AN: Yeah, well, I know. I still gotta finish Never Forget and here I am, posting another fic. But I'd never be able to work on the final chapter of Never Forget if I didn't take this idea out of my head and put it into words. I don't know how this will be, though... I'll figure it out as it goes...

I hope you like it! R&R

Scars of the Past

Prologue

She had never felt so much pain in her life. Her nerves were all a mess, trying to understand exactly where the pain was coming from, but to no avail: everything hurt. And with that confuse response from her nervous system, her brain did the only thing he could do with the overflow of electric signals running through her body: it shut down. Because she couldn't stand the pain anymore.

When she woke up, there were a lot of people around her. But as soon as she opened her eyes, the pain was back, and increasing at an alarming rate. Suddenly, her whole body was on fire and she tried to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. A lot of voices were shouting around her and she could only make out a few words.

"Someone call 911!"

"… her shirt…"

"Water!"

She was lying down on her stomach. Her hands were above her head, and when she looked at them, they were badly injured. She tried to turn, but she felt soft hands touch her face, and she looked up to see a pair of deep brown eyes staring comfortingly at her.

"Hey honey, don't be afraid. I'm here with you, okay? But you can't move, honey, or you may hurt yourself more…"

She didn't know what was happening. Was she injured? Why could she hurt herself more?

The woman, seeing her panic, caressed her cheek softly and held her less injured hand.

"Don't worry, honey. Help is on the way and I'll be here with you the whole time, okay?"

And she believed her. And she held her hand as tight as she could, because at that moment, this woman became her port in the storm.

But then, what she thought impossible happened: the pain got incredible worse. And it was like her skin was being ripped off. She welcomed the darkness once more.

When she opened her eyes again, the ceiling was moving above her and there were a lot of heads floating beside her. They were saying things, but she couldn't quite comprehend the words.

"Magnesium oxide…"

"Temp is rising…"

She then felt someone inserting something in her arm and that made her almost throw up in pain. What the hell was happening?

She started to panic. She just wanted to open her eyes and see that this was a terrible nightmare, even though she didn't know what 'it' was. If she could bet, she would say that this was the Apocalypse and the world was consuming itself on fire. Or that she was on a spaceship that was sent to the surface of the sun.

But, maybe, she could be in hell. She definitely wasn't a saint, and she had failed a lot of people throughout her life. Maybe this was her punishment.

"BP is dropping!"

"Her breathing is rapid!"

"She's in shock!"

She couldn't be dead. This was completely wrong… there were too many people, too many noises, too many stimulus that only real life could offer.

And for the first time in her life, she wished to be dead.

Because she couldn't stand this anymore.

"Who the hell put these cloths on her?"

She was shocked when a woman entered in her line of sight and talked to her. She was shocked because for the briefest of moments, she focused on something other than her melting skin. It was the same woman that held her hand on the street.

"Jennifer? You are in the hospital, honey. They're going to treat you and you will be better, okay? I know that it hurts, but stay strong for me, okay?"

And maybe, Jennifer realized, if it were under different circumstances, she might have appreciated those deep trusting brown eyes, so caring and yet confident; she might have noticed how she liked the husky voice that entered her mind and captured her attention; she might have noticed how her lips seemed to have been perfectly designed.

And if it were different circumstances, she might have wanted to stay awake a little longer.

But she knew that the only thing waiting for her was pain, and she wasn't strong enough to fight anymore.

Not even for the most beautiful woman she ever saw.

So she just closed her eyes.