Chapter Text
When Jane was 19, she loved to see the stuffed animals in her father's pawnshop. Thomas, a gentle, outgoing and calming man, was obsessed with taxidermy. Unlike him, Jane didn’t take his animal stuffing too seriously.
That Thursday morning, she left her cabin to hunt in the forest where she practically lived. She put countless bullets in her shotgun, maybe even more than she should - after all, last time she'd gone hunting, Jane had lost all the ammunition to a single deer.
Jane walked through the muddy forest, flooded by last week's rain, uncertain of whether she could get a boar or any animal to dine on. On a hill near her, there were some important things: a wolf pack, a family of deers and also rabbits. One of Jane's goals was to learn to hunt small game, even if she has to take longer. Wolves, however, were creatures that Jane hated. Thomas had been the one who taught her how to hunt deer for the first time. When she had tried it on her own, a wolf had attacked the animal - it was that day that she gained the scar on her right eye. Jane walked through the muddy forest and flooded by last week's rain, while she was totally uncertain whether she could get a boar or any animal to dine.
On a hill near her, there were two important things: a wolf pack, and a family of deers. One of Jane's biggest targets was to hunt medium animals, even if they were not tasty. But what your father taught her was to stay away from wolves. Wolves are creatures that Jane in which she feels a little trauma, either because she gained a scar to suffer an attack on one of them, or because they steal her prey. Or just because she just hated them.
It was a very tiring walk for Jane to get up the hill, her boots got stuck to the ground and came out of her foot. And she could smell the stinky smell of sludge that infused some ends of that forest. She then spotted something moving, hiding in the bushes full of thorns and dry branches. This caught her eye, the thing moved more abruptly. Jane crouched behind some bushes and put more ammo in her shotgun.
What came out of there was just a deer that was slowly chewing dry grass, and that somehow relieved Jane's stress. That in her head, I thought it was just a wolf. Jane hadn’t believed that a deer was right in front of her, waiting for her to be slaughtered. And she couldn’t miss this opportunity, because after all, it's been two days since she hasn't had a decent meal.
She aimed the barrel of the shotgun at the animal's head, which was pousing for more grass to chew. Jane has never been so focused, eyes totally glued and static, nothing made her lose attention. Jane prepared to shoot; the deer raised his head in alert.
" Shit..." she thought the deer could escape, but stood there, totally static. This gave her a chance to aim again, this time in the animal's chest, with her eyes as focused as a predator and its prey, she found herself prepared to pull the trigger.
The animal shook his head, but it didn't take Jane's attention. The deer again chewed grass, Jane slowly pressed her finger against the trigger, and then...
BAM!
The trigger was pulled and the animal fell completely down. Jane jumped from the place where she was like a cheerful rabbit, and ran to the dead deer. "YES!" she shouted with happiness. The blood took over the ground very quickly and stained her boots.
We never seen Jane so cheerful since two days ago. When she felled a boar that even gave for a supper of an entire family! I believe the deer only gives two or three people to eat.
She carried the deer by paws with a totally radiant smile. Jane lived in a cabin she had bought from a lumberjack who appeared to have an automaton arm instead of a meat one. Looked like she bought that house in an emergency thesis. Instead of necessity.
Her afternoon was completely victorious, if her father were alive, she would probably speak totally confident and proud words as in his last days of life. Jane's afternoon was completely peaceful, but it could sum up that it was also tedious and monotonous.
When was almost evening, the starry indigo sky took over the environment, especially wolf howl and the dancing cold winds. And crows that landed on the roof of the house from once in a while. Jane was making her dinner. And putting firewood in thestove, which heated the pot full of a soup with cubes of meat and other spices and herbs that were apparently natural. The stove was so old-fashioned that people said Jane kept relics inside the cabin, and they didn't understand the reason, because was 2078.
While she put all the accumulated newspapers and cardboard or everything she called "garbage," she found a torn picture in half. In the photograph, there was a little girl who wore a black and white dress with puffy sleeves. And she had white hair and scarlet-colored eyes. Just like Jane's.
That's weird, she feels the feeling that she'd seen that picture before, but whenever she forced her memory, the less she remembered. How did you end up in those old newspapers and cardboards?
She thought it was a picture of when she was younger, but what made her rule out this possibility is that there was another little girl in the photo, but since it was torn in half, it wasn’t possible to see the photograph altogether. Why someone would tear that photo in half?
Jane finished dinner with questions in her head. For as long as she could remember, she had only one father who adopted her from an orphanage. But now her father died with a secret he never told her? That picture literally captivated her. She put the picture in the living room drawer and locked it with the key. Now, it wouldn’t be a precaution to close the drawer in case anyone would have a home, even though your house isn’t so unsafe.
When She went to sleep, she put on her long scarlet-colored battered cape and hung it on the clothes rack. Jane tried to take that picture out of her mind at any cost, but couldn't.
In the middle of night, Jane had the same weird dream she had every day. But that day, the dream became clearer. There was a little girl, with the same characteristics in the photo. She was going for a Lamborghini, and when she looked at the house she was leaving, there was another girl, much like the previous one. Behind her was a slim looking man and his face was completely distorted. The dream couldn't get any weirder. Until you realize that when the child goes away by car. And put the whole scenery aside. The girl looked like she was going to say something, but it sounded distorted.
Was a Friday mornin’, Jane woke up from her bed with a warm yawn and put on again her scarlet cape, was in complete good mood that morning. No strange animals stung her or crawled down her legs yesterday. Approaching on the steps of the entrance of the cabin. She's scoffing on the floor. Jane has never felt so alone since she was just a butcher.
The reason she was in such a dangerous and closed forest was somewhat personal. Jane is seen as a criminal, and she didn't even understand why or what crimes she committed. The Police Ominics began hunting her until she took refuge in a place as dangerous as in this forest.
But she still wants a reason.