The Mimic: Origins

Chapter 7: Aruku

A longing to be treasured, cherished, for years and years to come. Several of the people I've consumed were... guilty, proven innocent for none. I was the contortionist in their lives, the controller behind it all. Greed, selfishness, and ignorance got the best of them all, leading to the miserable path phrased as "damned hell". I pitied these humans, nonetheless. I simply gave them a second chance at life, a truth far better than their scanty stories. Several wished for forgiveness, but I granted them pure bliss.

I knew of a beautiful yet sad youngling. Everything was perfect within her life until an illness struck her legs. Granted she couldn't walk properly, she attempted to crawl, but it left her nowhere. Often, children stole the girl's cherished items while sending her to fragile tears with stabs to the heart. Many misunderstood her, leaving her blanketed with a lasting aching heart. Living was walking through a desert with nothing of importance. There was nothing, or no one, to trust. It made life a living hell. That was, until she met a fragile kitten.

This kitten had a beautiful brown coat with olive-like eyes. She never had a pet before, so she attempted to feed it some of the rations she often received. Without caring, the kitten scarfed the food down as it choked a few times. She petted its soft head while saying, "Don't eat it so fast. You poor little thing.. Where is your mother?" She took the time to consider a name for the kitten. As she watched it eat the rest of the food, she decided on the name. "You will be called Nozomi. My little hope," she said as she smiled and soon fell asleep with Nozomi in her arms.

The night and her mind greeted her with warmth, something she couldn't receive with the day's bitter coldness. Her dreams contained puzzling things. In her dreams, she saw a woman dressed in all black. A woman, seemingly taller than normal, but who was she to judge? She saw this exact dream several times. It was her talking to this woman at a house she recognized, but she couldn't quite grasp where. She couldn't exactly tell what their conversation was, yet she could tell something was up with this woman. She seemed to be grieving the loss of someone. However, it didn't seem like she was sad. Sometimes it looked like the woman was wearing a mask because she could see, or well sense, a smile, not a friendly smile. A smile that seemed to be up to no good. She always longed for a dream about a past life or who her family was, yet it was haunted by this unfamiliarly familiar woman. She attempted to follow the woman as she was interrupted by a blood curdling screech.

The girl sat upright wondering what was going on. Anxious, the girl desperately crawled around to see what the noise came from. The revolting scenery slapped her stomach, causing her to vomit. Sure enough, something, or someone, killed Nozomi. Emotions overwhelmed her. She didn't know what to do except cry and scream. Her painful screams woke up several children, something she wished she hadn't done. One kid, a few months older than the girl, rushed into the room of the revolting chaos. He didn't know what to do as he made eye contact with the girl, who was covered in blood with a kitten in her arms. Is she screaming because she killed it? No.. she's crying. Oh.. Something must've killed the kitten. He found himself at a loss for words. Everyone knew they weren't supposed to have any pets, but he wanted to help her out somehow. Suddenly, an idea struck the boy. He quickly came closer to the girl saying, "I'll help you out by burying this kitten, okay? I'll even show you its resting place later. You can trust me." The girl nodded as she wept more before saying, "Keep your promise, Torakichi."

He could hear someone coming towards the room, so he yanked the kitten's dead body from her arms and ran for it. He always wanted to help the nameless girl with only a last name, yet he didn't want to be seen with her. He hid by a wall close to the room to listen to the conversations. He could hear sounds of disgust as another kid, assuming it was Yui, yelled. "I always knew you were disgusting! Wait until everyone hears about who you truly are! It's obvious you were a freak from the start and now you're covered in blood. You should do us all a favor and just die." He could hear the girl still crying as she ignored all the things said by Yui. He took a deep breath and went to bury the kitten, scared to hear more insults targeted at the innocent nameless girl.