Sunrise

"If the majority votes for him to be sent away, Cuore will leave at sunrise."

It wasn't fair. They wanted to cast him out, force him into exile, for something outside of his control. Even worse, they somehow seemed to find it compassionate not to force him out right away, as if he would want to stay for any longer if they didn't want him to remain. Despite knowing about the prophecy since he was a child, somehow Cuore still had never fully registered how much it was held against him by the other members of the colony till that moment, as he felt the pressure of everyone's gaze on him. Suddenly, he realized just how much of an effect it had had on his life, and all Cuore could do was wonder how different things would have been had that terrible prophecy had never been issued about him.

The events that transpired during the vote, of course, sent him fleeing far before sunrise ever occurred. He didn't stop running till the sun was rising; only then did the exhaustion catch up to him and force him to collapse to the ground, heart and head aching

"Why?" he asked, not sure who he was even asking. Maybe the sun itself. "Why me? Why did you do this to me?"

There was no response. Why would there be? There was no explanation for what had happened. There was no justification for why he had been chosen instead of anyone else. Cuore didn't understand; he couldn't understand. He would have done anything in those moments if it would have meant that he could have avoided the way that things had played out.

Panting, Cuore heaved himself to his feet, dragging himself over to a tree and staring at the sunrise. At least one thing was consistent in his life. It was ironic, the fact that he was staring up at this sunrise after fleeing from his pride. He had thought he was going to be looking at it as his colony sent him away to find his own place in the world away from them. Instead, he had fled of his own volition, running away from his mistake without even confronting what he did. If the vote hadn't solidified his having to leave, his lashing out at his mother definitely would have.

In the end, he was always going to be watching this sunrise as he left his colony; this way, however, it was his own dang fault.