Watching the fire roar, the woman walked away from the scene on a path made by cutting out a wall from the cave. She walked up the stairs, watching as the girl jumped futilely towards the spot...
...and she made it.
The girl actually jumped high enough for her arms to go through the spot... but she couldn't pull herself up, because one of her arms were occupied by something. A small piece of paper, with red writing.
The woman watched as the dark barrier took the arm that held her note, and the girl fell towards the fire with her eyes shut tightly.
The woman turned and walked away, towards the outside of the cave. It led to the border of the forest; on the opposite side she came from.
For two days and two nights, the woman walked non-stop through the forest, not stopping for danger of animals nor to go around rivers.
At the end, she reached the house, where her child was happy at home.
Or at least, he should have been.
The woman opened the door to the house. Her clothes were bloodstained from fighting a bear, and the fabric was torn by the trees.
She walked in, calling for her son.
"Boy, where are you? I'm home now."
She walked from the entrance to the bedroom, where the bedsheets and blankets were sprawled messily, unlike the neatness that she had instilled in her son.
She walked back down the stairs and walked into the kitchen.
She froze.
On the floor lay her son, starved and dehydrated.
He was gone.
And there she stood, surrounded by the house filled with all the innovations she'd ever created, and the most secure fencing she could think of.
But she had nothing.
She thought of her late husband, a gentle man toughened by his circumstances. They'd grown up peasants, wanting to eat meat, but unable to afford it in a world that favored the rich. A world with meager meat and plenty of poor.
So, the woman devised a way to get meat without relying on their planet's meager supply of animals.
While animals were sparse, it was no problem for her. She created meat that was bred and raised on a farm.
She didn't think about the feelings of those farm animals, trapped in a fake world, in a limited space.
She didn't think they could affect those outside of the farm.
So, she had neglected to consider the feelings of anyone. Not her son, the 'animals', nor even her husband. He'd left her after seeing what she'd done, trying to bring her son with him, but she couldn't understand him... and he unfortunately passed.
After realizing her errors, it was already too late.
Even if she did the little that she could, she would never be able to make up for the lost lives.
Her family would never return.
She left as well, down the steep slope leading to the void.