Carnivore

i) Bestia Umbra

SOMEWHERE IN LIFE THERE'S A REASON. Somewhere lies a cause for the way humans become, and if it's not easily distinguishable, it's presumed obsolete.

In the end it's all lies, a broken visage of empty words.

And yet that's all humanity needs to continue existing.

Twisted concepts tainted in greed's depiction, with white lies and necessary evils painting the world in glimmering deceptions, leaving the truth a crumpled mess in the darkness below.

The innocent lies that painted the world was peeling away, and in truth there was nothing she wanted more than to let it continue to splinter and split, until nothing was left.

The pulse in her veins was rushing with adrenaline and fear, a terror that forced the lifesblood to almost curdle within in very being. And with a jolt, she awoke to the darkness that was the ceiling above her prone form.

Wide, slate-hued eyes stared up at the shadows that cast across her room, unseeing as her mind reeled within her skull, and her breath running ragged as she struggled to get a hold of herself. Her vision was blurry, scarcely able to depict more than the gradient of shadows that made up the vague outlines of her surroundings.

'Deep breaths, Zinnia... It was just a dream...' She whispered to herself as she lifted a trembling hand and gently placed it over her eyes. 'Just a dream, so get over this sodding mess already...'

The deep breaths she forced herself to take eventually calmed her down, until the trembling was just a feeling against the back of her heart and the fear had subsided to a gentle tugging within the back of her mind.

Eventually, Zinnia allowed her hand to lower from over her eyes and allowed her head to tilt towards the window to her right.

The world was still a haze of blurs to her as she gazed out at what she instinctively knew to be the night sky overlooking Japan, with its sea of street-lamps laid out in what almost seemed to be a reflection of the stars and cosmos that existed far, far away from Japan. A faint haze of lightening blues leaking morning golds was the only sign to her that dawn would soon be upon them.

It brought a small sigh to Zinnia as she reached out and lifted a pair of narrow, rectangular glasses from her bedside and slipped them on before rousing herself out of bed. With the greater clarity to her vision, Zinnia's nimble fingers shifted towards the light-switch of her bedside lamp, and took in her surroundings.

A simple white-painted bedroom with polished wooden floors was the general scheme of her personal dwellings, with a simple wooden closet, a lone desk, bedside table and just her bed. An assortment of textbooks lay open atop her desk, marred with post-it notes and bookmarks keeping tab of certain pages of interest, and a simple stuffed t-rex sitting innocently next to the lamp on her bedside table. A faint breath escaped Zinnia as her gaze shifted towards a large hanging mirror on the inside of her closet, which was once again, open without her recollection.

The form reflected in the mirror was of a young girl appearing no older than fourteen, with long, wavy black hair hanging in an untidy mess down the sides of her face, with a moderately pale complexion and no real show of any figure. The orange flannel pyjamas hung loosely from her, and gave the impression that they were many sizes too large for her. Her naturally narrow eyes stared lazily at the reflection, where slight bags beneath her eyes were slightly obscured by the black rims of her glasses.

A glance at the skies outside reminded Zinnia of the time, and with little thought, she set about getting herself washed up and dressed, as she usually did. Jeans, her usual hooded jumper, and when she'd leave, sneakers. It was her usual ensemble for a day out of school.