Authors Note:
Hi guys! This is my first fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to leave a review, I'm looking to improve my skills as a writer!
Disclaimer: All the lovely characters in the Twilight universe are sadly not mine and belong completely to Stephanie Meyer.
Without further ado; to the story!
Chapter 1
The pavement pounded beneath my feet while my heart matched their frantic pace. I whipped my head around, but couldn't see him anymore. I took stock of my surroundings. A large dumpster took up most of this otherwise incredibly narrow alley. Fire escapes adorned the walls to my left and right, giving this abandoned place a new-york esque feel, as though out of a Netflix marvel episode. I would have stopped to appreciate the scenery, so uncharacteristic of my native Phoenix, if fear weren't coursing through my veins. My head told me to calm down while my heart fervently disagreed. I turned back around, slowing to a stop finally.
He stood in front of me, a sadistic smile marring his otherwise perfect features.
"It's so cute when you try to run".
I felt the bile rise in my throat as his smile turned to laughing. He took a step towards me and I braced myself to run again. Suddenly he was beside me, my head cradled in his hand while his other lovingly caressed my shoulder. He might have been about to kiss me. As he lowered his face to my neck and sank in his teeth, I wished he had done that instead.
I felt myself grow weak as my vision began to cloud. Suddenly the pain of his teeth tearing apart my jugular was gone, and I felt a momentary spurt of relief, which was quickly replaced by a burning sensation that grew ever more urgent, stemming from the bloody remains of my throat. The fire began to grow, becoming truly uncomfortable. I felt my body resist the feeling, almost like trying to move away from the pain, which somehow only served to fuel it. It began to spread through my extremities, true hell, fire burning its way through my body. It was unbearable. As the fire tore its way through my dilapidated body, I begun to regret every decision I had made in my life up until this point, the decisions which had culminated in this fiery hell. I felt my bones turn to ash and somehow still smoulder, unbelievable pain. I noted that as the rain began to fall, it did not serve to lessen the pain in any way.
I burned for what felt like an eternity. I noticed night falling and day rising above me, but still no one was alerted to my screams. I had screamed for hours, until my destroyed throat could scream no more. The pain of my shredded throat was nothing compared to the fire. And still it burned, onward, eternal. It surprised me to learn that the Christians had been right, and the culmination of an apparently sinful life would end in fire, burning me for all eternity. I had never been religious, and I struggled to hold onto this thought, this great surprise, as the fire suddenly burned hotter.
How was it growing hotter? Seriously? There was no such thing as hotter. I pondered this impossible contradiction even as the molten lead flooded my veins, bringing with it even hotter, fresher hell. I wished for the end. Begged for it. Heard my pathetic whimpers piercing the night sky even as my treacherous body disobeyed me, burning hotter, hotter, hotter.
Finally, mercifully, it began to stop. I wept, thankful for this small mercy. I could no longer feel my extremities, and this small mercy brought thankfulness to my lips in a way nothing ever had before. But the fire burned hotter still in my heart. I tried to ignore this fresh new pain, focusing on the relief in my fingers, toes, knees…. The numbness grew at a torturous, snail like pace, but I was grateful for each new millimetre of relief, of nothingness. This must be the end, I mused. I burned for eternity, and now I have done my time. I can finally die.
I heard my heart, seemingly trying to burst from my chest, beating faster and faster as the fiery war raged. It shuddered, beating irregularly. Finally, it stopped.
The absence of fire throughout my veins was the first thing I noticed. I was still alive? How? The relief that swept through me pushed this errant thought to the side.
Breathing in, I opened my eyes.