It must have been hours later and all was quiet, if you could ever call a hospital quiet and I could hear everything that happened, every step taken, any shift in weight, every breath pulled in by the people, every heartbeat. It was almost too much for me to comprehend. I felt something over my face; I didn't remove it as I heard someone sitting next to me, sobbing quietly. I felt something warm brush my face and I tried to remain perfectly still. For some reason I could feel the blood pulse through the veins of this person; I could hear their heartbeat. My throat started to ache; it was a dry yearning ache, like I had been in a desert for three years without water. I felt the sheet lift off my face, and a sweet, beckoning blast of air hit me as the person breathed out. I locked my muscles into place, surprised and disgusted. The person didn't seem to realize how close they were to becoming my first meal. They sighed quietly, blowing another bout of torturous sweet air towards me. "Why?" they whispered, I realized with a thud that this person who smelled unbelievably delicious was my mother. "What happened to you?" she whispered. At first I thought that she knew that I was still alive, but I knew that she was talking to herself. "Are you still here sweetie?" Mum asked I felt a tear splash down onto my cheek. The moisture was unreal. "Emily? Sweetheart? Please answer me," my mother begged. It was so hard not to answer her, not to open my eyes. Mum sighed and slid off my bed. I heard her leave the room and shut the door behind her. I opened my eyes as quickly as I could before shutting them again. I was alone in my room and the blinds shielded me from passers-by. I sat up carefully and got off the uncomfortable bed. They had dressed me in a hospital gown; I snarled under my breath and located my own clothes, which had been folded in the corner, freshly washed. I changed quickly, and then folded the sheet, which had been over me, and the hospital gown. I placed them on the edge of the bed. I felt rude just leaving without saying goodbye or anything, so I used a piece of hospital stationary and a pen. I didn't want to write anything extravagant, I just kept it simple:

Thank you very much

xoxo, Emily.

I left my note on top of the sheet and gown. I let myself out of my hospital room silently. I checked that the corridor was empty before running like the wind in the direction of the exit. Before I could get in an elevator, unnoticed I heard a voice behind me. "Emily?" I froze my father was here too. Mum must have contacted him, when she knew that I was dead. "Emily?" he asked again. I shook my head not saying anything. "Emily? Please don't lie to me." My dad wasn't as easily fooled as Mum. "I can't stay here." I said I heard my own voice for the first time since I had been here. It had changed. Every word I said now sounded like music. I heard my dad's intake of surprise. I turned to face him. "I'm sorry," I whispered, loud enough for him to hear me. "I can't stay here anymore. I don't belong." With that the elevator opened and stepped inside. As the doors clanged shut I watched my dad's distraught face disappear. I felt horrible. This wasn't supposed to happen, I thought back to when I was driving to live with Dad. The memory was surprisingly murky and distorted. I had pulled over, because I had started falling asleep. I had heard something in the woods and all the reports of huge bears had made me nervous, so I had locked the doors. It was all blurry there until I remember a shatteringly beautiful face sneering down at me. That person had pulled me from my car and all I remembered after that was a dull burning pain racing through my body.

I shuddered at the memory of pain. I burst out of the elevator moving too fast for everyone else to see me, but one of the doctors seemed to notice me as I blew past. I ignored him as I headed into the forest that surrounded the hospital.