"burning alive"
Katie Bell lies there motionless. Her entire body feels like it's burning alive, with fire racing silently through all of her veins. And that scares her; it terrifies her because she can't do anything about it. She can only lay there as the liquid fire makes its way through her body, leaving nothing but burnt nerves and excruciating pain in its wake.
She's desperately trying to open her eyes, to move her body because she can hear them, hear everyone talking about her. But all her efforts get her is more agonizing pain, even though she's been given a lot of pain relievers. So she tries not to move anymore.
Even though the motion hurts, she allows herself to breathe because she needs to breathe in order to live. Though, sometimes, she doesn't want to live through this because she hurts all the time, every second of every waking moment. But she's stronger than this, and she'll beat the all-consuming pain.
Even though she can't open her eyes, she recognizes Leanne's voice beside her. Leanne's always there, at her bedside, when she isn't in class. Katie's sure that she might even sleep here. And her presence comforts Katie, lets her know that someone is there.
There are times, though, when Katie wants to shout, "No!" at Leanne. Because Leanne wants to hold her hand, to give Katie added comfort, but it hurts. Leanne holding her hand sends shock waves of fire throughout her body, setting aflame a new round of fire.
But Katie can't talk, just like she can't move, so she has to deal with it. She has to be stronger than that, because she knows that Leanne is only trying to help her, to reassure her that everything is going to be alright.
A/n – written for 10 drabble, 10 topics. Topic number 9: one word dialogue – "no".
A bunch of thanks to l0stinl0ve for beta-ing this for me!
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