It was raining again, which Worknesh really did not care about one way or the other. She was somewhat more concerned with the fact that her twin, with whom she had never been quite identical before, now looked exactly like her, down to the very last detail, so that even people who knew them very well could no longer tell the difference between them. Somehow even her twin's scent had changed, which Worknesh felt was really the most terrifying part of the whole thing.
At least, she had thought that right up until her twin had declared that it was actually unnecessary for both of them to continue existing, since they were basically the same person, but Worknesh was really the slightly more inferior version, and so it was time for her to die. Then Worknesh became significantly more concerned about the fact that her twin thought she ought to die than she had been moments earlier about the fact her twin was suddenly perfectly identical, and indescribably more concerned about it than she was about the fact that it was raining. What was rain to a sibling wishing death upon you?
Actually, it appeared that Worknesh still had failed to get her priorities in the proper order. It was not merely that her twin thought she ought to die. Apparently, she was also willing to carry out the murder herself, just to make sure that it was done properly and with all due respect.
"After all, you are nearly as good as I am. Certainly you are the next best thing the world has to offer. Therefor, it is really only appropriate that I be the one to end your life," her twin explained as she approached Worknesh with murderous intent while Worknesh retreated and did her best to look subtly for an escape route.
Her best was insufficient to the task, as her twin was able to easily figure out what it was she attempted, and casually moved to thwart her, simply by maneuvering her retreat until Worknesh was well and truly cornered. It was incredibly unnerving to the young lioness to be herded as if she was a gazelle or an antelope, or even a zebra. Any of the herd creatures she and the other hunters in the pride drove hither and yon whenever they hunted. It made her feel vulnerable and trapped, just like prey.
And yet Worknesh was not afraid.
Well, she was afraid and she was not. It was a strange dual state of existence, and at another time she might have marveled at it, but it was easier in this moment to simply take it for granted. Besides, Worknesh really had more pressing concerns than figuring out why she was not properly terrified of the fact that her twin had turned homicidal suddenly and without any sort of warning. It was rather more important that she devote her attention to trying to avoid becoming a victim of her sister's unexpectedly murderous tendencies.
Almost as strange as her dual status as afraid and not afraid was the fact that Worknesh did not feel a particularly powerful urge to ask her sister what had brought about these feelings, or how she had come to the conclusion that it was not necessary for both of them to exist simultaneously. She did not even feel very much inclined to ask how her sister had altered her appearance and even her smell so that it would truly be as if they were the same.
In the usual course of things, these were questions which Worknesh would almost certainly have put to her twin sister. She might also have asked her why it was so essential that she, Worknesh, be the one to cease existing when her twin had altered herself to be more like Worknesh, rather than doing things the other way around. Would that not have implied that Worknesh was actually the superior twin, as she had not needed to change at all?
None of these thoughts occurred to her. She did not have even the vaguest hint of a slight impulse to question her twin's unusual behavior. Oddly, she was aware of the strangeness of her lack of curiosity, and more bothered by that than she was by everything else going on around her, which was both unusual and unwise, all things considered.
Perhaps because she had been distracted puzzling over her own unusual behavior Worknesh ceased in her attempts to get away from her sister. This proved an absolutely disastrous decision, as it gave her twin sister more than ample opportunity to close the last of the gap that Worknesh had previously placed between them and then close her jaws around Worknesh's throat, all without Worknesh making any sort of move to stop her.
It was at approximately that moment that Worknesh realized there were entirely too many inconsistencies in this scenario. For one thing, nobody involved was acting anything like themselves. Worknesh could not even manage to feel more than mild alarm at the fact someone was attempting to rip her throat out! That was not normal. Neither was it normal that she felt no pain at the experience, and could not smell any of the blood that she ought to be spilling, throat ripping being a generally bloody business.
This is a dream, she thought to herself as the realization came to her.
"This is a dream," she repeated, speaking the words aloud to see what would happen.
Perhaps doing so would have any impact on her surroundings, or her control of them. Nothing happened within the young lioness's dream as a result of her observing aloud that she was in a dream. On the other hand, she also woke up at approximately the same time she finished making her observation, so perhaps that was all that ever would have happened.
In truth, Worknesh did not care to devote a great deal of time or effort to contemplating the vagaries of how things worked in dreams. She was still tired, it was still raining outside, and she just wanted to go back to sleep. So that was what she did.
No sooner had she closed her eyes, than a monstrous crocodile loomed before her...
Word count: 1,041
