Feral
an excerpt

She remembered.

She remembered the few rays of sun filtering through the trees; she remembered every single blade of grass with the blood shining on it. She even remembered the way the light sparkled off of its teeth. It was all embedded in her memory, never to escape.

***

It was the first of November, a slightly cool but overall comfortable day. Few clouds were out, ensuring the sun would keep anyone from getting chilled. She marveled at the incredible rate of technological growth the world had been through in the last hundred years. Imagine, in the year 2000 people couldn’t even properly predict the weather. Now they could control it.

She stepped into the colossal dome, her excitement bubbling within her tiny body, threatening to burst out. Here she was, in one of the few nature reserves left in the world. The thought was enough to make her shiver with anticipation. As her eyes darted from tree to shining tree, to the flowers sprouting at random around the whole forest, she wiggled out of her tight sneakers and thrust her small toes into the moss. They sank slightly, and, with a slight sigh escaping her pale lips, contentment was hers. Suddenly, life didn’t matter anymore; all that mattered was that she’d found the most perfect place for her.