Every day, a 70-year-old retiree would go to the same butcher shop and order forty kilos of beef.
The butcher, intrigued by such a large order, decided one day to find out what she was actually doing with all that meat, and what he discovered exceeded anything he could have imagined.
The old woman was small and hunched, wrapped in a worn coat, her wrinkled hands gripping the handle of a dented metal cart. “Forty kilos, as usual,” she replied, sliding a stack of bills across the counter.
The young butcher weighed the slices of meat in silence, unable to hide his astonishment. Forty kilos – every day. At first, he thought she was feeding a large family, but as the weeks went by, the routine never changed.
The woman barely spoke, never met anyone’s gaze, and carried with her a strange metallic smell that reminded one of rust and decay. Soon, whispers began circulating around the marketplace:
– “She must be feeding a pack of dogs.”
– “No, I heard she runs a secret restaurant somewhere.”
– “Maybe she has a freezer full of meat for the winter.”
The butcher brushed off the rumors with a wave of his hand, but his curiosity was piqued. Finally, on a freezing evening, he decided to follow her.
He waited until she left, dragging her heavy cart through the snow-covered streets. The woman moved slowly but determinedly, heading toward the outskirts of town. She passed rows of abandoned garages and finally stopped in front of an old, ruined factory that had been closed for more than ten years.
She slipped inside with the meat, disappearing into the shadows. Twenty minutes later, she emerged, her hands empty. The next day, the same thing happened again.
On the third evening, unable to contain himself, the butcher followed her inside. The air was thick with a disturbing smell: blood, iron, and something wild. Then he heard a low growl that sent shivers down his spine.
Peering through a crack in the wall, he froze.
In the cavernous room were four enormous lions, their golden eyes gleaming in the dim light. Bones and scraps of meat littered the floor. In a corner, on a tattered armchair, the old woman sat, stroking one of the beasts and murmuring softly:
“Easy now, my darlings… soon you’ll have another fight… people will be here to watch…”
The butcher collapsed, breathless. One of the lions roared, shaking the entire building. The old woman clutched her head.
“What are you doing here?!” she whispered in a voice more animal than human.
Panicked, the butcher rushed outside and called the police.
When the officers arrived, the truth came to light. This woman had once been a zoologist and had taken in several lions after the local zoo closed “to prevent them from starving.” But over time, despair and greed had twisted her intentions.
