It's Already Inside You | Soul Eater

1 || Venom

I'm so cold... I'm so broken... shackled, chained, constricted, and poisoned. It was punishment, and I knew it. I knew I did something wrong, but how was I to know what? My mother must know, because it was she who imprisoned her own daughter. I'm a terrible, terrible child.

"Well well well," a cruel voice calls out to me. A voice full of hateful venom. Mother's voice. I quiver even more, but not in pain. In fear. "Have you learned your lesson yet?"

She smirks at the sight of my suffering as she strides easily over to where I lay quivering. I look away quickly. I just couldn't hold her animal-like gaze.

"Y-yes ma'am," I squeak, terrified. When she glares at me, I add in a shaking voice, "Y-yes...L-Lady Medusa..."

Knowing how she hates when I call her Mother if I'm being punished at the time, I wanted to please her. Sometimes, those tiny efforts balanced between my life and death.

The snake woman grins evilly.

"Good." Her tone seemed to be even more poisonous than usual - if that were remotely possible. "And next time you contradict me, I shall plant a snake within you." The snake tattoos on her arms writhe and twist, causing my stomach to feel like it was dipped in ice-cold water.

At one time, she planted a snake in me for a week. I was terrified that she was going to make it strangle me from the inside out. It's not the worst she's done, though. Definitely not the worst. I have the scars and ever-lasting phobias to prove it. Though, I thought the lasting effects of fear were worse than that of scars. Far worse.

"Now," she snaps coldly, releasing me. The shackles fly away, leaving me weak and in pain on the cold marble floor. "Go to your room until further notice." I start to get up, each joint aching terribly. "I don't have all day!"

I jump at her sudden loud tone, heart racing in my chest.

Medusa's mouth twists into a merciless smirk.

"Go, child," she hisses. I felt like I was being stabbed by a thousand needles at her words. I scurry out of the room, and she calls after me with a voice of disgust - "And for goodness sake, act more dignified!"

I slow down and walk with my head held high when I really felt like crying.

I open the large door to my large room, and stare at my large, welcoming, inviting bed. It seemed so comfortable after five whole hours on the floor, but I knew better. It was too good to be true. I seize the thin black cover and throw it back.

An angry cobra slithered in my sheets, it's eyes glimmering at the prospect of sinking its teeth in my flesh. I close my eyes and wait for the pain, knowing that if I were to even try and avoid this, Mother would punish me once again. She enjoys seeing me in pain. She enjoys seeing anyone in pain, to be honest.

The bite came quick on my arm, venom rushing into my blood stream. Another one on my leg. And another on my ankle. My body felt like cold, liquid lead was coursing through it. Immediately, black spots dot my vision. I thought I could feel myself slipping away by the second.

Though extremely painful, the venom is probably only meant to produce pain and muscle spasms - the usual. Mother wouldn't kill me. No, if she killed me, she wouldn't have me to torture and hurt. The snake finishes biting my body and slithers back to its master, apparently satisfied with the amount of blood I've lost.

My knees buckle on me and I fall to the hard floor, wincing as my head hits the ground. My body begins to shake, my muscles out of my control. I could feel my limbs contorting like a human pretzel. My mind jerked out of my soul's reach, and I couldn't catch my breath.

I could hear Mother's voice in my mind.

That's right, she sneers evilly. You deserve this pain.

I don't even remember what I did. Whatever it was, though, Mother didn't like it. She didn't like it at all. That much could be clear to anybody, as twisted as she was. If she isn't pleased, nobody is. Correction: if she isn't pleased, nobody is left to feel the same way. 

Suddenly, I'm back to reality again. I take a long, shuddering breath, cold and fresh after being unable to breathe. I savor it's replenishing properties, but that's when the pain took over. My head throbs as I clutch my mirror table and stagger to my feet, shaking.

Slowly, causing a giant stab of pain in my spine, I bring my head up and look in the mirror. I gasp as I see a creature who is in horrible shape. Someone who seemed so... defeated.

The girl staring back at me had the most gaunt face, her icy blue eyes ringed with dark circles. Her pale cheeks were scratched up, red blood running down them as if she were crying. Her hair was tangled and matted, so black that it almost appeared to be blue. Her cheeks were hollow, for lack of food. That girl is me. Kimiko.

My name, Kimiko, means Ruling Child in Japanese, because my mother wanted me to bring great terror under evil rule. I don't see how my name effects that, because I lack in the desire to do so. If I had it my way, no one would rule anybody. We would be a happy race all together. No need for justification, no need for fighting, no need for anything that lost us our lives and our energy.

An ideal world.

Suddenly, my muscles no longer have the strength to hold my body weight. I drop to the floor with a loud crash. I don't even have the energy to wince as the table's contents crash all around me. I lay here, helplessly, as my body slowly gets poisoned even more after each passing second. I try to take deep breaths, try to get off the floor and back on my feet, but I can't.

I can't do one single thing.

A tear rolls down my cheek as I pray that Mother won't hurt my brother. She likes to take her anger out on him sometimes, even after punishing me.

My brother, Crona, is the only friend I have. I can't say that we were the best of friends when Mother first created me. We were terrified of our own reflections, so you could only imagine the fear we brought to each other at first. But one day, we realized something. Something that brought us together.

I'll go into details later. Right now, my blood was starting to stain the floor. Even the tears that pathetically rolled down my cheeks mixed in with the red, and caused a steady, pinkish flow. Slowly, painfully, I glance in front of me and see my conveniently-landed bandages.

With the most painful movements yet, I slowly inch my hand closer to it. I cry out in pain as my hands begin to shake. As fast as I could go, I wrapped my wounds tightly. My nerves were on fire as I did so, and I start have more spasms. I finish minutes later, taking so long only because of the way things hurt.

The white of the cloth is immediately stained red. Suddenly, I can't hold out much longer. My head drops to the floor and I black out.