Today is the day. Weekend is in the past, and Rusty knew that he should get ready for school. He didn't really care about preparing his backpack. Lessons in Zoo Phoenix Academy were taught without any textbooks, and notebooks were optional. If he could he would go back to sleep, but there was still one more thing that he needed to do before he was ready. Check his appearance.
After a while of staring into a mirror and brushing his fluffy fur, he thought he was ready. The mirror didn't lie. He was a handsome yellow dog, if a little bit short, with a nice fashion sense. A jacket he decided to wear really suited him, even if it was a little roughed up the red and white blended really well with his yellow fur. He also usually wore a red collar, but today he didn't feel like putting it on.
It was 7AM, meaning he had about an hour before school starts. Rusty quickly went down the stairs and ran towards the exit. Since his parents weren't home
he needed to lock the door. The neighbourhood Rust lived in wasn't the best, so if you didn't want your things to get stolen the doors had to be locked.Even though his section of the city was one of the worst in Safe Haven, it didn't look that way. The flats maybe looked old-fashioned but they did their job. Their job of course being to give homeless people a place to live. The real reason why it was named one of the worst sections, lied in how close it was to the vampire district. Everyone in town knew how dangerous a vampire can be. Even though attacks involving vampires and Safe Haven citizens were really rare, everytime there was one TV blew it out of proportion, making vampires the enemy of the people rather quickly. Technically the vampire district is a part of Safe Haven, but the governor of the city was more than happy to exclude that section from maps, presumably to distance from vampires even more.
After a while, being a vampire was considered a curse. Everytime there was one in the more wealthy parts of Safe Haven, bystanders would either distance themselves , or look down on them. All of that because a couple of their kind went on a rampage years ago. The gossips about vampires were absolutely wild. With some claiming they can turn others into vampires too, or that they're immortal, or even that they're the most powerful creatures to ever exist. Of course while these aren't true for your average vampire, a really small minority of them did actually live longer and some even had supernatural abilities. Most of them didn't mean any harm though, they were just citizens trying to fit in with the world that just doesn't have any purpose for creatures like them.
In order for the people to not revolt against the state, the city needed an enemy. Vampires were just the perfect candidates. They were stronger than your average citizen, they looked more intimidating, and they were an already economically dispriveleged group. The only thing city officials had to do is just over report on incidents involving vampires, and throw a little lie here and there, and voilà, you got yourself a scapegoat for all of your problems.
Rusty rarely visited the vampire district, mainly because something about the building structure in there just put him off. It felt like every house there was haunted, and the massive homelessness problem experienced there, did not make things prettier. In some sense Rust felt bad for vampires in the city, they were judged way harder than normal inhabitants. Getting a job, earning respect, and all the other problems vampires had to face would sound like a nightmare to an average animal, yet most of the citizens didn't want the system to change. They were fine with it because it didn't affect them personally.
The dog was lost in his thoughts, the real world had so much injustice. Things needed to change, the people in power were too corrupt. The rights of normal citizens were being broken almost everyday in the name of "fighting terrorism". Random check-ups on the street, special treatment for anyone who looked somewhat like a vampire, police storming into houses just to see if there isn't any suspicious behavior. The world was going down, people were more displeased with state officials each and everyday. After a while groups that openly opposed the regime were formed. Of course their lifespan was short, because when news about them got out the police were more than eager to silence the rebels. It felt like there was no hope for the future.
As Rusty went through the streets, he looked at the houses around him. Just a couple of years ago they were blooming with life, but now all that was left of them were molding rundown builidings. Turning left on that street Rust saw a crowd gathered in front of a TV shop. Interested he went and joined them. Being one of the last beings to join into the crowd he was at the back. His height didn't allow him to see what the others looked at, since he was behind way taller people. The only way was to squeeze through, and so he did.
As he progressed through the crowd, he finally found a spot where he could watch what was on the TV without anyone blocking his way.
-Welcome to todays news report. I will be your host today.- The host was a rabbit dressed in formal clothing, her face didn't show any emotions, she was looking at the camera with a cold, dead stare.- As you may know, there have been dangerous criminals causing unrest in the feline district lately. Our police force is doing everything in their power to bring peace in the streets. As of now there have been a couple of casualties on the opposing team. Stay strong citizens, we will get through this togheter.
After that monologue the cities lights went off. Rusty looked around the crowd, to his surprise they didn't mind the electricity going down, they were still staring at the TV. Some with visible sadness, knowing that there is no hope for the future, others with delight, because they felt like the rebels got what was coming to them.
Rust pulled out his phone and looked at time. To his relief he wasn't late for school, ZP academy was just around the corner and he still had around 10 minutes to get there. He quickly got up and went his way, leaving the store he was just in front of. While the news were certainly unsettling, he had more important problems right now. He had to get mentally ready for school.
As he went through the entrance of the academy the front lights of the school lit up, meaning the electricity problem was fixed. Rusty knew he was prepared for whatever this day had in store for him, but was he really?
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Hi, it took me a while to write this. Let me know what you think.
Love ya bye!
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Inevitable Collapse (Rusty and Autumn thingy)
FanfictionSafe Haven is getting depicted as an utopia, a place where eveybody can find themselves. While it's easier for citizens to see it as it gets potrayed on the TV, the truth is way more complicated. Rusty goes through his somewhat normal life hoping fo...