Humane

Chapter 15

My train of thoughts were all, somehow, incomplete. It was as though somebody had sabotaged my perception of everything around me and I simply couldn't fix it.

It made me ponder if the overthinking personality was never mine at all.

However, it was a disastrous possibility to consider, so I pushed it away.

Ever since my arrival at the gates of the Queen's castle - a high and mighty structure constructed of several precious black-colored minerals - a voice in my brain continuously begged me to release her, reminding me a thousand times that she did not lay a finger on my family because she had sensed and understood that I loved them.

Doll was broken terribly. I had started gaining a twisted pleasure from her suffering at times, but the sensation of sweet revenge never stayed long enough for me to heal.

"Maybe... You'd not have hurt Marlon, then," was all I would reply before shutting her down. I was beginning to replace emotions for a more sadistic counterpart of myself, and it was me and only me.

I had no care for morals anymore.

The day I had arrived, this world was all but an old photograph in my eyes. A castle sitting atop a hill with nothing but a wide, hypnotizing expanse all about.

On the second morning, however, the scene beyond the castle had transformed drastically. It was... my neighborhood. The apartment complex I called home, my brother's school beside it, the graveyard nearby, and three blocks away was–

I swallowed my tears and went back to sleep, dreaming of my mother's warmth beside me from the first night of Doll's presence in my house.

"I love the scenery!" The Queen exclaimed in the evening, seemingly glowing in her matriarchal fashion. It made me feel out of place in the fortress, even though I was provided clothes I considered normal - loose T-shirts and shorts. It was summer and I was constantly under scorching heat due to Global Warming, but the Queen was unaffected by temperatures. "So many colors! So many buildings!"

I immediately realized that these surroundings represented me, the next sacrifice for this sick game. It made me wonder about the initial framework though. Why would someone's world be black and white in their mind?

Was the previous person homeless or a war veteran and did the world mean nothing to them?

It made an ironic connection: My life had value. I had so much more in the past and the future that could've been, only to have been reduced to this shell of the person I used to be.

"You're not unique anymore," I pointed out. "Everyone has their own shades to adore, now."

"Do I really need any hues upon me?"

I turned my neck to have a look at her. Her perfect hair, her enchanting eyes, her slender body... She was beautiful, as always, and not even her castle lined with thousands of black diamonds could compare.

"No," I answered. "You're as charming as ever, nevertheless."

She smiled, pleased by the reply. I hated how I had just bought a week more to my life by an accidental compliment.

But the truth still remained unchanged.

It would only be a few days till I was disposed of and made into dinner.

The food was exceptionally good - I was under the care of royalty itself, so it was a given - but the nauseating consideration of eating the meat of creatures I didn't recognize was too much for me to bear, and I converted into a vegetarian in due time.