And then I'll be a slave, considered worthless to the pack and sold off to someone else who'll find some use for a tiny servant rabbit such as myself. With no way to properly communicate in the human tongue, and no signs of being able to shift my form, I'll be worth nothing more than some menial labor like digging holes. I'll probably be beaten, starved and overworked.
Because, honestly, who would care about a bastard orphan rabbit such as myself? The answer is nobody.
Nobody will care about me if things go the way I'm guessing they'll go.
Wait.
Now that I think about it...
Did these people ever care about me?
_________________________________________
As the racing thoughts continue to fill my head, I can't help but go limp in the net I've been captured with. It feels like the thoughts are all swarming together, creating a buzz within my mind. Maybe I already realized at this point that there's no real reason in struggling. Compared to them, I'm small and weak. Even if I did somehow claw my way out of the net, they'd be able to force me the rest of the way there themselves. Heck, they probably even have a spare net or two just in case I end up pulling any tricks. But they probably don't expect much from me, and neither do I honestly.
I mean, what is there to expect from myself when I'm like this?
Nothing, really. But despite the odds, I genuinely hope that my suspicions don't come true. I've honestly just been assuming stuff this whole time. Nothing's actually been said, at least not yet. Even if they do take me to trial, it's not set in stone that I'll be sold away as a slave. Maybe they'll find some use for me here, or they'll give me more time to decide whether or not I'm truly defective.
Sure, I ran and that seems suspicious. Maybe I can come up with a good excuse for my testimony? I could say that I ran off because I wanted to explore further outside of the village. It's only a partial truth, since I ran away mostly out of fear, but it's not a complete lie either since I've always wanted to see more outside of the village. I've always been too scared to go alone, but now that I'm older I feel braver than before. Like I could do anything... well, almost anything.
Anyway, that excuse could work. It'd make me seem at least somewhat less suspicious, at least I hope so. Maybe it won't, but it's better than telling the whole truth and saying that I ran away because their eyes made me feel scared. That'd practically be an admission of guilt. And sure, I do feel guilty but that's because even I don't really much of anything about my family. The rumors that the people have whispered amongst themselves about are the only things that I really know about my parents. Most of the rumors make it out to be my fault, but how could it be all because of me? There are times I think about it and genuinely agree with the people that it is my fault, but I was just a baby. I had no power in that situation, so why blame it on me? It just doesn't seem fair.
Maybe nothing in life is fair, but still. I really was only a newborn baby at the time. But because of all the rumors that have grown and twisted like branches sprouting their leaves, pretty much everyone at the time stayed away from me knowing very well that I would die on my own. I was a newborn baby!! They didn't care though, only thinking about the fact that I was 'cursed' based on the rumors and the fact that both my parents left me. My father abandoning my mother and the pack, and my mother dying from blood loss after she gave birth to me.
The only people that sympathized with me were the Domikens couple since they had a newborn baby of their own, Angel. The one who used to be my childhood friend until our society's politics stripped him away from me, causing him to abandon me like I meant nothing to him. Even though his mother and father gave me kind, sad smiles in response to their son's abandonment towards me, there was nothing they could do. The council had already chosen him to be the next Alpha, and due to his training he wasn't allowed to make friends with people like me. Only the people deemed worthy by the council could be his friends, and one of those people sadly... wasn't me.
I know that the Domikens couple would've kept doing what they could to take care of me if I had stayed, but the hurt I felt towards Angel for leaving me behind so easily just because of some dumb politics made my blood boil. As a 5 year old child back then, I couldn't control my outburst and ended up leaving the household. I stayed within our village still, as you already know, but I couldn't bare to see Angel or his parents' faces again. It hurt too much.
Part of me still wonders if they searched for me.. or if they quietly accepted the fact I left and allowed me to decide if I'd come back or not. I never did, so I never got to ask them. I wonder how they really thought of me. Maybe I was like a second son to them? Eh, I wouldn't really want to be their son though, the bond I felt with Angel wasn't exactly a brotherly bond. It felt like there was something more there. Well, until he left me, of course. I know it wasn't entirely his choice to abandon me, and I don't really blame him anymore, but my point is that it would've been weird if we were brothers. Even though we were only young children, I still understood at the time that I held some sort of special feelings for him.
Now that I'm much older and more mature about stuff like this, I can honestly say that it was just a silly childhood crush. I wonder if he ever felt the same way back then, or if he just saw me as an annoyance. He didn't really like the idea that I lived with him and his parents and threw a fit, but he still put up with me and played games with me. He did everything he could to prove that he was the best, and other kids our age would compliment him as well. I wonder if it all got to his head? It's very possible, and it'd make sense why he was always so confident with himself. I always saw him as amazing as well, I admired him. But I was also astutely aware of how.. well, 'human' he was. What I mean is that I could see him for who he was as a person, and I was oddly aware even as a child that everyone has weaknesses no matter how brave and strong they seem. So despite the fact I admired him, I also worried about him. I think I annoyed him with my worrying, because one day he sprained one of his paws. He was walking fine on it, or at least he tried to act fine, but I could see the slight limp and wouldn't stop asking him about it. He told me to stop looking down on him as weak, but I never meant to look down on him and I never saw him as weak. I saw him as a person.
That's enough about Angel. I don't know why he's crossed my mind to the point that I'm thinking about him and our last together. Maybe it's because this might be the last time I get to think about things peacefully like this? Or well, as 'peacefully' as I can in a net. If I do become a slave, spacing off with my head in the clouds like this will be punished. I'll have to keep constantly working, making it pretty much impossible to think about nostalgic memories calmly. I just hope Angel's doing alright now. He's definitely not like me, stuck in a net getting dragged away to the village's building for where trials take place. Or as I like to call it, The Trial Room.
How is it going to end up for me..?
All I can do is pray that it doesn't end the way that I think it does.