Let me die now. Please, God, end this. I hurt, everywhere. What is left of my clothes hangs in tattered strips off my battered and bruised body. Every orifice burns in searing agony. Why can't I just die, right now? I'm begging, please, let me die. The snow continues to fall lightly around me, and I know it should feel cold, I should feel cold, but it doesn't and I don't. I feel...numb. In shock. Devastated. All my dreams...the big white wedding, my huge house filled with laughing children, as beautiful as both Royce and I...how could he do this, use me, tear me to pieces, rip through me like a knife, and allow his friends to do the same? Not even one at a time, but all at once, and some at once and why? Wasn't I enough for him in the end? Couldn't he wait for our wedding night? I let my head fall to the side; a tear trickles off my cheek and into the snow. Oh, God, let me die. I can see that the snow is tinged pink, the exact shade of my favorite roses, and I know it is from me, from my body, my battered, tortured body. And I envy Vera more now than I ever had in life. Even at the end, I am envious. She has it all, the loving husband, showering her with kisses after a hard days work, the bouncing, dark haired baby boy, maybe even more on the way. I have...death, under the street light, alone. My eyes find one of the brass buttons of my jacket, the jacket that was a gift, a token of love from Royce, I stare unblinkingly at it. Ha. He loved me, enough to share me around, give everyone a piece. I breathe out, wanting to be angry, instead feel the pain of the split in my lip, from his friend's fist when I tried to fight. Oh, God, why aren't I dead yet? I should be. The snow is turning a darker shade of pink, it is almost red now. I close my eyes, I have no more energy left for tears; I have nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I hear a noise nearby and stiffen, even though it causes more pain, certain that Royce and his friends have realized I'm not quite dead yet, are back to either finish the job, or have another go at me. I keep my eyes pressed shut, I don't want to see, feeling is enough. I am shocked by the gentle hands on my lip, in my hair, probing into cuts; I whimper in my agony. I open my eyes to see Dr Cullen, and now I am frustrated. I am laying here, my hair and face a mess, and he kneels over me, glaring in his perfection. I feel more myself as I try to frown; I can't stand looking any less than perfect.
And then he held me and I was flying, I must have imagined it was him, because truly, it must be an angel, and finally I am dying, although I thought the pain would stop when they came for me. It can't be much longer though, I must just have to wait another moment or two, and it will all be over...I'll just close my eye.
I feel the warmth and softness as he deposits me on what could only be a cloud. Ah, finally, the pain is receding, thank you God, finally I will die, finally it will be over...
No...more pain, searing, cutting at my throat, my wrists, my ankles. I can't help but scream, so shocked am I, maybe I have gone down instead, maybe my envy has kept me out of Gods house, oh God, please no.
Then fire, and surely it must be hell, because only hell would burn like this. I open my eyes, and I scream, and there is Dr Cullen, staring at me with eyes full of pity, and apology, holding my hand, though I can't feel it, everything burns.
"Kill me, please; I beg you, kill me." I scream again, and again he looks at me sadly, and he apologizes, and I scream.
Mrs. Cullen and her brother, Edward, enter the room and I beg them too, to kill me, I plead and I scream, and they all just look, Mrs. Cullen sad, Edward frowning.
I scream again as I continue to burn, and my lungs are on fire, all of me is on fire. Dr Cullen apologizes again, and tries to tell me something, but I am not listening it is all just burn and fire and pain. He speaks again and I try to listen I truly do. I even close my eyes again. Something about turning me or I would die - did he not understand my pleas for death? - about being vampires, but that is ridiculous, even in this horror I know that can't be true. I realize my screaming isn't helping, so I stop, listen to what Edward is saying to Dr Cullen.
"What were you thinking, Carlisle? Rosalie Hale?" The way he is speaking annoys me, like he doesn't like me. I know I don't like him, he is too handsome, but everyone likes me.
"I couldn't just let her die, it was too much - too horrible, too much waste."
"I know." Edward replies, but he sounds so...disinterested, and that makes me mad again, doesn't he know what they did, those animals, doesn't he care that they tore me apart, used me for their own fun, left me there to die?
"It was too much waste. I couldn't leave her." The doctor repeats, and I'm glad that someone at least feels that the loss of my life is a waste. Still, I am burning, and I bite my lip in my pain, desperate to keep listening.
"Of course you couldn't." Mrs. Cullen was agreeing with her husband, and the pain is tenfold, the burning of my body, and the burning of my spirit.
"People die all the time." Edwards voice sounds harsh, uncaring. I could hate him; I know I could, if I wasn't overwhelmed by too much of the fire.
"Don't you think she's just a little recognizable, though? The kings will have to put up a huge search - not that anyone suspects the fiend."
Oh, sweet surprise, they knew. Even the burning retreats slightly for a moment, I can feel the tips of my fingers. They know who it was that did this to me. Oh, joyous moment. Someone knows.
"What are we going to do with her?" Edward sounds disgusted, by the idea of me, or what to do with me, I don't know. Nor do I care. They know. That's all I can resister other than the burn, which has left my hands entirely now. I wiggle my fingers.
"That's up to her of course." The doctor was speaking quietly, but every word sounded like it was echoing in my head. "She may want to go her own way."
Oh, no. I don't want to be alone, I need people. Even if it was the Cullen's.
The pain was leaving my arms and legs now, they felt cool, and refreshed, but my torso burns brighter than I thought it ever could. My heart is trying to leap out of my chest in a desperate attempt to flee the coming fire; it and I both instinctively know that my heart will be the flames final destination
I scream again, and again, as the pain enters my chest, centers on my heart which is about to burst, and then....nothing. One final thud and then nothing. My heart stops. Finally. The burning has receded, is present only in my throat now, but in comparison, that is manageable. I open my eyes, see the Cullen's around the room. Mrs. Cullen is holding a small hand mirror, which she passes to me after I sit up. I peer into it at my face.
I believe Dr Cullen now. The face staring back at me is beautiful, more beautiful than any humans could possibly be, with glowing red eyes. I smile at my own beauty, pleased that again I am the most beautiful creature, more beautiful than any of the Cullen's, by far. When I can finally pull myself away from the mirror, I find the Cullen's are still staring at me, and Edward looks even more disgusted. I don't care. Am so happy with the reflection in the mirror, I don't care at all.
It takes me a few minutes, though, to really understand what all this means for me, a few minutes where Dr Cullen explains what I am capable of, as well as what they eat, all about them. I realize the speed; the power the doctor has told me about can help me, allow me revenge, a revenge I am determined to exact.
Hell hath no fury, and all that.