The Price of Evil

[VoltTurtle]

((Katelyn should have known this would happen.))

Polar darkness had swallowed her, the forest stretching on seemingly forever, repeating patterns of trees in an endless loop. She was in the belly of the beast, the cold nibbling away at her flesh, rendering it numb and stiff. Her flashlight beam flicked back and forth across the ground in front of her, searching for something, anything, that could shelter her from the elements. She ran as fast as she could, hoping that the exertion would fight back against the cold and lead her to some place warm and safe. Yet, her efforts were for naught, for the freezing air stung her face as it rushed past, and nowhere could be safe for her so long as she remained with herself.

She was completely lost within the tundra, and she couldn't help but feel that she belonged here. This was what she deserved—had always deserved—because she was and always had been a vile person. Who else could kill two people at the word "go" and be more concerned about how it affected herself afterwards? Maybe that was why her life leading up to this point had been nothing but an endless cavalcade of misery, because this was where she was always fated to end up. A double murderer covered in the blood of her victims, running from her inescapable destiny as another faceless, nameless victim of Survival of the Fittest. An unexpected, yet fitting end to a worthless life such as hers.

Hot tears ran down her cheeks, carried away by the wind. Why was she even bothering? She had nobody to call for help, and everyone to fear. The best way to get it over with would be to stop fighting and accept it. Curl up in the snow and allow the cold to take her. By the time death finally claimed her, she would be too delirious and sleepy to realize what was happening. It would be better than whatever her classmates had in store for her.

Yet, despite her tragic fate looking as clear as the night sky above, Katelyn continued to struggle, and she was a moron for it. How else could she describe someone who kept fighting even when there was no point? Completely doomed and hopelessly outclassed, only a fool would choose to keep going and extend their misery.

But a fool she was, and as luck would have it, her flashlight beam revealed a depression in the snow, and her foot sunk into it upon making contact, causing her to tumble. Once she picked herself back up, she dug through the snow, revealing the entrance to a burrow that was big enough to feasibly squeeze herself inside. Assuming it wasn't already occupied, then it could shelter her. Nothing about her situation would change, but she could survive the night, and drag out her misery for even longer.

She crawled inside without pausing for consideration. Once within, her flashlight beam crossed the skull and bones of the previous occupant. It wasn't human, but also wasn't an animal Katelyn recognized. So frenzied by the encroaching cold, she paid it no mind or respects before dragging its remains out of the burrow and squeezing herself back inside, feet first. She dragged her bag in with her, and after a minute of fumbling around, had the heater set up and running. After a few more minutes, for the first time in what felt like days, she was warm.

Exhausted from her travels, she fell asleep shortly thereafter. The nightmares that followed provided her a modicum of comfort.

((After all, she was already entombed in the worst nightmare she could imagine.))