1 Selena

The marketplace is large, noisy, and full of humans, especially at night. I move quickly through the crowd, hidden by the masses of people. A quick hand there and some human loses their wallet. A fast unclasp, and I have a shiny pearl necklace in my hand. I feel no guilt. These humans deserve it. Who wears necklaces that cost more than a magcar to the marketplace, anyways? I go up to the fruit stand, my favorite place here. Not because the owners are nice, but because they are old, so, therefore, easy to steal from. I grab two apples and a clementine. I have my dinner tonight.

Back at home, I open the wallet to see my spoils. Humans don't actually need wallets, they have their whole bank account on their wrists, along with their ID. But some humans carry wallets to have a tangible source of their money. They need the reassurance that they're better, more powerful, than us.

Us. Naturelings. Science gone wrong. Some human scientists decided it would be a good idea to combine humans with animals, plants, fire, water, and so on. And when we proved to be too dangerous, those scientists discarded us, throwing us onto the streets, leaving us to die. And when the public found us, they freaked.

To please the humans, the government decided to eliminate all the naturelings. Hundreds were killed, their bodies burned. But then a new government took over, saw the value of the naturelings as servants, doing the jobs that no one else wanted to do.

Now we are the scum of cities, the creatures that proper humans cross streets to avoid. We are only allowed the bare minimum of education, the worst jobs.

I sigh and look down at the pearl necklace in my hand. I'll never be able to wear something like that. I put it down next to my bed, if you can call it that. It's just an old mattress on the ground, pockmarked with holes. I lie down on it and look at the ceiling. A picture is taped there, yellow with age. I smile, close my eyes, fall into the only peaceful moments of my day.