I was still hungry. The steer had only barely satisfied me and I turned towards the eggs. I had been the first, and was larger. I did not know if my mother meant it to be so but my siblings would provide for me in her absence.
The first egg, slit open with my sharp claw, spilled green black proteins from a sac, a barely developed little wretch coiled around it. I ate it all, slicking my carapace with the fluids.
The second egg, I remembered going to school for a moment, but it seemed a hazy dream. My sibling was entirely undeveloped, small enough that I could open my jaw wide and swallow their egg whole.
The third egg, I felt sick, not physically but in my mind and awareness. I still ate. I couldn't stop, couldn't beat the hunger that told me to cut open the egg then the nearly ready sibling within.
Before the fourth egg the door slammed open and I spun, yowling. I remembered another moment of fear, my mother's body above me. Her backhand, faster than my juvenile body by an incredible amount, sent me sprawling.
She spoke English then - "Bad Jake!" Her voice made me cower, rasping and commanding. I mewled pitifully and remembered again. I was Jake. I had been human. Now I was a hunched over cannibal. My mother said, "I should consume you for what you have done. So wasteful! But it is my fault for leaving you here alone, my poor child." She stroked my head, claws surprisingly gentle and comforting.
I whimpered and tried to speak, remembered wishing, tried to wish, but my voice was not mine to command. "There there my little one. You will need to learn it all again. Your body is unfamiliar. But I will help you." I looked up then, stared at my black chitined mother and I truly feared her lessons.
Her first lesson was...