Author's Note: First of all, eeeeek I am so sorry for disappearing. I have no good excuse and I am sure you've heard them all anyways! And now I am here with my tail between my legs offering up the tiniest of chapters. But it's my way of saying that I still think about this story often, the characters still remind me to come back and keep writing, and I will continue to do just that. Though I am afraid at not a very consistent rate. If you are still here reading, thank you thank you!
Bella's POV
There were voices. Quiet murmurs, the sound almost indistinguishable from the rushing of a stream. The thought was laughable, how could anything remind me of water while I was atop this pyre? But the image of a clear spring tumbling across mossy ground caused me to weep aloud. My body twitched as though it was trying to slip into the cool water, the glistening surface of which continued to taunt me behind my eyelids.
Specific words must have been spoken but they were indecipherable to me. Only the tone of those closest to me was somewhat recognizable. They sounded desperate. Pained. The other voices felt further away, the lilting cadence of their speech slipping in and out through the cracks of the blaze like a radio station cutting through static. Some part of me knew the presence of the voices should be reassuring. Bringing me some sort of relief. But I could not remember who they were or why I should have felt better knowing they were there. Each time that I felt a glimmer of recognition begin to appear before me, another wave of blistering heat would sear across my body. The names and the faces I sought reduced to ash.
As I continued to strain against the weight of darkness that clutched my consciousness in a burning vice, I managed to achieve brief moments of near lucidity. Each one felt like breaking through the surface. A second to gulp for air. A second to beg for an end to the inescapable pain, to beg for a mercy killing. But each time I was inevitably yanked back into nothingness. Back into the eternal flame.