The bucket full of Emily’s homemade fertilizer is impossibly heavy and filled near the brim with the three massive craps that had once been the bodies of Jackie and two strangers. You think only for a split second about the fates of these anonymous strangers, collateral damage in Emily’s favor for you. You suppose that you should feel guilty for your role in their demise, but you’ve long accepted that people disappearing into Emily’s gut is a simple fact of life. It’s like she’s just a machine for turning people into fertilizer… there is no morality to it, it’s just her function.

You drag the bucket out to the back garden making certain not to spill any of its contents. With one hand on the handle and another supporting the bucket from the bottom, you rock it back and forth a few times in an effort to build the momentum to heave the contents out. They fly through the air gracelessly and hit the ground with a wet splat, splattering a little bit onto the cuff of your jeans.

You take another look at the dark foul mass that your old sweetheart has turned blubbery Jackie into. As a sometimes not-so-secret admirer of Emily’s work, you find a strange beauty in the remains, perfectly log shaped with some slight curvature. You feel no remorse for Jackie, especially since she had wished this gruesome fate upon you. In fact, you feel a sense of pride for having turned the tables on her so. Sheepishly at first, you remove your right sock and shoe…

The turd is still warm as you lower your bare foot down on top of it. You feel it smoosh beneath your force and feel it rise up between your toes as you grind it down into the rest of the fertilizer below. You smash at it with your foot until she can no longer be distinguished from the rest of the masses in Emily’s graveyard of a garden. You hear a giggle behind you.

“Having fun?” Emily asks from her open doorway, smirking.

“Oh.” You say, raising your shit-covered foot from the ground. You suddenly feel juvenile, being caught playing with your teenage ex-girlfriend’s waste. It seems almost a childlike degree of immaturity. “Sorry.” You say quietly as she giggles again.

“I understand.” She says. “It’s kind of gross, I guess, but I just love that feeling. I do it all the time when it’s someone I know.” She says, gesturing to the smashed turd that used to be Jackie.

“When you’re getting back at them?” You ask.

“Yeah,” she says, “but not always. A lot of times I do it with close friends too.” You can tell she’s ashamed to be admitting this. “It just makes you feel so powerful to turn them to shit and then continue to stomp on them. Sometimes I come out here and piss on them just to show that they’re no different than any of the rest of my shit.”

“Well,” you say gesturing at your dirty foot, “clearly I understand.” The two of you pause for a little bit as you step out of the fertilizer and back on to the walkway and she walks out towards you. She grabs you by the arm, causing you to jump at first. She pretends not to notice as she gently leads you over to a wrought iron bench overlooking the garden.

“You say you do it with friends too sometimes.” You say going back to the last conversation. “Anyone that I know.” She sighs a bit and hangs her head in shame in response to the question.

“My mom.” She says. “My brothers and cousins. Katie, Nathan, Jesse.” She motions to suggest that the list could go on. “I’m sure that I’ll do it with you too.” You nod. It usually hasn’t been acknowledged, but both of you have long known that you’ll eventually become a part of Emily’s body.

“Do you ever, like, think about doing it to me?” You ask.

“All the time.” She replies, with a guilty look on her face. You don’t know why this invokes this reaction in you, but rather than fearing her, for the moment you pity her and put your arm around her. The two of you stay like this for a little while.

“Well, I guess since you’ve taken care of Jackie, I’m safe again, so I’ll get out of your hair.” You say, beginning to stand. “Thank you, I really owe you.”

“It’s no problem.” She says. “I was just about to head out for dinner anyways. You came at a good time.”

“It means a lot to me. We’ll catch up later this week?”

“Well,” she says, “if you really wanted to thank me, maybe you could take me out and I can get some dessert?”

Emily really is incredible. Not long ago she downed three human beings and now she's already talking about dessert. Seeing Emily again and seeing her do what she does best certainly has you as hungry for more as she is. Do you want to watch her down someone else... or maybe is it time for you to step up and volunteer yourself?