Inherently Innocent

Through the Woods

The fights raged on outside. Juniper continued chanting along to the songs she was not supposed to know.

She had just returned from history class in order to keep on living through future books.

Her father opened the door, hitting it with his hips since both his hands held a bag full of cloth. Her mother crashed on the sofa, sighing and covering her face. Leilani's husband dropped the bag by the entrance. Their daughter stopped her chants.

"Juno, can you bring me a glass of water?"

Juniper wanted to help her dad, to see the new clothes he was sewing, yet she headed to the kitchen, seeing no joy in getting screamed at.

The bubbles rose with the pressure until the glass was full and her mother was satisfied. Juniper then hurried to her father, back on track to scramble around the bag.

"I had to design the dress for a nymph today. It's a pity I couldn't bring it. I really like how it turned out," Arnit smiled with childlike pride.

"What even for? It's going to end up torn by those weeds anyways," Leilani Moore uncovered her face to show a frown. "I can't believe the governor is having you design fancy clothes for nymphs when you could be designing actual suits for us."

"They aren't weeds, they're people," Juniper argued in a calm voice. She wouldn't want her mother to escalate the discussion.

Arnit Moore interrupted his family before they started arguing.

"There was an ishine with green hair today at the program. It had grass for hair, I believe. Its skin was like dark old bark, and sore as such," Juniper's dad loved changing the topic of conversation. About work. About the settlement. About anything as long as Leilani just frowned, instead of throwing the glass across the room.

Glass shattered besides Juniper. She instinctively covered her head and jumped away, thinking her mother had done what she feared, but it was the window that had broken. No edges cut her skin, only some large pieces left bruises before shattering on the ground.

From the broken window, she could see an ishine hiding behind a wall. It seemed human enough in shape, but odd in tones. Skin as green as a leaf, eyes a dark yellow, and hair sprouting white flowers all around.

The human guards marched on, but roots climbed up between the pavement. The flower-haired ishine buried its hands in the earth by its feet. They didn't do much other than break the sidewalk into little stones and be uncomfortable to walk on. Still, Juniper couldn't help but feel pity. The ishine was sent to attack and was alone in a sea of armed guards.

"What are you waiting for?" Leilani Moore shouted from the comfort of her home. The guards turned to her order and shot.

The bullets had no gunpowder. The settlement couldn't waste it on the many it needed. Instead, they were polished stones shot with the strength of an air pistol. That was all it took to kill an average ishine. Its skin would be pierced, and a white replacement for blood would pour. Despite having seen it countless times before, Arnit pulled Juniper away from the broken window.

A shot, and then the electric buzz of a taser.

"Get the weeds to my brother," Leilani shouted at the guards. Then she shouted at her family, pulling from Juniper's arm, "How did you get hurt?"

Juniper didn't answer while her mother pressed tightly against her bruised skin.

"This is a pain," Arnit looked out from the broken window, his eyes already complaining about the struggle it would take to get a good new glass in the settlement, "I can't believe an Ishine could get this far into the inner circle. Not even the centre is safe now? Just because the planet has been reborn," But Leilani's grip left Juniper's dark skin with a reddish tone, and the girl's yelp interrupted Arnit.