06 | Burning

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SKIN & BONES
vi. BURNING

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HER BODY WAS BURNING

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HER BODY WAS BURNING.

That was the only way to describe how she felt. Her body was burning. Flames danced down the skin on her arms, her legs, and all over. Her veins were scalded with the feeling as though lead, or perhaps poison, coursed throughout her body. Every fiber, every cell, every tissue felt as though they were vibrating at speeds incomprehensible to the human brain. Her head pounded with an unrelenting ache that seemed to refuse to back down. The pain in her head, in her body, in her soul only grew stronger and more concentrated as the seconds ticked by.

Tick, tick, tick.

Lorelai Swan was on fire.

Her body shook uncontrollably. Back and forth, she tossed and turned on the dirt beneath her. Her hands went to the hairs on her head, gripping onto them with all the strength she could muster up. She whimpered and whined. Never had Lorelai felt such a pain as immense and concentrated as the one that seemed to be infiltrating her body. From the deepest portions of her soul to the outermost parts of her body, all Lorelai wanted to do was scream and cry. Why couldn't she scream and cry?

Lorelai thought she was going to lose her shit when she saw flashes of her life play before her eyes. Her memories played in her mind, almost like a movie. But that could only mean... Was Lorelai dying? Or was she already dead? Lorelai had no idea. All she could think about was the pain she was enduring. All she could think about was when this sensation would come to an end.

She was convinced her body was being transported to hell. It as like her body was trying desperately to kill itself. The pain that rippled through her seemed endless. 

Then... it stopped. All at once, she was freed from the pain that once burned all throughout her mind, body, and soul.

There she laid on the ground. Grass poked and tickled her bare arms. A peculiar stinging sensation faded into a concentrated spot on her neck. The headache that once burdened her vanished within seconds and all Lorelai could feel was...

What did she feel?

She felt like ice.

Her body was freezing, yet in a strange way, Lorelai wasn't bothered by the cold. She felt... almost normal. She felt different. She felt reborn.

Her eyes snapped open to meet the dark of the night. The moon peered over her, just barely illuminating her surroundings with its pale light. She turned her head to the side to see a completely empty clearing. At first, she felt puzzled. Carefully, she rose at the speed of light as an unknown sensation burned at her throat. Lorelai was thirsty.

She raced at speeds that were humanly impossible. Her legs moved so rapidly that it was as though Lorelai had been gliding through the air. She continued to run until she stopped before a pond. She kneeled down before it, leaning forward to dip her hands into the cool water. She didn't care that her cast would become wet. All she cared for was quenching the bothersome thirst that burdened her.

She paused before her hands could touch the liquid, her eyes falling on her reflection. As she looked into her eyes, she didn't recognize herself. After all, how could she? Last she checked, Lorelai didn't have crimson red eyes.

Her eyes widened upon noticing this. She froze, observing her appearance. Her skin was ghostly, translucent like the moon's light. Her large, scarlet eyes bled into her own soul. Purplish bags hung beneath her eyes. Her body, however, was what shocked her the most. It was impossible to see her bones unlike before. Her eyes and cheekbones didn't protrude awkwardly out of her face. Aside from the red eyes and insanely pale skin, Lorelai looked... normal. She looked healthy.

"Oh, hell no," Lorelai mumbled to herself, her hands reaching up to touch her face. Her eyes fell on the cast on her hand. Using her enhanced strength, she ripped the cast off, tossing it to the side. Her hand traced itself down the previously broken one. Her body was completely healthy. "Oh, my God... I'm dead."

Lorelai rose to her feet. If her heart was still functioning, she was sure it would have been racing at a million hours an hour. Maybe she would have even had an anxiety attack. However, she was dead.

Lorelai backed into a tree, her hands covering her mouth. She continued to look over herself. Tears built up in her eyes, but they wouldn't come out. Perhaps it wasn't tears, but the memory of crying that she was struck with. All kinds of thoughts ran through her mind, but every single one seemed to lead back to the same idea.

Not only was she dead, but she was also undead.

Not only was she a vampire, but the only other vampires who could help her were long gone.

Lorelai laid her head against the tree trunk behind her. "I'm fucked," she whispered to herself.

She looked up to the stars above. Then, she ran off to find some kind of animal to eat, unwillingly beginning the first day of the rest of her life.


Revised: January 6th, 2020

Skin & Bones ↠ Jasper Hale ✓Where stories live. Discover now