[Cremisi Neve]
Most people would go to say the world was drab, that there was no beauty left in it, that there was indeed no reason to bother to stop anywhere to look around, or to take in the appearance of a certain place. To most, the world had lost its entire luster, all its wonder. . . . To these people, the world had become a place just to survive; there wasnāt anything left within it worth a personās time beyond that. Thatās what the Outside seemed to be for many, stories were passed down among people of what it was the world used to be like; colors that spanned the imagination, marvels and sights that couldnāt even been conceived unless seen in person. . . . Tales were told of days where the sky used to show an endless blue, people spoke of days when the sun illuminated a world full of amazing things, where there was so much to experience, and so much to live for.
For most people, stories were all they had. In the Outside, a lot of people had forsaken the notion that there was anything worthwhile left there, anything worth seeking out or trying to experience. That was a sad truth.
And that sad truth was something she couldnāt bring herself to comprehend. She didnāt, and couldnāt, understand why it was so many people had become content with the idea of simply surviving, instead of thriving. Even if the world were screwed up beyond belief, even if it had fallen into a state of near-disrepair, how was it that people could come to give up so easy? The last year of her own life had been full of ups, downs, and all things between. Despite the fact that the world had lost a lot of the beauty it supposedly once held, she could still see a lot within it, many wondrous things that many seemed to overlook or had forgotten about. There was still so much it had to offer, and gave, she just couldnāt understand how people didnāt see that.
Maybe it was because of the fact that she was missing a large chunk of her memory, and knew little of suffering, of the pain that many had gone through in the Outside . . . but whatever the reason that she still held onto the idea that the world was still a lovely place, there was little that could be done to shake her of that belief. Even though the sky always shown a burnt orange during the day before sinking down below, turning the world dark, she couldnāt help but seeing it as beautiful in a strange way. Though the sky was not the endless blue spoken of in stories, it was still a color.
The surrounding land was silent, save for a single set of soft and light footfalls, trekking beyond the desolate and dilapidated ruins of what was once a small city. To her, this day was like any other, it consisted of her traveling aimlessly, wandering around to no place in particular. And, like every other day, she was traversing the flat, and barren land in an old, rather out of place school uniform. She couldnāt help her brown eyes glancing over and upon the remains of the city as she passed on through, a rather innocent expression highlighted her features, as her mind attempted to reconstruct what it was the place mustāve looked like before, when it was the sky still shone blue. Of course, her mind was unable to fathom such scenery, as sheād never seen anything like it before in her conscious memory, not in person anyway . . . there had been pictures though. Sheād seen pictures of what it was the world must have looked like before it had changed in strange sort of books, simple thin stacks of colorful paper stapled together in the middle fill with pictures and few words.
Yes, the world she had seen reflected in those pictures was gorgeous, wonderful and so full of life but something about it felt strange to her. It wasnāt the world she knew, even if it was amazing. So it was that she continued on walking, slowly, through the skeletal remnants of the rather small city, mind continually trying to reform the area within itself out of simple curiosity.
Eventually, she came to shrug to herself mindlessly, tearing her eyes away from the buildings to ahead of her as something of a goofy smile slipped over her lips. What does it matter? This is the world I was born into, no matter what it mayāve been like before, what I know now is what I know, and this world holds to it a lot of wonderful things, as Iām sure the previous did~ After a moment or two more of walking in silence, she began to hum rather softly, the tune aimless and random, though it seemed to have no rhythm or point, it filled the quiet air around her, the stagnant world felt a little more lively with the noise. It comforted her, having some sound around, it made the world feel less empty.
When it was she heard an unfamiliar sound though, she stopped walking, hands placed upon the straps of her backpack as she turned her head in every which way, having stopped humming in attempts to figure out what the noise was. It . . . sounded like something akin to a growl, but it didnāt sound like it was alive. The sound was deep, and harsh . . . and vicious, something to fear? The sound though, the way itād hit her ears, it sounded as if it were some distance off from her, the noise had echoed through the gaps between crumbling buildings to reach her. I donāt know what it was, and there is still a lot I donāt know about this world, so I donāt know if I should be afraid of whatever I heard. But, I guess I shouldnāt go and psych myself out over something when I donāt know. She tilted her head to the side, Though . . . I kind of want to know what made that noise.
Was it wise to give chase to something that had made such a strange noise? Nope . . . but wise wasnāt something Cremisi was. Looking around uncertainly, a rather innocent expression highlighting her features, the girl took off without a hitch, darting back and forth through desolate and rather bland streets, the sun beginning to set.
Cremisi continued on her way, a look of determination upon her features as she sought to find the source of that strange noise. Even if it was dangerous, she wanted to know. Eventually, the girl came to a skidding halt when it was she found herself before a set of train tracks. She glanced over them for a moment, as she tried to remember just what the significance was of the things. Trains, trains. . . . I think that I was told that those were the things that transport people through the Outside from between those places known as āZones.ā
Taking a few steps forward, looking a ways down the tracks, she noticed something unusualāthere was a train stopped right in the middle there. Thatās not normal. Cremisi thought, before her eyes happened upon something sitting next to it, that something had wheels . . . and it looked like it could move. Okay, so thatās probably not normal either since I donāt know what āthatā is. she reasoned, blinking a few times as she trotted forward, before it was she stopped where she was at hearing a wail come from inside of the train.
Her face lost every bit of its color at hearing the shriek, and in response to the cry, Cremisi found herself tensing up, a look of uncertainty happening upon her face. Thatās . . . not good. Something of a soft yelp slipped from her throat. There was trouble afoot, something was up on the traināand she didnāt know what, nor did she know how it was she could help, or if she even could. But, the scream she had heard sounded like it came from a child. Though a visible frown had formed on her face, Cremisi took in a deep inhale of air before it was she nodded to herself and forced an expression of sureness over her features. No matter what was going on, she was there and there might be something she could do, if she didnāt try something then it was just as bad as her doing whatever was up on the train herself. āOkay, this might be kind of scary Crem, but itāll be all right. It always turns out all right.ā she assured herself, bending forward a bit before it was her feet began to move her forward, toward the halted train and the strange thing next to it.
Although her efforts were indeed of goodwill, and seemingly heroic . . . Cremisi could not have looked less than that when it was she managed to stumble in the middle of her approach, and fall forward, flat on her face with a rather loud grunt.