On his bed atop an expensive artifical appletree lay Alec petting a miniature pet lion. It was early in the morning, only half past four. He was supposed to be asleep but hadn’t actually rested properly for days since his body had somehow become immune to vapoured tranquilizers which were daily concentrated into the air in his room through the ventilation. Alec was an ill kid by nature and now ill-treated by his family. Of course, they had all reasons to be paranoid because the boy indeed had a mindset of a young antichrist and was constantly overdozing on his own intelligence, but still, keeping him down by implementing passive-agression didn’t really solve the situation.
Alec was fully alert and thinking intensely. As unfortunate as it was for his family, he was aware of their insolent deeds. He slid down the appletree onto the grass growing from the floor of his room. As most of the Earth slumbered under layers of ice and snow, humanity yearned for what was once their old world – green nature and warmth. As technology reigned supreme, necessary steps were often taken to recreate even small fragments of „natural“ harmony in people’s own homes.
Alec didn’t care in the slightest, his walls could’ve been covered with human skulls and his floor growing moss and mushrooms, it would’ve had no influence on him. He was rather thankful to his mother for the tiny pet lion though. Yes, that was another genetic innovation – various animals, once exotic now extinct, were brought back by bored laboratory-enslaved scientists and made available in minature sizes as pets. Eccentric, without a doubt. Expensive, but of course.
