I stand alone in the woods. I have no food, no water, no shelter, and no sanity. All that’s on my mind is survival. I have to prove that I’m capable of living on my own. I want to be competent and a functioning member of society.
I check my pocket. I find a Swiss army knife I bought last month, knowing that one day I would be forced to wander alone. I wonder if having a weapon is cheating. I’m not showing any beasts my strength. Instead I show them that humans will continue to build machines to fight for us. We are the only species that can create things as complex as knives and guns.
I turn around and see black humanoid creature screaming in an unknown language. Its face is multicoloured like a shaman’s mask and its eyes are pure white with no pupils. I must survive. I care not if this creature is pacifistic or not. I must kill. I screamed and lunged at the beast, stabbing it, scratching it, poking its eyes, and shoving my fingers in its ears. The screams turn into cries of pain as I feel blood and tears run down onto me.
The blackness fades away. On the face, I see the face of my mother, which becomes the face of my father, before becoming the face of all my teachers. I can’t hear it beg for forgiveness as it wonders if it is staring at a human or a monster. I feel an invisible force drag me away. All I can hear are cries and screams as people ask what happened to me. I am taken away. I lose my freedom. They test me and monitor me. They never let me escape but at least I will survive.