Plump pink lips, soft blue eyes.

A sweet smile though it's only a disguise.

Chapter 1: Wilting Innocence

Age: 5

Maria ran out of the house, yelling a farewell to her mom, having promised her mother she would stay near the house. She ran all the way to the creek bed before sitting down, the creek that normally flooded during the summer months. Carefully she removed her shoes and socks and stood up, getting into the creek, walking around with her dress hiked up high, the feel of the cool smooth stone against the soles of her foot soothing. After a couple minutes of enjoying the cool water she reached down and picked up stones, trying to skip them like she saw some older boys do but to no avail. In her frustration she threw one of the bigger stones at a tree. THUNK! She heard the stone hit something solid and it didn't sound like a tree. Plop! With a flash of black something landed in the water near the tree. She frowned and shrunk back afraid she had done something wrong then finally approached the tree. A starling lay dead in the water underneath its branches, blood leaving through a gash on its chest. With a gasp Maria quickly got it out of the water and examined it, trying to bring it back but it was no use, the stone she threw had all but crushed the small speckled bird's rib cage.

She frowned and patted the bird's head with a finger. "I'm sorry little birdy," she said softly before pausing, seeing the glimpse of yellow inside the gash. "What's that?" she asked before searching for a sharp rock, using it to carefully cut the bird open. She stared while she examined the soft yellow tissue and the graying heart and lungs. Maria had never seen something like this. It was so interesting. She couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from turning up in a soft smile. The heart, the lungs, the digestive tract, it was so different from how she imagined the inside of a body looking. By the time she was done the bird was nothing but scraps for the buzzards to devour. She wanted to look at another animal.

She went back to her house. Her home was more like a shack made of aging wood and a straw thatch roof. When her father was alive though he had added a nice covered porch and even raised the home on stilts for when the creek flooded. She kneeled down and called softly for the cat that lived under their slightly elevated home. After a couple minutes it came out and rubbed against her leg with a soft mew. "Good kitty," she softly muttered, petting the young cat before picking her up and walking to the creek. "Don't worry it's okay," she said, it looked up at her and didn't make a noise. The cat was unable to tell what she was planning behind that soft smile and innocent baby blue eyes. "You ready kitty?" she asked, grabbing it by its paws.

"Meow?" it mewed in a frightened tone before Maria dunked it into the creek, the cat thrashed but with her grip on its paws she couldn't scratch Maria until finally water flooded the small creatures lungs and it went still. Maria left the cat under for another minute before lifting her back up to make sure it had drowned. She carried the cat back to her house and slipped inside, sneaking a knife from the kitchen. Once back outside beside the cat she sliced through its soft flesh and peeled back its skin to expose the young cat's still warm organs. Maria smirked while she carefully removed the organs and laid them out.

"Maria!? What are you doing?" Katerina, Maria's mother, yelled after walking over.

"Mommy!" she cried happily, "look, I think this is the cat's heart. Oh, and this here is the tummy," she said with a giggle. Katerina quickly walked over and grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the dismembered cat. "Mother?" she asked.

"Maria, I can't believe you would do such a horrendous thing," Katerina said, trying to hide her rage.

"But mom," Maria started to plead.

"Go inside and work on the loom."

"But-"

"Now!" her mother yelled. Maria jumped at her mom's scream and quickly ran inside, the blood that stained her hands falling onto her lilac flowers covering up their soft scent. After a pregnant silence Katerina looked at the animal with a frown then went to go get the shovel. By night fall there was a hill of upturned soil with one lonely wilting white daisy on top.