1917
The darkness swarmed… consumed… obliterated her soul. Everything pulled and pushed, froze and burned, and stole what life was left. Death gripped its icy hand on her throat and choked her, crushed her. The pain flamed through her entire body. Every breath became shorter and shorter. She gripped the skin on her arms wanting to tear it all away. Then she clung to her damp hair and pulled hoping that the pain there would drown out the rest. It didn't…
Fervent tears ran from her sore red eyes. The cold of her dark room filled her until she shivered violently. The anguish depleted her.
"Why won't it end? Please please… make it stop." She sobbed into her arms. There was no blood, no distortion, no bruise, nothing. Just one small, moon-shaped scar on her neck that caused the excruciating martyrdom.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Anna? Are you in here?" The worried, motherly voice was muted slightly from behind the door. Anna had only the strength to whimper softly. The door opened and Anna shrank back into the corner. The woman at the door gasped and ran over to Anna. She crouched next to the cringing girl.
"Oh my God," she breathed, "Annaliese, what's happened to you? Are you ill?" Anna shifted to face the woman, finally recognizing her voice.
"M…….m……mom." Anna choked. "I'm….. I'm not……. I'm not human….. Mom." Her mother sighed.
"Don't be silly Anna, of course you are." She placed a hand on Anna's shoulder and flinched, taking it off immediately. "Anna you're freezing. I have to call a doctor!" Her mother scrambled up in panic. Anna suddenly grabbed her mother's arm with unnatural speed. The surprising strength of Anna's pull threw her to the ground.
"D…..don't call….. don't…." Anna's hand began to shake and she released her mother. Anna fell to the ground. Her mother stared helplessly at her daughter and placed a hand on her soaking brown hair.
"Annaliese Masen, I need you to be completely honest with me. What happened to you a couple days ago at that party? Who did this to you?" There was a silence that was only broken by Anna gasping for air. Her mother became very serious, "It wasn't that boy you've been hanging around was it?" Anna's eyes shot open. Her mother gasped, for Anna's eyes had turned into a dark ebony color. Without thinking, Anna pushed her mother off and she went flying across the room, hitting her head on the opposite wall. The savagery in Anna's eyes vanished and she stumbled over to her unconscious mother. A deep red liquid slid from underneath her head. Anna gasped and searched for something to stop the blood. As she reached for a cloth, she froze. The smell of the blood nauseated her at first. The room began to spin. Anna doubled over. The hurt in her stomach soon turned to a strange sort of hunger. She craved for it. The smell, the taste. It tore at her sanity. It felt like a starved wild animal was within her. Anna grabbed for something to hold on to. I must control it… Her hands met the edge of her bed. She shut her eyes and clenched her teeth. There was a cracking sound that startled her. The bed frame had snapped under her grip.
Anna panicked. She couldn't stay in her room with all the blood. But she couldn't leave her own mother there to die.
"HELP! Someone help!" Anna shouted. She could hear faint voices as someone from downstairs rushed up. I can't let them see me like this. She looked out the window. It was the only way out. She held her breath… and ran.
There was a shatter of glass as Anna flew out the window of her room on the third floor. This is it. I'm going to die now. She braced herself for terrible pain. And then… nothing. Anna opened her eyes. She had landed on her feet with no pain from the impact whatsoever. Fragments of glass reflected the moonlight like stars all around her. There wasn't a single scratch on her. She heard shouts from above and sprinted.
Everything was a blur as she ran down the narrow streets. Time seemed to fly by as fast as the houses and buildings she passed. She wasn't running anywhere in particular. She was just running away from everything she knew. Everything she didn't know. Everything she had become. And after all that time, she still wasn't breathing.
Anna stumbled to the English Channel. It was as far as she could get from Teignmouth; the town she'd always known since she was a child. The water was calm and shined silver from the moonlight. Anna fell to her knees in the stiff sand. Wind flipped her hair across her face but she didn't feel it. She felt nothing. Not the wind, not the hard sand beneath her feet, not the cold water lapping at her hands as they hung lifeless at her sides. She leaned over the water and stared at her reflection. Her skin was a smooth and as bright as the moon. Her eyes were a honey color instead of their usual emerald green. Her hair was brown with gold streaks and long; down to her waist. She had become inhumanly beautiful but was it worth it? She'd be able to run faster than any animal, look better than any other, but never feel human again.
Annaliese Maria Masen. Once a quiet girl who did what she was told. Now who was she? What was she?
The painful thirst in her throat still burned. Anna stood gracefully and walked forward. Her long dress was torn from running. Its bright colors faded. The water was up to her waist now. There was no expression on her perfect face. One shining tear slid down her cheek. The water reached her neck. Her soft brown hair danced with the waves. The dark water had now swallowed her. There was no gasp for air, no struggle to break free of the ocean's grasp. She never resurfaced.