I'm not quite sure when I fell asleep after that exclamation; all I knew was the nightmare that ensued was the worst I had.
I woke up screaming, my ankle hurt worse than before and after touching my sweater I realized that it was wet with my blood. It was pitch black around me, the fire had gone out.
I was hyperventilating, lightheaded from blood loss and unable to think clearly. I panicked! Digging at the cold ashes with my fingers in hopes of starting the fire again.
"Ow!" I had touched a sharp splinter, the small piece of wood bringing forth a small drip of blood. Hastily I crammed my sooty fingers into my mouth, letting the gritty substance swirl around my tongue.

Having my fingers in my mouth seemed to calm me down enough to focus, a rather childish coping mechanism I supposed.
I still couldn't quite regulate my breathing, but that was the least of my troubles. How long had I been asleep?
My dirty hair was slipping out of their custom braids, and with my free hand I hastily pushed the stray blond hairs back.
The action reminded me of when I was younger, I had had a nightmare and my mother was the one to bring me back to bed.
She pulled me behind her by my small hand, mumbling to herself. All I could think of was how scared I had been, all I had wanted was for her to comfort me just a little! For her to tell me that nothing in my dream was real-she had done none of those things.

My lower lip wobbled and I found myself crying onto my bear arms, and for a few moments I was the tiny little girl crying after her mother had taken her back to her room, not saying anything but merely brushing her hair behind her ears.
I let the stress of that night roll down my cheeks and drip into the grass, the quiet broken by my loud sobs.

After a while I roused myself into starting the fire again with my eyes.
Then I hazarded looking at my injured ankle, I winced as I slowly removed the gray folds of cloth from my wound, I could feel a cool breeze touch my bloody ankle and a few more tears sprung to my eyes from the pain of it.
It didn't look good, my ankle had swollen even further and the wound in general was enough to make me throw up again!
I took my sweater and folded it so that the remaining dry fabric was touching my skin; I took a few deep breaths.

After that I merely watched the flames eat the tiny remnants of wood left, the light flickering across my vision.
Was anyone looking for me?
I felt as though there was a golf ball in my throat, how could I doubt my parents like that? Of course they would be beside themselves with worry!
I dug my fingernails into my arm as a twinge of doubt hit me.
"They wouldn't leave me here," I mumbled to myself, "I'm the-" I stopped myself, because somehow it seemed wrong to say it now. Perhaps the feeling would die away, but now I found my mouth closing with an audible *click*.
Almost everyone I knew seemed to somehow resent the fact that I called myself "The Best", I had counted them as jealous.
All of my life I had kept my eyes on the prize! And when that wasn't enough, I stole a few things to prove to everyone how The Best I was. It felt so innocent at first, and when it changed, when I had realized that I was behaving like a criminal…

"I'm The Best at stealing!"

Becky didn't understand me, my parents don't understand me. I felt as though the world did not understand why I did what I did!
Because I was The Best, I was always going to be The Best! The Best was what my parents were proud of, The Best was what everyone around me admired and was jealous of!

Being The Best protected me...
Only, how come it couldn't protect me now?

One more chapter after this one, sorry these chapters are so short.
I now have the excuse of being sick *hack cough hack* if you dislike this chapter x)

I doubt that you're wondering, but I wrote down Victoria's dream if you wish to read it. It felt weird sticking it into the story, so if you want to read it I'll stick it onto the end of the next chapter!

Please review!