And on that day, humanity remembered being caged like birds.

Douglass had just finished watching his favorite anime, Attack on Titan, before he went to bed. The cool night air was soothing, but not soothing enough to ease the weird feeling that he had in his chest.

Paying no mind to it, Douglass quickly let his mind wander and he drifted off to sleep.

The next day Douglass noticed that it was a bright and sunny spring morning as he traveled downstairs to grab breakfast.

"Good morning," said his younger sister, Enma, as she was eating her cereal. Enma had short black hair that was normally pulled into a ponytail and had sparkling black eyes. She looked a bit like Douglass, but not much.

Douglass simply ignored her as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"I said, good morning," Enma repeated sharply, shooting her brother a glare.

"Yeah," Douglass muttered, not bothering to make eye-contact and instead focusing on his breakfast. "And I didn't respond. Big whoop."

"Why are you always so annoying?" Enma snapped, standing up. "I try to be a good sister and you don't even seem to care! For once can't I at least get a simple "good morning"? Is that too much to ask?"

Douglass sighed and rolled his eyes, swallowing a bite of cereal. "Shut up, you're noisy."

"I'm noisy?!" Douglass fought back the urge to groan as he knew where this conversation was headed.

"I'm not the one who repeatedly babbles on about anime and manga! Oh, the titans will be real one day. I believe in titans, Enma, you just have to listen to me. Humanity is going to be in danger soon, Enma." Enma rolled her eyes in annoyance as she mocked her brother. "You're the noisy one, Douglass, not me!"

"Shut up!" Douglass snapped, standing up and nearly knocking his chair over. He shot a nasty glare towards his sister and hissed, "You don't know, Enma. I could be right one day, and then what? I would be ready, but you would die so easily!"

Picking up his now empty bowl, Douglass tossed it into the sink and grabbed his backpack, storming out of the room with his last words. "I friken hate you."

Enma simply sighed and sank back into her chair, placing her face in her hands.

All she had wanted was a simple "good morning".

-/-

Douglass trudged his way to school casually, as if the little argument between him and his sister had never happened. It used to faze him when he was younger, but now it happened so often that he didn't even care.

As Douglass continued walking though, he couldn't help but feel that odd sensation creep back into his chest.

'I know I didn't forget anything,' he thought to himself silently. But still, the feeling didn't go away.

Deciding it was nothing, Douglass brushed it off and continued walking.

-/-

First and second period went by quickly as Douglass did nothing but daydream, wishing something interesting would happen. The only thing that had happened so far was when he received a referral in science for falling asleep while the teacher was talking (for the third time this week).

During his snack break he hung out with his friend, Charles, who was almost the same height as Douglass, had curly brown hair, and also had more weight to him than Douglass did. The weight was mostly muscle though, and Douglass knew that Charles could easily beat him in a fist fight.

Meanwhile, he saw his two other friends, Mai and Alice, hugging each other and cuddling, like always.

"I think they're going out or something," Charles stated.

"Yeah, but they deny it whenever you ask them," Douglass replied, opening a bag of chips.

Charles shrugged and stole a chip from his friend. "Don't you ever wonder what would happen if one of them left or moved away?"

"Yeah, I do," Douglass nodded his head in agreement. "Although, I bet the other one would do whatever possible to be with the other."

Soon after their little conversation, the bell for third period rang. Saying his goodbyes to his friends, Douglass began to walk to his class, but still noticed the odd feeling in his chest from the morning. At times it was even hard for him to breathe, but he could contain himself enough so that others wouldn't become suspicious.

Knowing that he most certainly had not forgotten anything at home, he began looking around for something out of place; something to be wrong. No matter how hard he thought about it, it just kept getting worse.

Finally getting to Mr. Tatsu's class (History class), he noticed that the feeling in his chest had suddenly vanished without warning.

'Phew', Douglass was relieved that it had finally stopped and that he could breathe right again. he finally felt calm as he sank into his seat.

It was around ten minutes into class when Douglass looked out the window…and saw…it.

There was a house being destroyed on the hill right near his classroom (the school was surrounded by hills). It…the thing… that was destroying the house had to be more than two stories tall, with bloody teeth and a wicked smile. It was holding a girl no more than six years old above its mouth, watching as she squirmed with all her might to break free.

'No…' Douglass thought, mechanically standing up from his seat with wide eyes. 'This isn't happening… this isn't happening!'

Douglass ran to the window and began pounding on the glass, trying to get the things attention.

"Stop it! Just stop it! Put her down!" he screamed, pounding on the glass even harder now.

When Douglass turned to the class they were all giving him odd looks, staring out the window in confusion.

Douglass looked back outside, only to notice that the thing wasn't there anymore. It had vanished into thin air, like it had never been there in the first place.

"Douglass, what's the matter?" Mr. Tatsu asked cautiously, inching towards his student in concern.

"I… I-I saw it!" Douglass defended himself, gesturing to the empty outside. "It was huge, a-and it was holding a girl! Mr. Tatsu, i-it…it was a-"

"TITAN!" Mai broke the silence with a blood curdling screech, looking out the other window that was next to her.

Douglass' heart sank in his chest as the students screamed in fear, stumbling and pushing each other out of the way to get to the other side of the class.

The titan smashed through the glass window without hesitation and took hold of Mai, its large hand covering her whole body with ease.

Douglass rushed at the titan in an attempt to free his friend, grabbing a desk and slamming it into the titan's large eyes. When the creature barely loosened its grip on his redheaded friend, Douglass pushed the legs of the desk further into the titan's eyes and yanked his friend out of its grip, barely prying her out without hurting her.

"Everyone, shut up and follow me!" Mr. Tatsu called over the student's scared shrieks. "I know somewhere safe to hide for now!"

The students in the class didn't have to be told twice and followed Mr. Tatsu's orders, dashing out of the room and into one of the hallways.

As Douglass ran with Mai, he looked back at the creature with wide eyes, fear slowly beginning to gnaw at his heart.

The creature simply stared back with a smile, showing its red blood-stained teeth.