Her first friend had been a small brown puppy. It was shuddering from the cold near a spiky bush when she found him on this fateful day. After all, it was because of the little dog that she had begun to kill. Scientific studies said that she would've started killing anyway, someday, that it was a destiny all dicloniuses couldn't escape. But Lucy didn't agree. Sometimes, when sleepiness got the best of her, she could picture a different future for the child she was, a future where the puppy was alive, where Kouta and her lived happily together, where killing and evil wasn't necessary.
« It's just a dog », some people might have said. But for the young woman, that dog wasn't just some silly pet, some cute animal she liked to play with. No, the puppy was much more than that ; it was what had kept her going against the mean boys' taunting, was also what had somehow decided the rest of her life.
She still felt pain and rage bubbling in her when she closed her eyes to remember that particular day when all had changed...
The boys had came into the room, mocking her as usual, only this time the leader was holding something small and brown and furry in his hand... something that yelped, kicked to get free, but failed each time. Something that looked very familiar indeed...
« No ! », Lucy had cried, panicking.
They had snickered and ignored her pleading words as they had lifted the baseball bat above their heads and beat the poor puppy, again and again... The little girl had cried and screamed and sobbed, but they never seemed to hear her...
« Please, don't ! Don't hurt him ! I'll do anything... »
« That was a great idea, guys ! I don't think I've ever seen the freak that upset before ! »
« And just for a sick puppy ! »
« Urgh, what do you know... She doesn't function in the same way as us. It's not like she's human anyway... »
« Yes ! Look, look at your stupid pet, you horned freak ! Look, look ! Do you like what you're seeing ? Look ! »
But soon he didn't have to tell her to look anymore. Soon there was so much blood, a warm sickly poodle, that she couldn't seem to take her eyes of it anymore. The puppy lay in the poodle, eyes glassy and dead, its tail completely loose and lifeless. The boys finally realized the truth.
« Damn ! I think we went a little too far maybe, guys... »
« What are you talking about ? Seeing that freak panick like that was worth everything ! »
« No, but look : the dog's tail isn't moving around anymore.... »
And the blood spread, and spread, and spread more... It almost reached Lucy's shoes. It was warm and disgusting, with an abominable smell that belonged to the darkest parts of the world.
The boys didn't know what to do. Confusion and a bit of guilt shadowed their young faces. They all looked at the little girl, as if she was supposed to clean up all the mess and not say a word to the teachers. After all, as they said, she was the freak. The one that wasn't human. The one that nobody liked. The one with no friends. Or, to put it shortly, the different one....
Freak !
Your horns are hideous ! Ugh, look at them...
All perky and pointy on her head... Creepy !
Mommy, I'm scared...
What are you ? Some kind of demon ?
Go away ! We don't want to play with you !
Freak !
Like you could ever be human like us...
No wonder she's always all alone...
Are you dumb enough to believe someone could actually like you ?
Freak !
Freak !
Freak !
She was shaking uncrontrollably from head to toe. She wasn't looking at her only and dead friend, nor was she looking at the clueless murderers. She wasn't looking at anything in particular ; her thin, pale arms were folded around her body, as if she was holding herself up, as if one wrong mive could break her into a million pieces, how fragile she was....
« You know...who aren't human ? » she asked in a trembling voice.
« You know...who aren't human ? »
« People like YOU ! »
And suddenly it was all red, red, from all the blood, and nothing else counted, but the pain, the neverending, always-lasting bitterness. The walls, the floor, the ceiling even was covered in blood, red and warm liquid that dripped onto the floor and formed large puddles.
In a corner, a head. One of the boys'head.
At the other side of the room, his mutilated body.
On a stained windowsill, another boy's head.
Under the plastic table, his headless cadaver.
The third one was cut in half at the waist, lying as lifeless as a doll near the door.
Even after all this years, the memory was still as vivid as if it had happened yesterday. She could still smell the odor of their filthy blood, feel the strange mixture of ecstasy and despair and emptiness as her dangerous vectors torn the boys apart. Yes, it had all been because of the puppy : why she had started killing, why she had met Kouta, why she had been jealous of that girl at the cranival, why the killing chain had begun, and finally why the authorities had caught up with her and sent her to this place where cruel experiments were done on her.
But not one day passed where Lucy would not miss her first, long-lost friend.
