Everything was cold in the city. The people, the stone, your family, hell, even the rain was cold. What was the coldest, you silently mused, was the feeling between the races. The war that was going to blow up between the races was all anyone would talk about.
****
"Listen to me," your sister told you sternly as you sat down and looked at the paper warily, "those Anthros are dangerous. Why do you keep thinking that you can live with...those monsters?" slamming her hands on the table, startling you. "They kill for enjoyment! They kill for pleasure! They kill because that's the only thing they know! Now get out of your fantasy and live in reality." your sister straightened herself, "You have school to be going to. If mom and dad found out about your dumb fantasy," she put emphasis on fantasy, trying to rub it in more, "not only will you be grounded for the rest of your life, but you won't ever have the medical degree you've been trying to obtain."
****
You didn't care. There was something about them, something you felt every time you saw a picture of them. Awe? No, that wasn't right. If you were in awe, you wouldn't be in the medical field trying to study as much as you can about Humans, but any kind of Anthro you could get your hands on. The latter was hard to do, with the banning of books on the subject. No one thought that Anthros were safe to be around.
It was always on the media.
"Latest victim mauled by a Tiger Anthro, whereabouts unknown"
"Child snatched by Hawk Anthro during vacation at beach."
"Snake Anthro slowly suffocated and raped corpse of woman."
No matter what, it was everywhere. It's all going to explode after a while. Everyone wants a fight, but no one has lit the spark, not yet.
Sure, you don't believe that the Anthros were all bad. There are always the bad people in the world, the villains that give everyone a bad name. It happened with people, it could happen with Anthros too. Did it matter to anyone though? No, of course not. They wouldn't give anything new a chance.
You sighed as you walked along the river. The rain quietly hummed as it struck against the sidewalk, and sang as it touched the actual water. You adjusted your parasol as the rain slowly began to increase. School was going to start in a half hour; 7:45. Every day you went to the fancy medical school that your scholarship payed for, and every day, you felt farther and farther away from everything. Mom thought you were demented when you brought up the subject of Anthros and wishing to meet one. Dad felt the same as Mom, but he scheduled a psychologist to help 'remedy' these 'unnatural thoughts' coursing through your head. Sis, she rips your head off daily because you don't share her hatred of Anthros. No sane person in the school wanted you there, prodigy or not, because you held something besides death in your heart.
You see the sheltered bridge up ahead, where the bus picked you up and took you to School. Bitterly, you went under the cover of the bridge and lowered your parasol. Shaking off the excess water, you sat down, placed your messenger bag under the bench and looked over at the newspaper stand. In bold print, the headlines for today was, "Anthro Retaliation Over Peace Talk?"
You hung your head over your hands in slight despair, remembering the article. Apparently, the government had recently tried to smooth over relations with the Anthros, but the whole scenario ended in disaster. A fight broke out with the Anthros, and the media devoured the contents just like a wolf devouring a steak.
It didn't sit right with you. Every time something seemed to be calming down, another story came up and agitated everyone. It was just like the Cold War with the Soviets back then. It was always so close to a war, with both sides staring at each other's nukes, weapons, and each other. This was an exact repeat of the events that happened back then.
"Hey." a voice called out above the rain. You didn't need to look up to know who it was. It was Carson, Carson Jones. The resident bully who always enjoyed telling everyone he met that you cared about the Anthros. That you thought that there was good in some of them. "Hey, what's wrong buddy?" Carson mocks as he sits next to you. He was wearing his large sweatshirt and sweatpants you noticed out of the corner of your eye. "Oh, did one of the 'peaceful' Anthros try to murder someone again?" Carson elbowed you aggressively in the side of your arm. "To bad huh? Those demons aren't capable of feeling anything but blood-lust, and don't you forget it." A light briefly illuminated your face before a car pulled in front of the two of you. "My rides here, see you around traitor." Carson spat as he got up and swiftly kicked you in the stomach. Unfazed, Carson opened his car door and slid in, the car driving off.
Tenderly, you rub your arm as you try to get your breakfast under control. Carson really knew how to kick a person, him being on the soccer team. It really hurt. You wouldn't hit back though, or say anything back. You didn't have the backbone to be doing it, and everyone on campus knew it. Only Carson felt that it was right for him to beat you up thankfully.
Looking at the reflection of the newspaper stand, the only person you saw was...a small weakling who couldn't stand up for anything. Your green eyes stared back at you, until it began to travel across your face and other features. Your long, curly hair rested underneath your chin, where your green zip-up covered your favorite green t-shirt of a snake. Snakes were the one thing about your life that really made you happy, any mention or sight of them, especially grass snakes made the cold city feel warm, just for a little bit. It wasn't something you felt often in this place. Your eyes moved down to your blue jeans and white tennis shoes that were currently not dirty. You never really went out into the country, or out of the city for that matter. As soon as school was over, you slithered away to your room, away from your parents and sister, and wrote in your diary. You wrote about a lot, anything to keep your mind off of the pain from a recent beating from Carson, to therapy with your doctor, to wanting to write something down just because you can.
"What are you looking at?" you hear yourself sigh softly. "Are you thinking that something good would happen? Something to change your life? Get real. Mom, Dad, and Sis are right. I shouldn't..." You sigh.
Now everything negative came back. No! There's...there's still hope.
"Anyone...someone help me. I don't know what to do..." You leaned your head back against the pillar supporting the bridge.
"Someone...please...anyone...help...someone..."
Hold on...that's...that's not your voice. It's faint, but is it...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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