"At first, I assumed my cooking just didn't suit her taste, so I didn't think much of it."
"But later I realized that wasn't the case at all."
"One night I woke from a dream to noises in the kitchen. I slipped quietly out of bed."
"The lights were off. I thought a burglar had gotten in, but when I crept closer, the silhouette in the kitchen looked like my wife."
"She pulled a large chunk of meat from a plastic bag, a cleaver gripped in her other hand."
"Chopping would make noise, and she was probably worried about waking me, so she only scored slits in the surface of the meat, seasoned it, then dropped the whole piece into a pot."
"Stewing meat? My wife, stewing meat in the middle of the night?"
"Maybe she was prepping breakfast and lunch for the next day."
"I loved my wife, and even though it struck me as strange, I didn't disturb her. I went back to the room and watched her through the crack of the open door."
"It was already three in the morning by the time the meat was done. She glanced outside and saw that the bedroom door was open and I was still lying in bed."
"She didn't want me to see something, it seemed, because she shut the kitchen door."
"Then I heard the sound of teeth tearing at something. Only about twenty minutes passed before my wife emerged from the kitchen carrying an opaque black trash bag."
"I don't know why, but the sight of her made me afraid."
"Her lower belly was slightly distended, grease stains still glistening on her face, and she wore a look of satisfaction."
"After tossing the trash bag, she showered, washed the smell off her body, and lay down beside me just as she always did."
"The person sleeping beside me seemed to have a peculiar habit. That day onward, I realized I didn't understand her at all."
"I lay awake the entire night. At dawn I got up and went to work while my wife was still sound asleep beside me."
"She looked beautiful when she slept, almost irresistible to lean over and kiss — but what had happened in the kitchen the night before made me hesitate."
"I glanced at her belly. It wasn't distended anymore."
"Everything from the night before felt like a hallucination."
"I got dressed and went downstairs. The garbage bin outside had already been emptied, and the black trash bag from the night before was gone."
"The next night, the same thing happened again. It was as though she'd come down with some disease that made her crave meat."
"That night I stayed awake once more. At four in the morning, after my wife had fallen into a deep sleep, I dressed quietly and slipped out."
"It wasn't dawn yet. I dug through the pile of garbage until I finally found the black plastic bag my wife had thrown away."
"Inside were bones covered in bite marks — it looked like a chicken."
"My wife had devoured an entire chicken by herself. I suddenly realized there was still so much I didn't know about her."
"Another day came, and my wife's strange behavior continued. Every morning I got up early to sift through the trash she'd discarded."
"The more I looked, the more horrified I became."
"She seemed to be trying different kinds of meat. It started with chicken and fish, but eventually I even found bags matted with cat fur and dog fur."
"I'm an animal lover, and from that day on, I knew I had to sit down and have a serious talk with her."
"She must have been sick — or maybe a demon had taken up residence in her stomach."