Marked

(1) Am I Dead Yet?

                                                                        _Am I Dead Yet?_

**Arielle POV**

        I weaved in and out of the noisy underbrush, trying to make as little noise as possible. The tall grass was stinging my shins but I ignored it as I sprinted around a line of burning trees. My lungs were busting. I couldn't seem to get air in and out of them quick enough and the smoke that permeated the air didn't help. A tree fell right in front of me, blocking my path off. Damn.

        I completely ditched the stealth thing that obviously wasn’t working for me and just broke into a crazy all out sprint. My heart pounded and I could feel a migraine coming on. “No,no,no. Please not now.” I turned and reluctantly ran back the way I had come, hoping to find another way around. I had barely made it ten feet before the first wave of pain came on. I dropped instantly to my knees as the killer pain erupted in my temples first, the dull roar of the fire giving way to the thunderous white noise of the headache.I was face down in the dirt when I heard the… thing snarl and it felt like it was right over me, waiting. But waiting for what? My vision went black and I could only lay there as the worst of it washed over me.

        I fought to control the stabbing agony and it soon faded enough to where I could stand and move on.I saw nothing. No beast breathing down my neck but I wasn’t sticking around so that it could. My tolerance to the migraine had grown, but with my ability to control and push it away, the intensity of the migraine increased as well. Moving slowly and even more disoriented than before, I tried to get away from… whatever was chasing me through the forest that day… I could’nt remember anything after getting up- soot in my eyes and cinders burning my arms…

        My head swam and I found myself lying with grass and dirt underneath my cheek. I looked around and nothing was burning, there was no smoke or ash in the air, no soot to be seen other than all over myself. I tried to push myself off the ground but I only got as far as to kneel when my right arm seized up and an explosion of searing pain rocked through it- a cry tearing through my raw throat as my head hit dirt. Tendrils of electricity raked down my spine, making me arch my back again and again- over and over. I writhed on the dewy night grass as an eternity passed. Then, I felt my shoulder tighten up and spasm next, my mind sharpening with a burning in my shoulder blade- as if someone were branding me. Time passed, a lot of time. A fresh wave of agony ripping at my back, I wailed out to an empty forest. The pain just kept getting stronger and more focused in my shoulder.I gritted my teeth against it. This was a thousand times worse than all of my migraines combined, I couldn't stand it, it was all I could do to roll over in time to avoid vomiting all over myself.

        I heaved and gagged, swearing colorfully in between retching, until I couldn’t spit anything up anymore- there was nothing left to spit up. And all of my remaining energy had drained from me as I struggled to roll into a new spot. I just gave up trying to tame the fire crawling up my neck and down my back. I screamed , I begged, I cried for the suffering to stop, just for it to end. My mind;body;soul screeched like a harpy.

        I wanted to die.

        I truly did.

        The agonizing burn had spread slowly across my spine, down to the other arm the concentrated torment creeping downwards, yet still leaving what it had already touched numb, and useless. My jaw clenched again and I could suddenly taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth and I assume I must have bitten my tongue. It was now inching down and throughout my upper torso. It felt like worms crawled under my skin.

        Each hour was filled with suffering.

        Every moment was torture.

        Every Second was agony.

        I tried everything I could think of. I prayed. I prayed to a god i had no longer believed in and every other one I didn't in the first place. I asked- I pleaded for him, her, them - I didn't care- to strike me dead where I lay - my cries echoing against the trees every time a fresh wave hit me.

        five minutes later, had lost all feeling above the waist. I tried to appeal to mother nature, to Santa, the tooth fairy, the Easter- fucking- Bunny, to whoever in the universe hated me at that moment.

        I couldn't breathe anymore.

        I plain out cussed my lungs out with every word under the sun.The pain never paused- never ended and after what seemed like a lifetime or two in hell, it dipped beneath my hips and I could feel myself slipping. I was falling into a deep dark and I welcomed it- gladly stepped forward to embrace it.

        Anything to get away. Anything

        I fell through the veil, away from this world and found myself delivered into nirvana. It all ends with Nirvana but Nirvana isn't the answer.

~~~~~

        I drifted in and out of consciousness that day. In and out. In then out- back into the nether. Over and over again on the same ground, in the same woods. Hours of the same thing.

        A swaying sense of motion startled me into awareness and I looked up to find an extremely beautiful person carrying me through the forest in his arms. My first instinct was to gawk at his face but my second was: The Fuck? Yet after some thought, I didn't mind being in his arms at the moment- we’re talking “You are now officially on my To Do list” kind of beautiful right now. His arms tightened around me as I stirred and I felt his muscles ripple and tense underneath me. He looked down at me with startling electric blue eyes the color of a clear sky. He stared at me curiously, his raven black hair falling into his face contrasting enormously with his suntanned skin and peculiar eyes.

        I reached up and pulled his face towards mine until he was only inches away- halting our trudge through the wilderness. “Nope. You’re real.” I mumbled dumbfounded, letting his face go, my voice husky from screaming my brains out for hours.

        I felt his shoulders shake as he laughed and continued our trek through the trees, my mind too scrambled to worry about where exactly we were going. “Yes Beauty, I do imagine I'm real.” He confirmed and all I could do was stare at him as I nearly melted through his arms.

        He was ENGLISH?!?

        “Pinch me. I’m hallucinating really cute british boys carrying me through the forest at night.” I thought for a second. “Or I’m dead. Dead makes sense.” Hot guy? check. British? Double check… sounds like heaven to me. I felt his chest rumble again with laughter.

        “Glad I’m attractive at least. It’s good to know you have a sense of humor, Beauty. Or if your serious, No, I’d certainly hope you’re not dead. I’d miss your company too much.” He smiled down at me but then frowned, “Sleep now, Beauty. We’re not quite out of the woods yet”

        “How right you are.” I laughed darkly at the irony and the laugh quickly escalated to a hacking cough until I could see spot and stars in my vision. “Hey, ummm. Are dark spots in pitch black okay?” I asked him weakly and then passed out.

        I slept- I'm gonna say sleep- in his arms soundly even though common sense screamed rapist and kidnapped and a whole lot of other things, I had bigger things to worry about- like that thing that tried to burn me out of that forest.

        I dreamt for the first time in forever. I dreamt about everything, my mind went wild: My mother and her broken mind, The Stepfather, X- I slammed the door in my mind on that thought before any damage could be done. But best of all- I dreamt of Dad…