Rise of The "Beast"

Born In Shadows

A calm chilling breeze swept through the leaves on a slightly cloudy day, the air from a huff of a familiar captain mixing into the wind. Soon, a leaf falls from a tree. Flowing with the wind, it passes the captain in a loop-de-loop and lands a few feet away. Flicking her ear, the former agent opens her eyes to give the little greenery a side glance. Such a vulnerable thing... anything could eat it at any minute now, or it could just stay there and rot away. The female then gets up from her seat on a stone, walking over to the lone leaf. She stares down at it, thinking about her time on this meddling Earth... Was it all worth it? Or was it all for nothing? Is everyone just a leaf letting the wind take it to who knows where? Only god knew... Wait. The leaf looks... familiar? But from where? No... no, it can't be... those memories... no... no no no no no! The captain hisses as she grasps her head, shrieking as it starts to pound. The throbbing drove her crazy and she started to thrash around, trying to make a stop. She starts to hyperventilate, tears falling from the corners of her eyes as she sets her green orbs back on the leaf before her. Soon, everything goes black, feeling like everything she's been through already is wisping away.

Eventually, she opens her eyes back up to see the leaf again. The innocence of a child, looking down at a leaf that she watched fall from the tree outside her apartment building.

"Casie! Where are you, buttercup?" a male voice calls.

Gasping, the young inkling grabs the leaf and ran back to him. "Papa! Papa! Look at the leaf I got!" Casie told her father. Her dad smiles, lowering down to her height as he gazes at it.

"Well, it's a beauty alright..." he said. "You wanna put it in your scrapbook?"

Casie nodded, holding the leaf close to her. "I wanna put it next to the pretty feather!" She said with a smile.

Her dad then chuckled, picking her up in his arms to place her on his shoulders. "We'll make sure it's right next to it, pumpkin. Don't you worry your cute little head." The youngling then giggled as the male walked back home.

Hearing the last ding of the elevator, Casie held on as her dad stepped out, walking down the hallway up to the door of the apartment and opening it. Setting her down, she immediately ran to her room. It looked like any child's private space... toys scattered around, paper from drawings flown around the room. Her bed was covered with stuffed animals and fluffy pillows. But on top of it all was her favorite, a stuffed animal made in the shape of a pillow with the name "Mr. Wuggie".

She smiled at her friend for a moment and scattered to the floor. Reaching under her bed, Casie took a moment to feel around. After touching a hard surface she pulled out a small storage box full of journals, colored pencils, and other artsy things. She flipped through the books until she took out the one she needed and grabbed the crayon box along with the scissors and glitter glue. Then with pride, she walked back out to the living room, placing the items down on the coffee table to continue with her work.

Her mother watched on the couch near her with a disdained look and soon scoffed at her husband. "Josh, why do you let her bring that disgusting stuff from the outside inside? It probably carries parasites or ticks..."

"Tam..." Her father started. "Just let her be... she's a kid. A few leaves and twigs aren't going to send her into a coma. Plus, if it has parasites, then the tree she got it from wouldn't have been planted where it was planted. I promise you, it's completely safe."

The couple then watches as their daughter uses a lime crayon to draw over the leaf while it's covered on a piece of paper. Casie smiled at the outline the leaf created on the paper and looked at the trails and patterns it had made. Grabbing the scissors to cut it out the crayon drawing on the paper, her mother quickly took them from her.