Tired.
I raise my hand to grasp the faint shards of light seeping through the cracked door. It won't... why? I see black spots swirling beyond my reach, taunting me, mocking me. My hand hasn't moved.
I'm so tired.
My head lolls to one side, blonde hair sliding from my temple over the bridge of my nose and into my eyes. This rebel arm stays by my side. Why...
Voices to the right. Right outside my blackened room.
I turn. And I arch as a scream escapes my lips. Pain. So much pain. Pure white and penetrating. My back is ablaze, searing through the linen bandages which encase me. Pain. No words can describe...
Voices. Sound. They are coming. Coming again to take me back to that place where light never goes, where they block the sun and shut the door on the world and tell me selfish things and hold me down and hide the light an-
"Malik." The door creaks open. Bright. A feverish chill runs through my body. Look away, they can't see you if you can't see them...
"Awake I see." Another chill. It hurts. It hurts so much...
"Malik, look at me." I can't see you, you can't see - My chin is wrenched to the right, damp hair flopping limply onto the pillow. The hand clutching my jaw is rough and calloused. It scrapes at the warm exposed flesh of my neck. "Malik!"
Instinct. My eyes are open.
"It is not finished. There is still one duty left."
Fear.
"Malik." He's angry.
Pain.
"It isn't finished..."
I whimper.
"The sealing inca..."
Oh god, the pain...
"We have to..."
Help me, father. I don't want to die. I don't want to die, please. I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die...
"Malik!!" A strike across the face. Blood. It's seeping through the linen strips. Ivory stained red. I see red now too. Black spots and red dots. My arm still won't move.
"Listen to me!"
Father. Aren't you my father? It hurts, father...
"Malik, wake up, damn you."
My fingers grasp at the coarse brown coverlet. Shivers. Cold. Fears.
Tears.
"Do you want this all to have been for nothing?!"
I don't want this at all.
Another spasm. My blonde hair is sticky with more than sweat now. Red and gold. The sun. I want to see the sun one more time-
"Malik." Stern now. I'm scared, father. It hurts. Help me. Help me. Save me. Help me.
Footsteps.
He's gone. I'm alone. No sound now.
I'm alone.
My back is burning. My eyes are burning. Hot tears mingle with blood and run down my flushed cheek. I'm scared. I don't want to die.
Fear.
Come back. Father, I need you. Please...
Don't leave me here!
Pain.
Fire. Searing fire.
My arm won't move.
Silence...
Tired.
Sleep.