Worthless As The Sun Above Clouds

[Skraal]

((Emily Chou continued from Necessary Discrepancy))

"Ow."

"Ouch."

"Ow."

Emily grimaced as she took another step along the road, her feet aching. Sometimes in life there are things that you never even consider that you'd miss until they're gone, and as it turned out, having shoes to wear while outside was one of those things. No matter where she walked, it hurt - the surface of the road was painfully hot from the morning sun, but along the sides was a gauntlet of pebbles, prickly weeds and other pointed objects. She had decided pretty early on that navigating the side was better than burning her feet off on the asphalt, but it didn't make the rocks hurt any less to remember that the alternative was worse. Her best bet was to get this over with quickly, and walk as fast as she could without hurting herself too much.

The faint sound of rustling made her stop in her tracks, glancing around nervously to confirm that it was just the wind. Even though none of her classmates could possibly be there, it was impossible to shake the anxiety. She knew she was doing something wrong, that coming here was giving her captors what they wanted. At the same time, though, what other choice did she have? She had a huge target on her head, and no way to defend herself against her bigger and stronger classmates. There were a lot of people wandering around who'd clearly have no problem taking her out while she was weak. Even the nice ones would probably be scared enough of her to do something reckless.

Her stomach churned as she continued her journey, her thoughts racing. No matter what happened here, she was screwed. Even if she went home, what kind of life would there be for her? She'd be locked up for sure, thrown in a dark hole with all the other freaks of nature whose Gifts made it impossible for them to fit in with normal society. It would probably be better for everyone if she were dead, but...

Emily sighed in frustration. How many times had she already gone over this in her head? She felt like a broken record at this point, repeating the same self-pitying thoughts over and over again. It was so pointless; the fact that she was even walking down this road in the first place was because she was too much of a coward to kill herself. In any case, there would be plenty of time for her to beat herself up some more once this exchange was over with. She came to a stop and raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she looked around for... well, whatever they had waiting for her. Her gaze was soon caught by a glinting just up ahead. She soon made a run for it, hopping every few steps to keep her feet from cooking on the hot asphalt before finally making it over to her prize.

A few seconds later, the metal container was open, and she finally realized what they had given her. It was... a knife? Her stomach dropped as she picked it up and stepped back off the road, turning the object over in her hands. Any hope that she had on the way over soon evaporated as she realized the situation she was in. She didn't have the physical strength to use this, not against most of her classmates. Anybody could easily just knock her over and grab it out of her hands, or worse...

Emily felt like she was about to cry. The people running this thing had trapped her in a living nightmare, and even still, they weren't satisfied. Was it really necessary to taunt her like this? They could have at least given her something that she could use to defend herself.

Several long seconds passed before she looked up from the weapon, staring off into the distance. For just a moment, she held the foolish hope that maybe they'd let her exchange it for something else, before the realization of how stupid that thought was managed for force its way back into her head. She slid the knife into the pocket of her hoodie before slinking off, hurrying back to the relative safety of the compound building.

((Emily Chou continued in Gather In The Ashes))