Why didn't it hurt? She couldn't understand it. All she felt was heat- overwhelming, searing heat. It was impossibly hot, yet she felt no real pain.
Her vision was beginning to blur. Her teacher's robed form in front of her started to warp and shift.
Now there was pain.
It shut down her brain. She started to open her mouth to scream, but the minute she formed the "O", she felt her lips crack and peel. Her eyelids pressed back into her skull. The last thing she saw clearly was the crowd of people high in the pews jeering and ranting at her scorched form. Then it all went dark.
It was not the end. Death was not to come easily for Alessa. Her skin began to fall off in chunks, curling up at the edges as it separated from her body. She was no longer able to move, but in her mind she was. In her mind, she was thrashing wildly about, scratching at the crowd, biting and ripping their flesh to pieces. She would make them feel what she felt.
At that moment, her will came true. She felt, from beneath the darkness, the chains that held her cage in place loosen and give. She felt the motion of her body, but was helpless to stop it. Then her body and the steel that encased it collided with something. The reverberation shook through Alessa. Screams filled the smoky air.
Ch.2
A monotonous beep was all that was heard. Over and over, it was occasionally accompanied by a door clicking shut, or the shuffling of papers. Alessa lay in the bed motionless. She was unable to move, speak, and even think. It all hurt. It hurt so badly! How could they do this to her? What had she done?
A sound. The door was opening.
Ch. 3
Diane slowly turned the knob on the hospital door. She wanted to see for herself, to see if there was anything she could do for the little girl. All the resident nurses said that she should stay away from her, that the very sight would bring her to tears, but Diane didn't listen. She wanted to help, even if all she could do was give a few kind words.
Diane pushed the outer protective net aside, and moved closer to the observation hole. She peered in, and glimpsed charred flesh and bright blue and red bloodshot eyes. Diane felt a single tear slide down her cheek. Ashamed to be crying in front of this poor girl, she wiped her hand across her cheek. To her surprise, her fingertips were covered in red. Diane stared at the blood on her hand in horror. Then, the tears began to flood her eyes, pouring down her face and staining the front of her uniform. Diane desperately scraped at her face in vain, and then let out a hysterical shriek, running from the room.
From inside the netting around the bed, Alessa gave a low contented growl.
Someone else entered the room, the hospital being scarce for staff, as all were busy attempting to get Diane to unlock the bathroom she had shut herself into. The small, dark figure moved across the linoleum without a sound. Alessa slowly shifted her eyes toward the screen at her side. A shadow on the other side slowly came into focus. A hand.
Alessa grimaced, but slowly raised her blackened arm to meet the shadow. Her shaking hand met the dark shadow, and all went dark.
"This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
Not with a bang, but with a whisper."