time had a cousin who died from dengue and how I came upon to seeing this diary on one of the desecrated graves.

His name was Jose, a frail little boy who was 5 years old at the time of his death. The cause of death being dengue but how did it reach upon that point where it became fatal you ask?

Well that's were I come in and tell you the tale of how it all happened.

It was 2010 in the Province.

My young cousin and I lived on a certain island near within the archipelago; there was a boom of dengue cases. One might call dengue a deadly pandemic and shrug it off, thinking as long as it doesn't affect me it's fine. And in our island doctors were exactly the same they only thought about their profits. They couldn't exactly be called competent that being coupled with the fact that apart from living in a third world country the island was practically a provincial area.

Jose despite being frail loved to play around under the sun, until one day he suddenly fell ill. It was dengue but at the time the grandmother who acted as his guardian didn't know of that, though she was aware of the ongoing dengue boom occurring within the island.

Jose's days were numbered some of our relatives begged the grandmother to bring him to the hospital so she did. Which is what we were told, we were also told that the Doctor only said that Jose was fine and there was nothing to worry about. A few days after we learned about the death of Jose which was dengue. But the true reason of death was the Grandmothers cruel heartless act.

How was she cruel you ask?

Here's what really happened,

Jose was never brought to the hospital because his grandmother was too lazy to bring him to the hospital even though his condition was getting worse by the day. The grandmother swore by her truth that she brought her to the hospital but the hospital and her neighbors' claim otherwise. So I wrote this journal before the burial of Jose. In hopes that one day hundreds of years into the future people will see how he died not just by dengue. But by the hands of his grandmother. I buried the journal alongside Jose.

"Jose's tale was truly sad", "You could truly tag him as a unfortunate Victim of events", X muttered to himself as he proceeded to go inspect the other ruined remains. "Oh, this one foretells the tales of someone who has fallen into damnation." His name was blurred out it isn't that weird since the paper itself seemed to be decomposing and falling apart. Even formaldehyde is nothing compared to the ravages of time. The tombstone states that he died from execution. "It's quite weird how his skeletal remains are nowhere to be found I don't think bones would rot faster than paper" X added. The tombstone also tells you that his last breath was way back the 1990's. "Did they still execute people back then?" X wondered to himself.

Despite being centuries into the future the education and the increasing lack of books due to people saying paper forms of literature have become irrelevant, ignorance is prevalent in this era. This explains why X is dumbfounded. "Well, anyways this guy was a total psychopath." X thought to himself. Inside the diary was a catalogue of all the people he hunted down and how he became addicted to human flesh. "I know this might seem weird but every time I touch and read a diary I'm able to recreate what the person was experiencing at the time and feel what they were doing." As X says this he recreates the Cannibal's diary.

"Who am I?", "Why was I born?" This was my earliest memory when I was 7. I also wondered at the time why we weren't allowed to eat other people. I asked my parents and they looked at me like I was a freak. I didn't mind it though since years later I would eventually prove the right. I'm currently 21 right now and I am studying cuisine. This was the day I graduated from college and from eating "normal meat", On the day my Mother came to congratulate me, she was killed by a passing burglar at night. I felt devastated but aside from that my stomach growled and I began to drool. My Mother had spent the night at my apartment and all those days together flashed back to my earliest memory when I first asked my parents that "question".

"I butchered the remains of my mother" said the cannibal. He proceeded to season the remains with all sorts of spices; he added garlic, chives, and white onions. The smell was "enthralling" in my terms and I soon became quite addicted to the taste. What did it taste like you ask?, "Well I could compare it to veal, but that would be a shame to flavor I've experienced here. You guys might also be thinking "Surely he would get caught, right?". "Wrong" Cannibal muttered to himself. My Father was long dead, what was written on his will was him saying he regretted giving birth to me. He also stated that he couldn't bear the weight of having me as a Son; He hung himself that day. I didn't mind I only wish he got to taste Mother before he hung himself. Enough about him though, Soon after eating Mother I went to China because even though I might not get caught soon in my country; I still feared for my life. So that's it I went to China in fear of them discovering my Mother was missing.

3 whole months have passed now and I was even about to convince myself that none of the events that transpired were real; But boy reality is harsh and I was about to remember. I started drooling I could no longer feel satiated eating normal meat, I began to crave human meat again. "If I'm going to eat something, Why not Chinese?, I have been a fan of their cuisines", The Cannibal jokingly said. He saw a Young Chinese Girl who was sitting alone in the dark empty park muttering "nobody loves me" while crying. The Cannibal approached her and asked her what was wrong? "It's just that I recently broke up with my fiancé and my parents disowned me so I have nowhere else left to go", she said. I told her she could come over to my apartment. She reluctantly agreed. I showed off my cooking skills and fed her food until she fell asleep. I began to drool and I proceeded to butcher her, She cried, screamed, and begged for her life in Cantonese. I got a hard on, as a man I have never ever had a hard on. I was practically a eunuch. That was when I knew I wasn't, I ate her I seasoned her like how I seasoned my Mother. Except this time I added her remains into stir-fried rice. It was truly delectable. Amidst the Cannibalistic thoughts X was seemingly thinking that it was fine eat to human flesh but he shrugged it off. The cannibal then on began to eat people of different races until the day of his execution. He was beheaded. But his body was nowhere to be found. As he was beheaded X went back to reality felt a sharp pain on his neck and started to drool X was scared that a portion of Cannibal's persona somehow integrated with his own.

This has never happened before sure, "I was able to feel pity or some of these people, but not once have I ever had their personas indoctrinate mine. You may be wondering why this hasn't happened when I read Jose's diary but I think there are certain criteria for me to be able to get brainwashed. "X scurried over home and checked the mirror he noticed a scar on his that had never been there before. My House is a humble one. I'm not entirely sure you could even call it a home it's made of rusted metal sheets and wooden planks. It gives me shelter against rain but not against the judging eyes of society. I learned English by reading old magazines that were thrown off in the trash.

I'm sorry I know I'm making small talk but it's just because I can't seem to budge off this feeling of wanting to eat another person. With sufficient willpower I know I won't, But I'm not sure how long this will last.

The next day passed like it was nothing and I proceeded to do my daily routine of looting graves for a living it might seem harsh but the living need these more than the dead. I realized I sounded exactly like the people who were trying to destroy the graveyards in the first place.

I noticed a certain glimmer under a open coffin, "Jackpot" X said. He thought it was jewelry but it turned out to be a a broken magnifying glass. The tombstone said "Even In death you will still remain the greatest detective". Right next onto the magnifying glass was a badge and a diary and the remains of the former detective was holding tightly onto the diary. Oddly enough this diary seemed unfazed by age. Almost as if it was made to last, what's funny though is there's only one page on the diary all the others are ripped out. The only page left was written in blood and you could feel the malice on it. The words "HELP, CAN'T BREATHE" were the only things written on the diary. Surely they didn't bury this man alive right?, I guess I need to recreate the diary to truly know what happened. I really hope what happened with the Cannibal was just a one time thing.

I like to call myself a detective, but don't be fooled I'm not really a detective. I just like watching mystery shows and predicting the outcome before the show ends. I actually did try criminology though, It just wasn't for me. I wanted to be a vigilante of sorts finding and stopping wanted criminals, If I were really a detective though I'd be a pretty bad one considering I've tried chasing all the wanted criminals I saw on posters but never caught a single one. But today was "THE DAY", I was feeling it. I was hot on the trail on one of our countries most notorious criminals he wasn't on the wanted papers but he raped, killed, and even stole. You might be thinking that's on the wrong order why would stealing be worse than killing and raping? But this was different he didn't just steal something he stole the very thing our country fought for years. Our "freedom" the country was at his finger tips, ever since he was elected he immediately imposed martial law and changed the democracy into a dictatorship. As I've mentioned before I finally got a lead and found out that he would be alone on December 25th, for such a bastard you would think he wouldn't be the religious type. But he was, you can never judge a book by it's cover I guess.

So I planned, prepared, and steeled myself for what I was about to do. "What exactly was I going to do you ask?", The Detective asks. "The real question here is what I wouldn't be doing." I'd be freeing my fellow people from his oppressive rule, I'd be hailed as a hero! or so I thought.

I loaded my pistol and stalked my prey. Each corner he cut, I would follow. But when I shot him I missed. My only chance of freeing my people was lost. The police immediately surrounded me after hearing the gunshot. I found it odd how after years of stalking him he would suddenly be alone on the most festive time of the year. Apparently they were fishing for treason. You know what really pains me? Who I tried to shoot wasn't even the tyrant but a doppelganger. "Talk about a stroke of luck", He said. They let me go fairly easily enough because I apparently wasn't the one who they were looking for.

I should have taken that chance but I decided to spread his tyranny all over the world, that was my biggest mistake, they soon after silenced me for that very act. I was buried alive with a magnifying scope a badge and a diary almost as if they were mocking me because they knew I wasn't a real detective. It might have been the cause of my death but I will never regret fighting for my country.

"These were the last words he had in mind before he suffocated writing all he knew In the diary." X said as he returned back to reality.

"That's odd, no brainwashing this time", X muttered to himself. "I truly feel pity for this person", I wonder what happened to the missing pages?" I can't really see into what happened after the person died so I am completely lost. Not that I needed the pages since I know what they wrote in those missing pages because I've lived through their lives myself, but it never hurts knowing what happened.

This Ends Chapter 1