Food for Thought (thinking the Lecter way)

WARNING: The following content contains scenes of graphic thought and action, created out of my imagination, to serve as the epilogue for the movie ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. To make the reader understand the different points of view of a few characters from the movie, the author has portrayed the thoughts of these characters with regards to an “event” that took place after the movie. If you do not have an appetite for violence, the bizarre, and the grotesque, then please read no further. For those of you who live for these things, Enjoy ☺

H - “Well Clarice, Have the Lambs stopped screaming yet?”

C - “Doctor Lecter?”

H - “Don’t bother with a trace, I won’t be on long enough”

C - “Where are you Doctor Lecter?”

H - “I have no plans to call on you Clarice, the world’s more interesting with you in it. So you take care now to extend me the same courtesy”

C - “You know I can’t make that promise"

H - “I do wish we could chat longer but.. I’m having an old friend for dinner. Bye..”

C - “Doctor Lect-“

*line goes dead* (The Silence of the Lambs, 1991). I see him. He walks off the plane with 10, no, 12-armed men. Like that is going to save him. Look at him constantly looking over his shoulder. Scared out of his mind, as he should be. Little does he notice me, in my perfect disguise. Terrified are you not Dr. Chilton? For 8 years you treated me like scum. But now I am back. And I will be coming for you. I can see your blood pulsing through your veins, pulsating at your neck as you shiver with fear. It’s calling me. All I want is a taste. And a taste I will get. Tearing you apart limb by limb. Slowly. Meticulously. Watching you try to fight me. Watching you try to scream. But how will you? I would already be digesting your tongue. Until tomorrow, Chilton. Until tomorrow.Today is the day. The day I can fill my appetite. The part of me that is hungry for revenge and the part of me that hasn’t eaten since this morning. Tasty little thing she was. Delicious but tiny. I wish she had a little more flesh on her bone that it would fill my stomach. Girls these days with their grave desire to remain skinny. I mean what about those of us who want the flesh. Focus Dr. You have one job today. Only one. Okay. 4 am. It’s time.

Look at him. Sleeping like a baby in his white pajamas. Time to wake the baby up. Hmm.. Which part looks most delectable? Not those feet for sure. Let me start with his throat. Don’t try screaming it only makes things worse Chilton. Come on you should know better. Okay the throat was a bit crunchy. The tongue should help soften things up. Chilton.. Chilton.. Its just your blood.. Please just get a grip, you are supposed to be a respectful man. Probably should break his arms and legs off before he tries to escape. These goddamn humans, why do they always try squirming and running. When they kill the chicken to feed their greedy stomachs it’s fine. When I try to make myself a good meal, they go crazy. Okay Chilton now what’s wrong. I have already broken off your legs. No I am not eating them right now. I have to save something for later. I mean do you know how much effort it is to find a human stupid enough to let me trick them into becoming my dinner? Okay now you are just annoying me. This is my favorite part. One snap to the neck… and.. Dead. *A News Reporter talking on Television at the Bureau*

“The Administrator of the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Mr. Chilton, was found dead this morning. Police say it is the work of none other than Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who is more commonly known as Hannibal the Cannibal. None of Mr. Chilton’s bodyguards survived this gruesome attack. The Police are stil-

*Television is switched off*

Mr. Crawford - “Special Agent Starling, My office now please. ”

Clarice - “Yes Sir” I really hope Mr. Crawford does not ask about Dr. lecter. My heart is racing. If he got to Mr. Chilton, he could- Oh stop it! He gave you his word. But he also enjoys eating people. I mean you are his food. No. He would consider that rude. I don’t know how to explain to people, but I know. I know that he would never hurt me. I don’t know why. But I know he would think that attacking me specifically would be disrespectful. But again, at the end of the day it’s Dr. Lecter we’re talking about. Manners are everything. But so is dinner. I wonder what or who he must be- No. Starling don’t go there. Don’t do that to yourself. Mr. Crawford- “Agent Starling, we need you to agree to help us with Lecter. We are running out of options. Lord knows if he were to come for one of us. We have to put an end to this.”

Clarice - “Sir, I don’t know anything about Dr. Lecter, I do not know where he is and the possibilities are endless. I just couldn’t –“ Mr. Crawford - “I know agent. Sleep on it and let me know. We need you Starling”

Later that night

What do I do? He asked me to promise him. But I told him I wouldn’t. He would understand that I was as just doing my duty. But he would consider it rude to attack me, do I lend him the same courtesy? He is a clinically insane psychiatrist who eats people… UGH! Why is this so hard. Holy crap it’s 2 am. Just sleep Clarice. Just sleep. AAH! Did I just have the same nightmare? Deep Breaths. OH lord my heart is racing. I cannot breathe. Oh God. Okay focus on breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Come on! You can do this! Oh my god I’m shivering. My entire body is covered in sweat. I cannot close my eyes. I keep seeing it. Over and over again. It’s back.The dream of the Lambs screaming. The last time I had this dream was years ago, before Buffalo Bill. I though I had stopped the Lambs from Screaming. But they are back to haunt me. “Well Clarice, Have the lambs stopped screaming yet?” No! Stop! Stop reimagining that conversation. It’s over. The Lambs have stopped screaming. I don’t need him in my head all over again. I do not need to think about that conversation. I thought I had forgotten it. I need some coffee.

Next morning. *sound of knocking*

Clarice - “Mr. Crawford?”Mr. Crawford - “Agent Starling, come in” Clarice - “I am ready sir. “ Mr. Crawford - “Ready for what Starling?” Clarice - “To take him down Sir. To find Dr. Lecter” *3days ago, in the Bahamas* “Did you do a survey of the place? Of my suite? Of its guest? Did you check everything?”“Yes Mr. Chilton. I did.” “Okay good. You better be freaking sure about that.” I told that stupid girl Starling. I told her “he’s a monster. Pure Psychopath. So rare to capture one alive” (The Silence of the Lambs). He was my “most prized asset in my asylum for freaks” (Mr. Chilton, The Silence of the Lambs). People would always come and interview me about how we caught the great Hannibal Lecter. I was well known. I was famous. Until that girl came into the picture. She stole everything. He was my prisoner. I should have handled him. I thought I had him when I forced him to take the deal with the senator. I thought I would go down as the man who got Lecter to talk. Just when I thought I had gotten back my fame, she showed up. No doubt but to mock me and ridicule me. How dare she sneak in and talk to him. All hell broke lose after that. He killed the guards. Tricked the FBI and escaped. And now, everywhere I go people are sneering at me. I see them judging me. Talking about me. I am now the person who lost the ‘great Hannibal Lecter’. To make matters worse, he probably isn’t content with the humiliation that I am facing. He is probably after me. Wait. Is that him in the window? No. Is he the man in the hat? No. Okay Chilton, breathe. The man cannot reach you here. You’re in the frickin Bahamas. Just let it go. Why do I keep feeling someone watching me behind me? I know I’ve never believed in God, but please right now, I need God. I’ve been a good man. I don’t deserve to die at the hands of a lowly monster. I am the great Chilton. I don’t deserve this. Sleep Chilton. You have armed men everywhere. Just go to bed. Stop being paranoid.

Is it morning already? No, only 4 am. I need to take a piss now. Ugh. Let me just get my glasses, feel as blind as a bat right now. What the- I swear I left my glasses on my bedside table. Where is the light switch? Did something just move behind the curtain? I definitely heard someone else breathing in the room. I need to switch on the light. I need to just make sure tha- AHHHH. HE IS HERE. THE MONSTER. I’m trying to scream but I feel the cold hand on my mouth. I cannot see him but I know it cannot be anyone else. I feel the hand move slightly, oh no, oh no. He is coming into view. Through the moonlight I see his eyes, those chilling green eyes. How dare he come for me. I kept him alive in MY prison. I gave him food and shelter. He was my greatest prize.

My body is frozen, I cannot move. His hand, it’s moving down to my throat. I feel it gripping. OW OW OW. My throat. I CANNOT BREATHE. VISION IS GETTING BLURRY. He is eating my throat! HE IS EASTING MY THROAT. OH FRICKIN HELL. No please don- AHH. My leg. It’s in his hand. All I can feel is the searing pain rushing from all parts of my body. I do not deserve this. I am a man of power. The senator knows who I am. She will have your head for this Lecter. You Vile creature. At least I’ll die famou-

*The struggle stops. The victim is dead*

Interpretation

The ‘Silence of the Lambs’ is a thrilling movie, which portrays two of the greatest criminals – Buffalo Bill, and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and their psychology. The movie comes to a chilling end with the conversation quoted in the beginning of this essay, but no one knows what happened after that. I thought it would be interesting to write about the events that took place after the movie ended. By writing from three different perspectives I wanted to show the difference in point of view of each character. Dr. Lecter’s perspective shows us a vengeful lust for blood. He has been planning his attack on Chilton for a while now, and is waiting for the right moment. Killing someone is almost second nature for Hannibal. Even when he attacks Chilton, his pulse does not rise, he continues to change in the same matter of fact way that he normally does. He does not understand why killing and eating person is such a bad thing. To him that is how he cooks his dinner.

Clarice Starling was little bit trickier to understand. She does not agree with what Dr. Lecter does, but she does not what to hunt him down and catch him. Unlike the vast majority of the population, she understands him. She knows he won’t harm her, but there will always be a tiny part of her that is worried about if he does hunt her down. Agent Starling knows her first duty is to her nation and to protect the innocent. When reading her thoughts, we see her in a dilemma. What is the right thing to do? When the lambs start screaming again she decides to side with the law and hunt Lecter down. Her thoughts are simpler and less violent that Dr. Lecter’s but also more confused and indecisive.

Chilton is a man who walks around like he has a stick up his rear. Boasting is second nature to him. All he can think about is fame and glory. Lecter was a trophy to show off and gain publicity. When Lecter is out we see him panicking. He does not want to admit it to himself or anyone, but the reason he knows Lecter is coming for him, is because of the way he treated Lecter. All he would do is spit on him, treat him like garbage and throw his weight around. When Lecter hunts him down Chilton is powerless, and can do nothing to prevent his death. In the end, no amount of power, money or connections could get him out of Lecter’s Jaws. My Side Note – I enjoyed writing this essay, as it was thrilling to look at things in a different perspective. I enjoyed trying to understand the psychology behind each character. It was a bit hard to figure out how to end it. Writing from Chilton’s perspective was a bit difficult, because thinking as someone who is dying was a bit hard. I really hope the unique perspective works when trying to bring out the different points of view.