.flow 02 - White

It's a game, really—no finalized product name as of yet, besides 'flow'. The whole thing's artificial intelligence; it evolves and adapts according to the subject.

So you're using her because...

Killing two birds with one stone—it'll help us get into that head of hers. Especially now that the board's considering cutting the budget again—clever, don't you think?

What if something goes wrong?

That's what we have you for.


She used to live in a world of smoke and ash and snow, all mingling together into a single colorless blanket. Snow from the sky, ash from the smokestacks—covering everything with white. But what Sabitsuki remembered most was the quiet—the white silence of a world dying slowly.

The shrill cry of the whistle, carrying farther and clearer than any voice could in that smoky white world, was a familiar call. Mother had trained her to react at the first sound of that whistle; it was the signal to return home.

Where's Mommy?

We're sorry, Sabitsuki. There wasn't anything that could be done.

The little girl looked up at the men who were so much taller than her, her face half-covered by the hand-knit orange scarf wrapped several times around a skinny neck.

"You'll be moving as well—this area is too polluted for young children to live in."

The little girl turned her gaze downwards, staring at palms that were stained green from exploring the maze of flowery vines. She liked the ashes, even though the tall men tried to convince her that the air was bad for her health. "Where will I live?"

"Far away from here—a nice apartment, better than this one, with an adult to look after you."

"What about the hospital?" Little Sabitsuki didn't like hospitals even when she was young—but she had to go. She was sick; she always had been. At least she had friends at the hospital, who were as weak and sickly as she was. "What about the other children? Can they come too?"

"They can't. You know that. But we're placing you in another hospital—almost five times bigger than your old one. You'll even go to a school there, you'll find plenty of friends."

Friends.

The funeral was the very next day, held not far from the slums she lived in—so Sabitsuki could still see the smoke rising from the rusted pillars through the thin black veil of her dress, the smoke that killed her mother and would kill her too if she stayed. The dress was also old—borrowed for the occasion.

As they lowered the casket into the earth, she wondered: why did people bury their dead? Maybe people were like the plants in the underground labyrinth where she spent her days exploring—forgotten and abandoned underneath, yet still alive and growing. Maybe Mommy will come back, she reasoned. Maybe even the hospital children, the ones who disappeared one day for emergency treatment and were never seen again.

They weren't dead. They were just sleeping—and they'd be back. Until then she'd have to take care of them, maybe she'd ask the tall men for a watering can. Plants needed water, and if she watered her dead mother and friends they'd come back.

Someday.


AN: Plant, Dress, Whistle. And maybe even the Watering Can.

So uh, yeah. Basically, first-person present tense will be present day Sabitsuki, holed up in her apartment room. I think these chapters will sort of be like semi standalone one-shots - my own theories on Sabitsuki's past, to explain the effects that present day Sabi collects throughout the game.

Oh and this chapter is horrible. It's so short. I don't think I've written a chapter so short in my life. Braindead and brainmushed. Blegh. Thanks for reading!