"Speaking"
Thoughts
"English"
*Sign language*
It was a cold, wet day in October when the emergency call came in. An ambulance was dispatched and the nearest officers on duty were alerted but by the time the flashing blue and red lights arrived on the scene it was too late. A body lay on the riverbank, soaked through and covered in bruises and gashes. Lying next to the body is a wet sack that was found to contain the bodies of three puppies that were later shown to have died of exposure to the elements. Cause of death for the young woman found next to the river is thought at first to be drowning, but despite water being found in her lungs the true cause of death is recorded as asphyxiation through strangulation. The identity of the young woman is never discovered.
Walking home on a dark, rainy evening through the warehouse district was, in hindsight, not the best idea. While safe enough during the day, and regularly patrolled during the night, it was still a dangerous area and most knew to avoid it once the sun went down. Which, I did in fact know. I just didn't care enough. It was late, I had been working for the last 18 hours and had to be at class in another 7. So despite the risks involved I took the shortcut through the warehouse district that follows along the edge of the river. It would have been fine had I not stumbled upon a man stuffing something small and crying into a sack before tying it close and tossing it into the fast running water. I might have even managed that except for one thing. It had been raining the last several days and the river was unusually high and faster than I had ever seen it. I didn't even have time to consider the danger, as soon as I saw the sack go flying I took off sprinting as fast as I could. I flew past the bastard and threw myself into the water after the sack. The water was freezing and it felt like there were rocks everywhere as I was tossed about in the current. I broke above the water gasping, but was still close enough to grab the sinking sack and haul it to the surface. I managed to work my way back to the shoreline, slamming into rocks as a way to keep moving sideways. Bruised and half drowned, I reached the river's edge and hauled myself and the sack back unto dry land. Still breathing hard, I untie the sack with shaking hands before I was ripped away. I jabbed an elbow back and manage to turn around to face my attacker to see that the person who had grabbed me was the same man that had tossed whatever small creature where in the sack to drown. Dazed from the river, the next thing I knew the man had his hands rapped around my throat. I struggle as best I could, but exhausted and half-drowned there is nothing I can do as the world goes dark around me. My last thought is that I definitely should have just taken a cab.
And so, on October 19th at 2:01 a.m. 22-year-old Evaline Jones closes her eyes for the last time. And a universe and several months away, at 2:02 a.m. on February 19th 3 ½ year old Hunter Kaida opens her eyes for the first time.
And promptly screams.
Tiny hands immediately clamp themselves over her mouth, and she just sits there for several minutes breathing heavily through her nose. It's still dark, but my surroundings have changed drastically and NOT because I've been taken to a hospital. I'm also drastically smaller than I'm used to being, though I seem to have gained more hair as some of it gets trapped beneath me and pulls harshly. I have no idea what's happened here or where I am, but it's too open and I scramble out of the clearing and into the surrounding trees. I don't stop once I've entered the tree line, some inner feeling driving me onwards for what feels like hours but is probably not even one. Eventually, I come across a group of giant trees and one has some exposed roots. Exhausted and with nothing left to loose I crawl down into the potential safety and curl up into a ball. Everything will make more sense in the morning, hopefully this is all just some hallucination and I'll wake up in the hospital.
Morning came early
