canibuyturtleseeds
|• I'd be lost without you •|

Lyra woke up with a wafting, putrid stench surrounding her. It was something she could not recognize. Gagging, she stood up and scrutinized the environment. Crumpled in the dirt, lay a lifeless corpse which seemed quite familiar yet she could not comprehend who it was. Lyra took a step closer to discover who it was but its overwhelming stench was too unpleasant to ignore. The body lay in a pool of red liquid; was that blood? Its limbs where mangled up in a disfigured position, no human alive could possibly manage to witness such a distressing state.

Her head felt heavy and her body was sore, but she continued to walk towards the body, then it hit her — where was mum?

She ran in the opposite direction from the corpse, searching for her mum where she had woken up, "Mum!" Lyra screamed but all I heard was an echo, reminding me that she was all alone, "Mum!"

It was pointless — she was probably gone.

Something must have happened, "Mum!" She would never leave Lyra alone unless it was an emergency, "Where are you?"

Lyra's mind was frantic but somehow she managed to concentrate. What was it that mum used to tell me to do when I was lost? She searched every part of her brain until she finally remembered:

"If you're ever lost, Lyra, stay calm and stay where you are. I will always come back for you."

Lyra inhaled a deep breath and closed her eyes to calm herself down. Distraught, devastated and lost. She trudged back to the corpse, the miasma of blood made her feel light headed and dizzy. She was already famished. She decided to check if the seemingly lifeless body still had a pulse.

From afar, the deep gash was not visible. Lyra held her breath. She placed her fingers on the wrist of the cadaver, searching for a pulse, but her suspicions were right, there was none. There was only one thing she could have done — bury the body.

Scavenging through her belongings, she looked for something to dig up the soil. As Lyra pulled out what looked like a spoon, her eyes fell upon an unattended bag. It looked so familiar — it was her mum's. What on earth had happened? If there was one thing she knew, it was that her mum would never leave anything behind because it would result in The Hunter tracking them down.

There was a horrible feeling in her gut, glancing back at the body she reached out and turned its head towards her. She let out a loud cry. Her hands started trembling. She could not breathe. She was suffocating in her sorrows, mentally and physically. Her heart shattered into a million shards of pain. Tears came instantly as the harsh yet true reality dawned over her — Mum was dead. She left me alone, forever. An odd feeling of fury engulfed her; how could she do this to me?

Her thoughts wandered to my memories. Memories where they laughed, memories of the good old days, memories of them together. Memories of her dad. Lyra had faint disappearing memories of dad. What happened to him was a mystery to her, it was something she did not care about. Mum was all that she had left and she was gone. I was an orphan. She was all alone in this empty void we called a world.

She got up with a blurred vision, tears poured down like thunderous raindrops from her eyes. Lyra hysterically began to dig. She owed it to her mother. The last thing she could do was to let her mum rest in peace and she was not going anywhere without granting her the respect she deserved. Lyra gently lowered her motionless, short stature into the muddy grave. It was time consuming and tiresome, but it was worth it.

"I love you, mum." Lyra whispered as she showered a handful of soil over her body. After covering her from head to toe, she stared blankly at the soil that now submerged her. Lyra placed a few impeccably white flowers on her graze, they glistened magically in the evening light. They were beautiful — just like her mum.

There was only one way her mum could have died. Only The Hunter could have caused a wound so deep and deadly. Her head was throbbing painfully but her goal had been determined.

She was going to hunt The Hunter.

Its biggest mistake was leaving her alive.
She was going to scavenge every part of this disastrous world and kill it with her bare hands.

Mark my words.

The night sky was filled with hues of yellow, violet and indigo, splattered with twinkling stars. It was stunning a night yet Lyra felt distressed. Everything felt rotten, so much so that she could taste the revolting urge of revenge.

Nighttime is a mendacious time, it leaves the strongest vulnerable. But not Lyra. It made me feel more powerful. She decided that she was going stay here tonight. She was not going to hide. If The Hunter came back for what remained of her mum, she would catch it by surprise. The exposed shelter did not intimidate Lyra, neither did the night sky. Exhausted, she closed my eyes and disappeared into an unfathomable sleep.

—

Lyra is all alone. The world is a big and scary place, what do you think will happen next? Will she be able to defeat 'it' without no help? What will happen if she can't?
Hope you enjoyed it!