The sun rose on a beautiful Saturday morning and Clara gently woke up as soft beams of orange light protruded through the small windows on the castle tower. Sitting up in her four-poster bed, Clara noticed that once again she was the first one to wake up. She could never sleep in on quidditch days, no matter how tired she was. And Clara Hawkins was plenty tired. The marauders forced her to run around the castle with them on the previous night to continue working on the magical map they were all creating. It was going to have a lay out of the entire castle, every last nook and cranny; even the hidden and off-limit rooms and passages would be recorded. They had drawn out at least half of the castle and still had a long way to go. Clara was still amazed at how much magic they could all accomplish when they worked together. She smirked to herself as she donned her scarlet and gold quidditch robes before grabbing her broom from her dark brown chest. Clara left her dorm room with her precious Orbit 201 thrown around her shoulders. That broom had been an early 16th birthday present from her parents and it was even more special to her because it was her muggle mother who picked out and ordered the broom. They gave it to her as she boarded the train that year, her birthday being during the school year. Engraved in a delicate script at the sleek handle were the words 'Clara Lorell Hawkins, Our shining Star'. It was the greatest gift Clara had ever received.
She reached the common room and was surprised to find that it wasn't empty. James and Sirius were sitting on the couch with their heads together, speaking in low voices.
"Going over the game plan gents? Or are you planning your wedding?" They jumped slightly at the sound of her voice and whipped their heads towards her; the shocked look on their faces was laughable.
"Good morning Clara. You're up early." James commented as his friend made her way to the chair next to Sirius. Both He and James were also wearing their robes and had their brooms lying out across the coffee table.
"I never sleep in on a game day." She explained as she plopped down on the chair, setting her broom in her lap. "What are you two gossiping about?"
"Oh, just plans for tonight's celebration." Sirius said in a confident manner.
"Yeah, we're just that much closer to the quidditch cup after this match today." Clara rolled her eyes at how cocky her two teammates were.
"You know, we haven't actually won yet. Don't count your dragons before they hatch boys." They looked at her like she was crazy.
"Please Clara, a little faith?" James asked before pulling out the folded parchment that was their unfinished castle map. He opened it out across the table in front of them and all three teenagers looked over it, their heads close together.
"How much did we get last night?" Clara asked as she looked at the elegant script that Remus had covered the crisp pages in. The boys were shocked to discover that out of the group, Clara actually had the worst handwriting. Her friendship with the marauders was forcing them to discover many unknown things about females, and sometimes, they weren't prepared for the numerous discoveries. Puberty had been a nightmare.
"All of the dungeon area and the first two floors of the grand staircase." Sirius commented with a smile. "That, plus what we already have, means we're almost finished. Only the astronomy tower and fourth and fifth floors to go."
"Then we put the knowledge charm on it and we'll know who is in the castle at all times." James's eyes were shining behind his circular glasses and messy hair. "Once this is done, roaming around the castle is going to be a breeze!"
"Well, you boys do take mischief to another level, don't you?" Clara commented with a laugh. "But you might want to consider putting on a vanishment spell or a counter-jinx on it. Or else anyone will be able to read it and when you undoubtedly get caught by Filch with it, he won't be able to use it against you." The two boys on the couch turned their heads and stared at Clara as if she were the most wonderful creature they had ever seen in their entire lives.
"My word Clara, you're BRILLANT!" James exclaimed before laughing in joy. He began to fold the map up with a new spring in his step. "With that mindset, there's no limit to what we could do with this map! Insult curses, pimple hexes... No one but the Marauders would be able to use this map!"
"Well, that's the idea isn't it?" Clara asked as a blush filled her cheeks. Though these boys were her best friends, she would never get comfortable with them gushing over her. She liked it better when they treated her like one of the guys.
"Why can't all women be more like Clara prongs? Brilliant, beautiful, and only slightly high-matinence." She blushed even harder as Sirius turned to James, before she digested what he had actually said.
"HEY!" She yelled at her handsome but annoying friend. He turned to her, oblivious, and Clara opened her mouth to tear into him. At that time Remus appeared at the foot of the stairs and it only took one quick glance for Clara to become silent. He looked horrible...
"Remus!" She exclaimed, going into mother-mode as she jumped up from the couch and instantly had an ungloved hand at his forehead. The entire went silent in surprise. "My goodness, you're burning up! You need to go to the hospital wing right away. Come on, I'll take you!" He chuckled shakily as he pulled Clara's hand down from his head and held it.
"I'll be fine Clara, don't worry. I just need some rest, I slept horribly last night. Peter was snoring again..." This didn't quell her fears however, and she looked at him with worried eyes.
"But Remus, you look frightfully ill. At least go get a tonic from Madam Pom.."
"Really Clara, I'll be fine!" He interrupted with another laugh. "You should be worrying about the game and beating that git McNash, not fretting over me." She still looked apprehensive so Remus gave her hand a squeeze, something that a snooping Sirius did not fail to miss.
"Speaking of which," Black interrupted loudly as he stood up and grabbed his broom from the table. "Are we going to sit around here discussing herbal remedies or are we going to go eat something before kicking Ravenclaw's arse? I don't know about you all, but I'm starving." Clara rolled her eyes before leaving Remus and picking up her broom again. James followed the actions of his friends and swung his broom around his shoulders.
"You're always hungry Sirius. I swear you're so similar to Snuffles that you two could be twins." Clara said before heading to the portrait hole with the boys following. Sirius caught up with her once they were descending the changing staircase and walked beside her.
"Who's Snuffles?" He questioned with a confused expression on his handsome face. Clara laughed as they entered the grand hall.
"He's our dog."
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The Gryffindor house quidditch team walked onto the field with their heads held high. The captain led the red and gold team followed by James, the seeker. The rest of the team walked by groups, Chasers followed by beaters. Clara stood in between a tall dark skinned boy and the only other girl on the team, who had short brown hair. Her own blonde curls had been done up in a short French braid with her bangs pulled back with a scarlet ribbon. Sirius was walking directly behind her with a cocky grin on his face as the crowds cheered on the teams before the match began. Clara held her red tinted broom tightly to her chest, her small hands quivering nervously. As they approached the other team at the middle of the field, Clara gasped in surprise as her eyes fell upon the other Keeper. Steven McNach was indeed completely hairless. His grey eyes narrowed in anger as the Gryffindor team came to a stop behind Madam Hooch. Clara had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing, but she could hear Sirius chuckling rather loudly behind her.
"Captains, shake hands!" Hooch demanded. As the tall 7th years clasped hands in good sportsmanship Nash's eyes fell to Clara, sending a wave of nerves through her small body. She glared back.
"Let him have it." Sirius whispered to her as the players separated from their formation and got on their brooms. She felt a soft hand squeezing her right shoulder before she could see Sirius swinging a confident leg over his broom, instantly floating up into the air before he began to toss his beaters bat around lazily. Since Steven was also a chaser, Clara was forced to float parallel to him as Hooch finished shouting out the rules. He smirked at her as she rose into the air.
"Hey Steven, I like what you did to your hair. Maybe the a breeze on your lumpy head will help you think of a way to actually score a goal..." Clara pulled her leg over her broom and smiled alluringly at her ex-boyfriend. He wasn't smiling any more. "I doubt it."
The shrill blow of the whistle drowned out James and Sirius's fits of laughter and the game began.
It was an intense game to say the least. It had been going on for at least 2 hours and the score was tied. Clara was panting in exhaustion as she took a slight breather, watching as her captain blocked another attempted goal. A bludger whizzed past her ear, forcing her to leap higher in the air. Another one just missed her foot and she watched as Sirius raced towards her, his bat raised and his face bleeding.
"Come on Clara, get back in the game!" He yelled as he passed her, his face as serious as his name. Clara chuckled at her brilliant pun before taking a deep breath and diving back into the battle. McNach had the quaffle and was hastily making his way towards the goal. Urging her broom forward with all her might, Clara reached her opponent 20 feet from the goal posts. With a smirk on her lips she shoved into McNash as forcefully as possible, stretching her right arm out towards the quaffle. In his utter surprise Steven not only screamed like a girl, but he also let go of the ball, giving Clara the full advantage. She flew away from him like a shot and headed straight towards the other goal. Bludgers flew at her from every direction and she had to zig-zag to keep from being hit, but this also slowed her down. She could feel the other chasers gaining on her as she made her way to the goal. She pushed herself further and further and once she reached the three posts she locked on quickly and hurled the quaffle with all her might. A thunderous whistle sounded over the field, announcing the end of the game.
"Hawkins scores ten. Potter scores one hundred and fifty! Potter caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins!" With a huge smile on her face Clara soared to the field as her teammates were landing. With a squeal of joy she threw herself onto the first crop of dark hair that she found, looking for James.
Instead she found Sirius.
"Clara, that was brilliant!" He exclaimed as his arms squeezed her tightly. Her legs had latched themselves around his torso and her arms were wrapped around his neck, hugging him back.
"No Sirius! You were fantastic! I didn't get hit at all!" She leaned back to look at his bloody face. His arms were supporting her back and they were comfortable together. In fact, standing like they were, it made them... even happier.
"Uhh, guys? Aren't you gonna congratulate me?" An awkward voice broke their focus and both heads turned towards James at the same time, causing him to laugh.
"JAMES!" Clara shrieked before jumping from Sirius to James, attaching herself to him in the same exact way. James, however, fell over from both embarrassment and surprise, sending them both to the ground. Clara landed on top of her friend, straddling him with her padded legs. She took no time in kissing him on both cheeks, causing a startling scarlet blush to flood his cheeks.
"Co-come on Clara! Geroff me!"
"Why didn't you catch it sooner James!" Now she was glaring at him, her finger waving accusingly in his face. By this time, the entire team had made its way over and it was almost impossible to hear. "That game took over two hours!"
"I didn't do it on purpose! I kept getting hit by bludgers!"
"A likely story! I didn't get hit by a single bludger and I was in the middle of the field the entire game."
"That's because Sirius was shadowing you the entire game." Clara went silent. Now that she thought about it, it was very rare and odd to play an entire two-hour game of quidditch and not get hit at least once by a bludger. She didn't have time to dwell on this new information however, because suddenly she felt herself being lifted into the air.
"Now, now Clara, lets not give Evan's or McNash another reason to dislike Prongs. He does that well enough on his own." Sirius had picked up Clara like she weighed nothing and set her on her feet before bending over and helping James up. The team descended on them like a wave and soon there was nothing but laughing and screams. Clara stood in between her two best friends and they walked, arm in arm, back to the common room. It was tradition that after a victory the marauders would set up supplies for a grand party in the Gryffindor common room. Today, Clara was so cheery that she might even help them.
When they finally had everything set up it was almost dusk. Like usual, no one other than the quidditch team and the marauders were allowed in the tower until they had put everything together. Remus had been there in the beginning but he had left to sneak over to Hogsmeade to get more supplies. Clara had been worried about how horrible he still looked and was hesitant to let him leave. Unluckily for her, Emily had broken into the common room and forced Clara into a bath and fresh clothes. After that difficult task had been accomplished, Emily somehow managed to put an obsessive amount of make up on Clara, along with straightening her hair magically and forcing her to wear her most stylish pair of glasses.
"I really don't see a point to all this Emily! Enough MASCARA! I'm going downstairs right now!" Clara stood from where she had been practically chained to and walked to the door.
"Clara, WAIT!" The blonde signed in annoyance before turning. Emily was pointing her short wand at Clara and she uttered a short incantation. A shot of golden, sparkly light flashed out and raced towards Clara, bursting into a cloud of gold smoke upon impact.
"What did you just do?" Clara asked in shock, looking over her entire body for a sign of the spell. All she saw was her normal clothes, a pair of dark jeans, a white v-neck long sleeved shirt and blue flats. Nothing stuck out as different.
"It's a spell I invented! You'll smell wonderful for up to 5 hours!" Clara sniffed her arm hesitantly and noticed that she did indeed smell wonderful: like vanilla and a beautiful assortment of different types of flowers. "I told you, I'm going to own Witch Weekly one day."
"You are going to do a lot more that that Emily." Smiling to her best girl friend, Clara turned and walked down the stairs, welcoming the loud and raucous sounds coming from the common room. The first this Clara noticed upon entering the open circular space was the sheer number of people crammed into the small amount of space. All the couches and chairs had been pushed up against the wall and the space between was just flooded with every type of person. Laughter and conversation filled the air as Clara forced her way through the crowd, being patted and congratulated by people she couldn't see. When she finally broke free from the sea of people, she found herself near the large table covered with snacks and drinks from Hogsmeade. With a sigh of relief Clara grabbed a bottle of butterbeer and took a refreshing gulp of fizzy liquid. A few 6th years noticed that her and instantly pulled her into a conversation about the previous quidditch match. It was several moments before Clara noticed a swelling of noise at the steps. People began to sush each other as the Captain of the quidditch suddenly appeared above the group. He was standing on a table to look over the crowd and really get them fired up. This speech had become tradition after Gryffindor won the cup during Clara's 3rd year. James had been the seeker since his first year and had gotten them close to winning, but once Sirius, Clara, and the other male chaser Chad joined the team they had won the cup every year since. Clara began to reminisce about her earlier years at Hogwarts and a sweet smile fell across her lips. She could clearly remember almost everything; when she finally got her letter, school shopping with her dad, the first ride on the Hogwarts express, meeting the boys, and so much more. She didn't notice when the Captain called out each of the members of the Gryffindor team. She stood looking off into space as everyone in the room turned to her with a round of applause.
"Clara! Pay attention, will you?" A harsh but quiet voice brought her out of her reserve and Clara awkwardly smiled at the people clapping their hands. Luckily the captain began talking and Clara could finally breath again. She had never been one for large crowds. A soft chuckling forced her to check her surroundings and she noticed a rather handsome looking Sirius Black standing right next to her, holding a bottle of butter beer. He had cleaned up after the game, probably during the time she had been kidnapped, and now wore a pair of black pants and a dark grey button up shirt. His long hair fell free around his young but mature face.
"Well, you certainly clean up well... Which one are you after this time?" Clara inquired as she took another sip of butterbeer. Sirius laughed before taking a drink of his own.
"If I didn't know you better, I'd say you just complimented me..." Clara rolled her blue eyes as she leaned against the wall they had been standing by. She looked over the students, her friends, but didn't move to join them.
"Good thing you know me then... So what's her name?"
"Why do you think I only try to look nice to catch girls?" Clara glanced over at her friend and noticed that he wasn't looking at the crowd at all. His eyes were trained solely on her, and Clara had all of his attention. She started to feel warmth on the back of her neck.
"Because I'm not a plonker. Just tell me who it is?" Clara demanded as she looked away from Sirius and took another drink. She didn't want to look into his dark eyes right now... She couldn't handle it.
"Why do you want to know so badly?" This was a whisper and Clara almost dropped the bottle in her hands. Sirius was bent slightly, his mouth directly at Clara's ear, and he had one elbow leaving against the wall directly over Clara's blonde head. He was so close that she could smell his cologne... It was a very dark and expensive scent: Dangerous and mysterious and dark. Clara had to make herself remain calm and continue breathing steadily. The full moon poured in the common room from the windows along the tower and Clara wished it were morning already.
"Why are you avoiding the question?" She shakily took another sip of butterbeer and hoped that she looked nonchalant. Sirius barked out a laugh and straightened up before surveying the crowd.
"You are one of a kind Clara." Said woman looked up at her friend and watched as his eyes caught a hold of something that held a very high interest to him. His thin lips stretched into an alluring smile and his mood turned to one of excitement and adventure. "Well Hawks, I'd better get going. People to see, women to impress, you know." Clara opened her mouth to give a witty response but when she looked at Sirius the insult died on her lips. His face was a stoic mask, something he had learned from his harsh pureblood upbringing, but it was also full of mischief. He was up to something.
"Don't let me keep you from your skirt chasing Sirius. Have a good time." He grinned at her quickly before dissolving into the sea of people. She lazily attempted to watch his exit in an attempt to see the girl who he would surely triumph that night but there were too many bodies. She finished the last of her butterbeer before braving the riot once again, this time her only objective was making it to the stairs safely so she could go to bed: It had been a very long day.
"Clara, that was a brilliant game today!" An adorable 2nd year blocked her path, his freckly bright face showing nothing but affection for his superior. Clara inwardly groaned as she flashed a smile.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it." Clara started looking for a path out.
"Were you frightened to go against a team filled with upperclassmen?" The little red head was back in her field of vision with a white grin.
"Erm, well, not really. They may have been almost all 7th years but we have a statistically stronger team." She smiled at him quickly before once again scanning the area. Was that Sirius near the portrait hole?
"Yes, but aren't you afraid of retaliation? You just destroyed more than half of the Ravenclaw team's last chance at getting the cup." That couldn't be Peter up there also, could it?
"Well kid, it isn't about age or year, it's about who has the better team." 'That's James too, no doubt about it' Clara thought as she inched herself towards the path that should get her to the portrait hole. "If the Raveclaw team can't accept the loss with good graces then they shouldn't be playing in the first place. No one likes a sore loser any more than they like a stuck up winner. Now if you'll excuse me..." With that Clara shoved her way through the crowd on an important mission to find her friends. They were up to something and she wanted to know what.
When she again broke free of the crowd, the three boys were gone. Growing suspicious Clara exited the common room and entered the grand staircase just in time to see a group disappear through the doors to the main entrance. Clara knew based on the fact that the boys descended seven flights of stairs in that short amount of time, they were up to something big. She flew down the stairs in a huff, upset that she hadn't been invited, and hurried out into the grand entrance. Filch was walking from the dungeons towards the grand hall so Clara had to hide behind a statue until him and his annoying cat disappeared before she could quietly sprint to the front door and slip outside. Absentmindedly Clara wondered why the professors didn't just put a locking spell on the door at night... After clearing the front steps she took a second to look around. The castle grounds were illuminated by the bright moonlight so it wasn't at all difficult to see. Clara looked around for her friends but didn't notice any abnormal movements. She saw a light in Hagrid's hut and decided that they had gathered there to plot against her... Once again. (Her birthday 3rd year they had planned a surprise gift that had ended in disaster.) Determined to stop the madness before it started, Clara made her way towards the half-giants humble abode. Just as she reached the circle of rock she heard an odd barking over to her right.
"Fang?" Clara sighed in annoyance and took the path to her right, in the direction of the forbidden forest. As Clara walked down the muddy path, a strange chill ran through her body forcing her to cross her arms in an effort to keep from shivering. Her blue eyes shifted all over the landscape but she could see no sign of Fang or the other boys. She got more and more anxious as the path came to an end and she was left with nowhere to go. Straight ahead of her was a shockingly dormant Whomping Willow and to her right was the dark forest.
"Alright boys! I know you're hiding somewhere!" The chatter of animals and the soft rustling of trees was the only response. Several moments of silence passed before Clara groaned in irritation. It was late and she was exhausted from the happenings of the day, not to mention pissed that her best friends had left her. With a yawn Clara decided that she could wait until morning to berate the marauders and she turned to leave. A snapping of twigs was all it took to make her instantly face the forest. It stood there gazing at her, standing tall like a fortress and looking dark and sinister. Even in the brightness of the full moon the forest seemed devoid of any light at all. It swayed and moved like a single organism, exuding terror and darkness from its very core. However, something else was pouring from the forest, wrapping itself around Clara and drawing her in.
She stood no chance against the spell of seduction that the forest commanded. As she reached the edge of the wood, a small voice at the back of her head screamed for her to stop. 'Stop and turn around and run back to the castle' it begged her. But a deep voice hidden between the trees broke Clara's last resolve and she sprinted straight into the thicket, leaving the world behind her.
Clara stopped her running once she reached a small clearing with moonlight pouring in like water. She looked around for any sign of her friends, so sure that the voice she had heard earlier belonged to Sirius. Another chilling breeze forced her to huddle slightly for heat and it was as she rubbed her arms for heat that the voice returned. He was chuckling darkly.
"Sirius?" Clara staggered to the middle of the clearing, twisting her head in every way, trying to find some sign of the boys. "James? Come on guys, this isn't funny!"
"It's actually quite amusing..." Clara gasped in shock as the voice filled the clearing from all around her. It was most certainly not Sirius and Clara began to feel fear creeping up her legs. Her breath came in quick bursts as she struggled to fish her wand out of her back pocket. Once it was securely fisted in her shaking hand Clara searched outward for the source of the noise.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" Her voice was covered in a thick layer of terror and she attempted to quietly clear her throat. The delicious laughter returned, but this time it was centered near a tree directly in front of Clara.
"Of course, My lady." Out of the shadows a figure formed beneath the largest tree in the area.
"Come out where I can see you!" A red spark emitted from the tip of her slender wand as a sign of warning to the stranger, who chuckled again.
"As you wish." A man appeared in a flourish of black smoke and gazed at the terrified girl, his blood red eyes flickering lazily over her form. Clara gasped in shock before backing up as quickly as possible, until her back reached a tree and she could retreat no further. The man in front of her was devilishly handsome and dangerously spellbinding. He was tall and fit, with raven hair that was pulled away from his perfectly symmetrical face and fell to his elbows. His clothing was unique and seemed to come from another time all together. Every piece of clothing was another shade of black, which made his skin seem even more colorless. In the strong glow from the moon the man's exposed face and hands looked stark white and hard, like ice. His unnerving eyes stared at Clara, not breaking focus once.
"You-you're a vampire..." And the man smiled with mocking joy. Two long and razor sharp teeth revealed themselves, sending a fresh wave of panic through Clara's suddenly tiny body.
"What a clever little girl you are..." He took a calculated step forward, further exposing himself to the light and looking even more deadly. "But not clever enough to stay away from a cursed forest during a full moon... Pity" He barked out a laugh and Clara saw two more viciously sharpened incisors on his bottom row of teeth.
"St-stay ba-ba-back!" She brandished her wind in front of her body in an attempt to halt the strangers' advance. "I-I swear I'll..."
"Do what beautiful?" He interrupted with a chuckle. Clara thrust her wand forward again and opened her mouth to yell out an incantation. With a casual wave of his hand, the stranger sent Clara's wand flying into a tree to the right. It snapped on contact. The man was now hovering over Clara, much like Sirius had done earlier in the day, but it was for a different reason. He brought a large hand up to cup her warm cheek, lightly caressing her flesh with his undoubtedly razor sharp nails. Clara was shocked at his cold touch and could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate. The man lowered his mouth to the exposed flesh of her neck and pressed his cold lips against it.
"You should be running..." Clara's breath hitched in her throat and she could not scream. She simply pushed herself to the side and hurtled through the forest behind her. She races as fast as she possibly could, sloppily dodging trees and getting cut up all over from the foliage she sprinted through. Her journey was a short one and soon she found herself sprawling to the ground after tripping on an unearthed limb. She fell face first onto the hard forest floor, breaking her glasses and busting her lip open. She attempted to scramble to her feet but another deep laugh forced her to flip over onto her butt. She urgently pushed her self backwards into another tree and clutched at her heaving chest as blood poured from her swelling bottom lip. Her broken glasses lay on the muddy ground, as useless as her broken wand. Through her blurred vision she could see the stranger appear once again, his blood colored eyes almost glowing in the darkness.
"Tsk tsk, now look what you've done. You're all banged up, dearest heart." He slowly and threateningly approached where she was huddled up. With one cold stone hand the vampire forced Clara to look at him, the blood from her lip pooling in his palm and trickling down his sleeve. "What a pity, and I do so love a challenge." He retracted his now-soiled hand and brought it to his thin lips, a pale tongue darting out to slowly test the liquid. Clara could see as his eyes flashed suddenly, turning even brighter.
"But you do look so beautiful in red..." Clara was able to release one single hopeless scream before the man's teeth sunk into her flesh like warm butter. The sound emitting from her throat strangled and drowned and her rigid flesh quickly slackened and went numb. Clara felt no more pain as she closed her dimming eyes on her last day of life.
Somewhere in the distance a howl of despair erupted through the suddenly moonless night.
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"Death was a funny thing..." I thought as I lay facedown on the floor of the Forbidden Forest. I was completely alone, the vampire having disappeared quite suddenly as the sun began to rise beyond the woods. What little blood I had remaining was slowly seeping into the dew covered earth, leaving me empty. There was actually no pain in dying and I was quite content to wait for death to find me. It's not like I could move or scream for help. Vampire venom is strong and spreads fast, leaving me completely useless... Even my thoughts were beginning to slow and I took that as a sign that death was near.
As I closed my eyes one last time an interesting object formed in my blurry vision. A sound like sniffing reached my quickly deafening ears as a black snout came closer towards my turned face. I tried to snap my eyes open to investigate this new discovery but they only offered one more second of vision before going blank completely.
Black shoes had flooded my last decipherable thought.
And then there was nothing.
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