A foal cheeps at the ragged corpses of its family members.
Its immediate group of family and friends are configured into twisted, bloody parodies of living form. Had the perpetrator spent a few more minutes of depravity upon the helpless imbeciles, they would have been rendered indistinguishable from processed meat run through a grinder, left splayed out on a grimy alley floor. The victims were reduced to smeared organs and flesh, barely identifiable aside from the tattered remnants of pelts clinging to the disemboweled guts painting the surroundings shades of red. The bloodshed left a rancid smell in the air. And now there was only one fluffy left to observe this carnage and drown in the terror of it all.
The shadow creeping over its frail frame caused the foal to twist around to face the evil in the shape of a man. Quaking fear began to take its hold over the creature as its undeveloped mind raced to conceive of the concept of mortality. Yet, even an adult fluffy is unable to internalize the plains of eternity; the so-called âforever sleepâ, so the foal is left to wallow in its ignorance and fear without any hope or comprehension.
âAm onwy widdow babbeh! Am onwy widdow babbeh! Nu huwt! Huggies anâ wub! Neeâ huggies anâ wub!â it cheeps and chirps in hopeless desperation as compelled by its baser instincts and mental predisposition ingrained by its corporate progenitors.
The figure in dark clothing looms without works or motion, seeming to revel in the panic and disorientation of the defenseless artificial being. In time, the foal conjures enough of its limited wits to continue, âAm onwy widdow babbeh, dinâ do anyfing wong! Wai huwt famiwy!? Wai gib wowstest foweba sweepies to famiwy!?â
Finally, the man moves. He went down to one knee in a slow, shade-like manner. Despite this, the terrified foal blundered over itself and flopped onto its back. While the fluffy blubbered anxious cries and tried to scoot away from the reaper, its sphincter contracted uselessly in an attempt to prevent that which fluffies are infamous for. With a disgusting âspurtâ, the foal released its wasteful bile all over its tail, ruining the minimal hair it was able to grow up until present. And the mess only grew from there, a semi-solid streak of nastiness leading back towards the lukewarm sanguine pools.
The perpetrator could only chuckle at the scene.
âLook at you. Look at where you live. âLiveâ,â the man repeated the word with a sarcastic bite, âyouâre worthless and youâre filthy. We kill your kind off in droves, and only the senile and sentimental keep the âbestâ of your kind around for their amusement.â
The man was talking for his own sake, rather than any desire to answer the foalâs sorrowful questions. The fluffy could not tell the difference, and took the words spoken at it as for what they were. âAm sowwy foâ beinâ bad fwuffy! Famiwy sowwy foâ beinâ bad fwuffies!â
âHmm?â the man was brought out of his introspection, and he went over the foalâs words in his mind again. Then, he grinned widely. âOh? Now, what makes you so certain that your family is sorry? Your family is dead! Dead! D.E.A.D. Can you even say that word? Is it too scary for you?â
âHuuuuu huuuu, nu wike dat wowd! Is bad wowd!â
âYouâre surrounded by the bloody bodies of your dead mother, father, brothers, sisters and whatever else relative or friend you might have had ten minutes ago! Youâre still concerned about bad words!? How much do I have to hurt you shitrats until you start behaving like reasonable animals!?â
The berating words earned another involuntary bowel movement. âAm onwy widdow babbeh! Am onwy widdow babbeh!â the foal whimpered before it started to suck on a hoof.
âYouâre just a little (Reddit-word), is what you are.â The man drew the instrument of his hatred from his coat: a humble mallet, stained red, with viscera still clinging to its steel exterior. Then, he leaned forward. The rapidity in which his body eclipsed the foalâs vision made it wail in fright. It peed all over its belly fluff.
âHere, you can have this. It probably smells like everyone you ever knew, still. Even with all the blood.â
The man set the mallet down head first beside the foal. The fluffy scrunched its eyes shut and recoiled away from the accursed object. He was right. It did smell like all the fluffies the foal ever loved. Horrible tears wracked its small body. The tears lodged in its throat, suppressed by the hoof, and they created a terrible choking sensation that left the fluffyâs throat feeling raw.
âGive it all your love. Get your hugs from it. This took everything you had away from you, and now itâs all you have left, little (Reddit-word),â the man said tauntingly. âLittle lonely hammer wants to be your everything, little baby (Reddit-word).â
âHuu huu⌠nu wike namesie⌠Widdow Fabbo sounds meanie namesieâŚâ
The man laughed heartily, which made the fluffy whimper and curl up into itself. âWell damn! Isnât that just adorable? Maybe I could see why people want to keep you fucking things around!â
The foal peeked up at the horrible man. âM-m-mistow be Widdow Fabbo nyu daddeh?â
âFuck no, idiot! But as much as I want to see you vermin dead, Iâll leave you alive. I never named a fluffy before, you see. I think the moment is something worth cherishing, regardless of whether you starve or retard yourself to death!â
The foal, now identifying itself as âLittle (Reddit-word)â, curled back into its defensive ball as the man stood up, cackling to himself. Little (Reddit-word) heard the sound of his boots fading as he walked away down the alley, although his laughter carried along the brick and metal corridor. After some time, the foal was left to its own. The relative quiet of the city-- for it was never truly quiet-- returned to the alley. The constant hum of electricity coursing through lamps, the drone of rubber on asphalt in the distance. Any number of other incidental, urban ambiences.
However, in the midst of this constant noise, was the palpable silence and physical absence of the fluffies turned into grisly mush on the pavement. Little (Reddit-word) wept and wept, curled into its pitiable ball. Its forelegs wrapped around its hind legs in a pointless self-hug as it cried. Unbeknownst to the fluffy, there were other things with just as good-- or better-- of a sense of smell as it possessed lurking out of sight. The blood in the air traveled, and they came.
Little (Reddit-word) would have been a goner as it was; far from ready to run-- if one can call any kind of fluffy agility ârunningâ. Or even âagilityâ, for that matter. Far too consumed in grief to even try, at that. The timing of the hounds at the precipice was a matter of serendipity, though.
For they were actually hounds. Stray dogs, left to suffer in neglect, starving for any morsel they could scrounge up. Their keen noses and hungry stomachs led a good number of them to converge on the site of the slaughter. Maybe the foal would have been eaten first before the still-flesh was consumed. Maybe the dead would have taken precedence over the foal alltogether.
There was no saying for certain what would have happened, because the dogs detected each other first. As they drew nearer and nearer to the place of contention, the snarling grew all the louder. The sound piqued the ears of the foal, and fluffy cowardice inspired its drive to struggle once more.
Little (Reddit-word) scrambled to its hooves and did a double take at the alley. Its breaths came as rapid panting with its tongue out, not unlike the canines that wished to feed. A foam started to build up at the sides of the foalâs mouth, before vomit flowed tepidly from its gut. Little (Reddit-word) paid little mind to it. The foal had to hide somewhere!
The nest-place did not prevent the others from taking the forever sleep, so Little (Reddit-word) knew it could not rely on it. Credit where credit was due for something with such limited intelligence. The foal spotted the spout of a rain gutter, and without any other immediate alternatives, it hurried over to it. Face-first, naturally. It was a tight fit, and the foal barely fit the full length of itself into the drain.
In such a confined space, the stench of the feces in its coat was nigh unbearable. Little (Reddit-word) sobbed and muttered its misgivings to itself. As undesirable as its position was, the foal found fixating on its own suffering and sadness was a pleasant alternative to listening to the dogs battling just outside.
Snarling.
Growling.
Barking.
Guttural, bestial noises. Then the yelps and whimpers of pain as their powerful jaws did their deadly work on each other. Some scampering paws as the defeated hounds fled for their lives. Eventually there were only a select few remaining, and through natureâs gladiatorial methods, the dogs had earned each otherâs respect. Enough to share the spoils that summoned them.
Little (Reddit-word) kept on complaining so that it wouldnât have to hear the slobbering. The wet smack of teeth ripping into meat. Of tongues lapping up blood. Enough passed that even the victors of the battle moved on, and Little (Reddit-word) drew up the courage to leave the drain.
Courage. And disgust, which was really something for a filthy feral. The foal turned a begrudging eye to where its family used to be. Hardly anything was left of their ruined bodies. Even the hammer was disturbingly clean of their remains.
Little (Reddit-word) choked back some more tears. âBawky munstas took famiwy anâ fwends! Bawky munstas⌠and munsta-mistow! Nu wike! Nu wanâ! Wanâ fwuffies backsies! Am onwy widdow babbeh! Am onwy⌠Widdow Fabbo⌠huuu huuu huuuâŚâ
Depressive anguish came over the foal once more, but it knew it could not remain in its familial alley anymore. Fluffies did not remember much, young fluffies especially. Any joyful memories it may have had of its herd were already overwritten with imagery and sounds of ruthless executions, and the loathsome words of the one who had done the wicked deeds.
Little (Reddit-word) wandered onwards without a goal, except for the stubborn directive to âliveâ. But what life was there to be had for a lonesome baby in this world where monsters descended on fluffies and splattered them across the concrete? Where monsters came in the dark to eat their remains without care?
What was life outside of the two enclosing walls of an alley, where there was nothing to subsist on other than garbage?
What was life for things that were not hated?
How did people live?
Little (Reddit-word) wanted to know these things as it hobbled into the unknown with teary eyes and an aching heart. It was still alive in body, but the spirit was already sleeping forever, it felt like.