Carnivore

iv) Fissum

HER DREAMS WERE A SHATTERED GLIMPSE OF DAYLIGHT PAST. What pierced through the veil were unspoken wishes, desires she could never voice, even if she wanted to. Of sun-kissed afternoons of saccharine delights, where the world felt like a wonderful place to live.

Oh how that felt like so long ago, to Zinnia.

But for a short while, Zinnia felt that little piece of happiness almost come to fruition that eventful evening.

The impromptu visitor was a deceptively young looking woman of blonde locks and piercing crimson eyes, with a personality just as vibrantly blessed as her appearances. The woman who Zinnia knew only as a friend of her mothers she had never been truly introduced to was in a bright and outspoken mood in spite of the gaping gashes up her arm and the sheer volume of lost blood. What looked like a set of glass cuts sustained from an accident was confirmed by the woman, who explained that her son had startled her mid-prep through dinner when he slammed the kitchen door open in the throws of a viciously sour mood.

Needless to say, Zinnia was certain that she never wanted to meet the woman and her son while they were mid-argument, and in fact, what little she heard of the boy had her convinced that meeting him was something she should avoid at all costs.

So, once Zinnia had carefully sewn all the gashes cut with remarkable ease and supplemented the woman's blood loss with a lone unit of cloned blood, she was on her way home. Of course, this was not without the woman introducing herself properly with a bright smile and a demand that Zinnia drop by with her mother during one of her visits from time to time. Bakugou Mitsuki, the woman was called, though anything beyond that was lost on Zinnia.

The events that followed were rather mundane, but a much more pleasant change from her usual solitary lifestyle to date. Dinner was had, a chilled sesame chow mein with vegetarian gyoza, and while that alone would have made for a particularly pleasant birthday, what completely topped it was the present she received from Kali as soon as dinner was finished.

A large box was brought out, and in spite of Zinnia's immediate attempt to scramble to her feet to help free her mother's arms, she was immediately told to sit back down at the table. She did as she was told, and before long, Zinnia found herself staring at what she immediately knew was her mother's precious laptop sitting atop the unmarked box. At first, Zinnia was confused, at least until Kali pulled a chair over and sat herself down at her daughter's side, with a hand gently swiping across the sensor pad to wake the laptop up.

'I didn't get an opportunity to wrap it, I'm sorry, but I'll at least show you what's inside before you go trying to open the box.' Kali spoke as she brought up the minimized icon on the toolbar. 'It's had some customizations, but what you'll be reading is essentially what it is.'

Zinnia blinked in confusion before she shuffled forward to look at the screen.

Across the top of a web-page was the banner of an online electronics store, one which Zinnia vaguely recognized from prior times Kali had gone perusing online. However, the further down she read, the more the colour in her face began to drain when she realized what it was she was staring at.

It was a top of the line gaming computer... one of the higher models to the one Zinnia was reading from right now.

'M-Mother, this isn't that computer you and Father have been saving up for, is it!?' She practically squeaked out as she turned to face Kali properly. 'Please tell me it's not!'

'It is.' Kali didn't hesitate to agree.

'But this is the one you've wanted for months! You're not giving this to me are you?!'