Creative Writing Collection

Born Again

Rose smiled at the group of Nobodies, though they all stared back with confused expressions. She laughed and smiled away, but the members had no idea what was happening — had she gone mad? Had she finally cracked? Tears streamed down her cheeks.

This is wonderful. This is all so wonderful.

Oh, the ability to feel again. Everything seemed better. The colors brighter, the air sweeter, the weight on her chest was lighter.

Then her tears of joy escalated, her body trembling as she cried out — the awed group took a started jerk back. Rose came to her knees, gloved hands clutching the left side of her chest as emotions raged within her. She sobbed violently, suffocating herself with the inability to breathe through choking cries. The anger, the frustration; it was all coming back. But stronger.

The sadness within her was the prominent of all, weighing her down — quite literally — as she hunched her back, pressing her forehead and palms onto the ground like a sort of religious act. Mucus and tears and saliva intermingled with each other as she bowed there for several moments, submitting herself to the awesome power of the human heart. Then her hand flew to her ears.

That sound… it had been years since she last hears it. Whump whump… whump whump… whump whump… The sound of blood rushing through newly made veins and arteries — a newly made heart.

“These readings are off the charts!” Vexen exclaimed in a sharp whisper, the old scientist flipping through his books and checking monitors. “She’s being overworked…!”

And what he said was true. His words would always be true. He was always right, after all.

The excitement and rush of it all was too much for Rose to handle. She no larger cried tears, but cried out from pain instead. Tossing herself onto her back, arching it, she groveled and rolled on the white tile flooring as if a demon had possessed her, then hunched her back and held herself in a trembling ball.

Her vocal chords strained with each passing scream she let out, holding her chest tightly. The pain was unbearable.

She could feel the beat, the pounding of the new muscle within her. And she didn’t want it anymore. For all the work they had gone through to get it, she just wanted to gouge it out.

That was exactly what she did.