A Hopeless World

Hopeless

The smell in the morning air was disgusting, the horizon was black with flies, birds and curious dogs circling around the decomposing bodies scattered around the cold, barren landscape.

Everyday waking up would be the same, was death going to take my poor wretched soul today or did I have to suffer another day of this living hell? Countless times I had been close to death, for reasons that the old world would have never had to suffer. Infections due to lack of treatment for simple cuts, sometimes even stab wounds would not heal easily and end up becoming infected from the thick, polluted air alone. Sometimes I believe dying would be easier than being paranoid of despair, finally taking over, sending them insane with only one reason for life: taking others' lives.

It has been several years since this 'despair' took over our world; people kill each other like savages, I myself cannot even say I was spared from having to take another's life.

Today was another average day, search for food and water all while avoiding the slaves of despair and hopefully living another day. When in reality all I have ever wanted was to accept death and not be a coward.

It was meant to be a normal day, but this day changed the rest of my horrid days.

Walking over hundreds of piled, decomposing bodies of every age I would have never expected to accidentally run into another human with their face exposed. Most despair slaves wear a mask of some form, hiding their features from their unsuspecting victims.

Her long brown hair was frayed and messy, blood had splattered all over her slender figure. I admired her features while trying to stealthily approach her from behind, obtaining the upper hand on her in case she was also one of the despairs that rule the world. Without noticing something or someone grabbed the back of my leg, causing me to fall over with a loud thud. Knocking the wind out of my lungs and causing my head to spin as it bounced off the hard ground like a basketball. Slowly I opened my eyes to a blurred vision to be greeted by the colour of crimson spooling over the floor, but why didn't it feel like it was my own?

Pushing my arms firmly into the solid ground, I lifted my weight so I could see what had happened for so much blood to have pooled around and in front of my heavy body after hitting the ground. I was greeted with glowing blue eyes, although they looked very dull and saddened; my heart skipped a beat as her eyes made solid contact with mine, not parting at all. She spoke very softly, but she was close enough to me that I could just hear her soft monotone voice.

"Wouldn't it have been a shame, if I had let him slice your insides out?"

The words that came from her mouth shocked me, she didn't seem like the kind of person to go around saying these things. Then again, a despair ridden world is one hell of a personality changer.

"E-eh? Excuse me?" These were the only words my flabbergasted self could manage to spit out, damn not having interacted with many people who didn't just want your head on a platter.

With her voice a little more raised this time, she responded with reaching up to my height and poking my nose.

"I was looking for a thank you, but I guess this'll suffice." She turned around to walk away, wiping the fresh blood droplets off her cheek and her messy brown hair moving graciously with her movements.

"Huh? W-wait! Where are you going?" She suddenly halted her movement, slightly turning her head towards me, presumably just enough to see my face through her messy hair.

"Hopefully somewhere I won't have to save some wimps life because they forgot to be cautious of their surroundings in an apocalyptic world." She turned her head back and continued to walk; this girl seriously didn't want anything to do with other humans... It made me curious to why she'd save me and then continue travelling without batting an eye.

I tried following her, but as I stepped within a metre of her she flung around and stared daggers at me with her eyes.

"If you continue to follow me I will not be held responsible for any harm caused to your fragile little body." She couldn't be serious; her body was smaller and looked just as fragile as my own.

I took a total of two more steps towards her before she leaped towards me, throwing my body back onto the ground as she help my throat, digging her sharp nails into my skin.

"W-...what a... re yo...u doin...g" I managed to choke out as her grip on my throat tightened, making it harder and harder to draw air into my lungs.

"What does it look like you moron? Maybe even what does it feel like... being saved just to be crushed by the exact same person... say, does it make you feel... despair?" Her voice cracked as the word despair flowed off her tongue, nails digging even deeper into the crane of my neck. A wicked smile spread across her face as she began to giggle... the laugh bordered between being cute and psychotic, making my heart skip a beat as she positioned her body above my upper chest, pinning down my arms with her knees. Her facial expression had changed completely from a deadpanned face to a sadistic smile in the blink of an eye.

She just sat there, staring into my eyes as she every slow slowly increased the grip around my neck, I could feel the trickle of warm blood roll down the side of my neck, slowly spooling onto the ground.

"W... hy..." it had started to hurt when I tried to speak; her grip wasn't loosening anytime soon, I had started hoping for the sweet embrace of darkness to take over my body... this hurt like hell.

"I bet you're already hoping for death, aren't you? I'm sure this brings you nothing but despair." Her grip had finally blocked my wind pipes, causing me to start gaging for air. But she just sat there, grinning menacingly as she sat pinning me down.

"Goodnight, my small hope filled boy." As my vision began to blur her face got closer to mine, as a warm sensation touched my cheek.