A Seal

Chapter 2:

"A child's innocence is as delicate as human decency." ~T.I.

A child comes to view. It's running, gasping for air. Each step sloppier than the previous one. It sobbed with its eyes squinted shut. It wasn't going somewhere it was running from something. The child's clothes stuck to its skin, probably because it was standing in the rain for a while. Well, more like running against it. The child only opened its eyes to bat away a mix of tears and rain water away from its eyes, to make sure they weren't running into the street, or to dodge the occasional light post. Even if it was so late at night, plenty of cars zoomed past on the child's left. They probably were heading back to their homes before curfew started. Some spraying dirty street water to the child. Yet, it appreciated the cars zooming past it. Since they were the only light source. A strange blackout struck about 6 blocks around where the child was. So there wasn't much for the child to see any ways, but there was plenty for the child to hear. The echoing pitter-patter of its footsteps. The loud mechanical whirring a distance behind it. Any other person would think they were the gas power plants of the buildings, to their right, as a result of the black out. But the child knew what it was, yet it didn't at the same time. It was confused, scared and most of all helpless. The buildings and alleyways to their right were empty and closed so the only way was to run forward. The buildings and the surroundings seemed the same to the child as if it was looping. And like a passing car, the mechanical whirring sped up and now sounded by the right side now. The child squealed as a response and suddenly a metal slab shot out of the darkness of one of the alleyways. The child felt it slap against its left ankle and pushed it against a broken light post. The child slid along the ground until their ankles hit hard against the light post. This one thing was enough to probably break their ankle. The child screamed into the dark. And they slowly opened their eyes to see their foot contorted abnormally against the foot of the lightpost. A metal knot the shape of a horse shoe pinned their foot with remarkable strength. A magnet. The child bit their tongue and placed their hands on top of their lips. They felt so much pain the rest of their body felt numb. The feeling of agony and fear increased exponentially. At this point the mechanical whirring basically deafened the child. Even so the child squirmed, screamed, hissed, anything that will give it any type of relief. This was all for nothing, the whirring stopped and a voice said "Your fear comforts us."