Don't Let Them See You

Time at that moment could have never been more peaceful. The home, of the poorest quality, filled with the richest hearts, had walls tainted with battle scars. The wood struggled to grasp onto its own life. Everything in the household seemed close to nothing but insignificant. Even the raindrops that colored the dark gray sky did their best to stain the surroundings in sheer loneliness. Despite this, they were deemed no match for the warmth of the household. Chains of its inhabitants, in no way to be disbanded, not unless it was by sheer cold-blooded force. Warmth of the family and peaceful silence remained until that day came. The day evil broke into their home forcefully, aiming straight for the core of their family peace. It shattered the chains that held their home together, dispersing the soul of their family with ease. No regret or remorse infiltrated the emotions of their perpetrator. It was solemnly a feeling of satisfaction. The bloody smiles of men whose hands could not be cleaned no matter how much they were to wash under God's name. The victims' heavy breaths ending the warm silence, eyes glued to the scene that took more than one life away. The surrounding people, living in the same circumstance, were many, struggling to hold their breath out of fear. Their world corrupted by evil beyond control, a war of greed and power orchestrated by men who had fallen into the hands of darkness. A war that had just begun with no clear ending in the making. No, there would be no end until the demons fed off the souls of their victims. It would not end until the power they so much wanted to obtain broke and shattered those that got in their way. No end until they killed off more people than what could be created. Not until their hunger for bloodlust, controlled by the crisp green paper, could be fulfilled naturally. For a new era had begun in their world. One where women, who were so dearly cared for once before, now lost their right to authority over their own beings. Each would be titled a property, to be sold, humiliated, and used as if they were something less than human. In the eyes of the demons, they weren't human humans but mere toys to entertain their leisure. In the eyes of men with the power to abuse, the weak were worthless and did not deserve any stable value. In this new era, Armineh had risen to the role of a guardian. The demons took away her most cherished loved ones, which she kept in the deepest depths of her heart. Her new objective was to not allow her brother, who she wished could remain pure, to get corrupted by their current world. Somehow, she vowed to find a way for him to be a fine young man, capable of many talents and worth something much more than what their world could offer. Armineh felt the scissors weigh heavily in her hand. The small weight felt heavier than it truly was. She was holding not just a tool but her dignity and own self-pride along with it. For her brother, she would throw all of those things aside. Her pride, dignity, justice, femininity no longer held value in her heart. Not any of it mattered as long as her brother could stay by her side. Armineh took the scissors and got straight to work, wasting no time in changing her appearance into that of a man. These small steps aimed towards something bigger, the goals she hoped to accomplish. Laying down everything in order to accept the signs of their struggles to come. "Could I really make it?" Armineh wondered. Walking into the unknown left many things in the dark. She would also be leaving the home that had once bound her loved ones together. It now abandoned by the two survivors. A new habitat remained in the unknown, and their future in the hands of fate alone.