1 Devour

My burning skin chilled the cold, hard betrayal that bit at my heart.

Why does this have to happen to me? What did I ever do wrong?

I gritted my teeth.

I wouldn't give in. I can, but I won't.

I didn't do all of this for nothing. I will survive... I must.

"Someone anyone! H-Help me! Get me out of—COUGH—h-here...—cough, cough..." I rebelled against the reaper whose scythe was pressing against my charred neck.

I won't give up.

Crash!

A piece of the ceiling fell on the burning room. Fire danced around it, hugged, then engulfed it.

It was getting harder to breathe as I inhaled more and more smoke into my lungs. I tried with all my might to kick the door down, throwing my body and legs at it, but to no avail. I tossed a helpless gaze to my armless shoulders and cursed.

"H-help me..." my raspy voice begged, 'God, please... someone, help me..."

I couldn't breathe.

I felt my consciousness slipping away as the oxygen struggling to get to my lungs stopped circulating.

My vision was starting to blur. Everything was spinning, and I felt like the ground underneath me was shaking. I lost my balance, fell to the floor, and finally gave in to my heavy eyelids, closing them.

The fire consumed me.

I knew help wouldn't come. I knew I wouldn't be able to escape from this room no matter what I did... because I knew that this fire was intentional. I had this tiny flicker of hope in my heart that maybe she wasn't the one that did this, but deep down, I knew. She was.

As the fire around me ate the room, the fire in my heart burned with intolerable heat, carving a scar into my soul.

She betrayed our family. She betrayed my father. What was I expecting? I knew she would do something like this. It wasn't surprising.

But I just wished that maybe, we could still be a family and that she would still think of me as a daughter.

Was it too much to ask for?

Ah, I guess it was.

And then; black.

...

It was dark and cold.

—Something I expected to feel after dying.

...

'I never thought I'd die so young.'

I still had so many things I wanted to see and try. So many sights to breathe and live... and I still had that one hopeless dream of traveling the world.

'Well, I guess I wouldn't have the chance of doing any of that anymore.'

It's a shame, but I accepted it.

I lived my life the way I wanted and had no regrets. It would've all been perfect. If only that woman didn't come into my life.

Ah, right. That woman.

My only regret would be not getting rid of her when I had the chance.

Then maybe, it wouldn't have ended like this.

... Wait, how was I thinking right now?

'Aren't I dead?'

[Badump]

Suddenly, that darkness felt warm and... strangely liquidy?

[Badump]

'No way. Did I actually manage to survive the fire?'

[Badump]

'Wait, no. That's impossible. Even if someone did manage to save and bring me to the hospital, she would've found a way to kill me while I was still unconscious or something?'

But then what was the beating that I felt in my chest?

[Badump]

It was too strange. Did I get saved by someone? If I did, why do I feel trapped in some sort of box?

A wave of fear crashed down on me, 'Maybe I was kidnapped? Or perhaps I was sold?!'

It did seem like something she'd do... 'Oh god, are they going to dig out my organs? While I'm conscious or still alive? Will it be painful? What will they feed or stick into me?'

'Wait. Calm down, self. If she wanted to sell me to organ brokers, then why would she trap me in a burning room? That would ruin the products, no?'

Yet it still didn't explain where I am, how I got here, or where I'm going.

'D-did she... sell me to human traffickers? That seems like the only possible explanation...'

I imagined all sorts of bad things that would happen to me in various scenarios and shivered.

'No way. I won't let myself be taken to that kind of hell! I refuse to have this fate!' Even if it was a fruitless attempt, I attempted to break myself out of the thing trapping me. I curled my legs and kicked the wall with all my might.

I thought it'd be a lot harder, considering that cages are usually pretty tough; especially the ones that transport human beings. But strangely enough, it felt very soft and fragile.

That's when I heard a loud crack.

'Ah? What? "Crack"?'

Everything was still black, so I couldn't see anything. I then felt the revolting feeling of some sort of slime clinging to my body, 'Yuck, disgusting... Dammit, where is this place? Why can't I see anything?'

I tried opening my eyes to see where I was, only to feel a painful sting and burn.

'Ouch, ouch, ouch. That hurts!'

"Chirp, chirp, chirp. Peep peep!"

Huh?

'What the hell?'

"Chirp chirp chirp?"

These noises... it sounds like they're coming from me?

'...Hahaha, have I gone crazy? Bird noises? Coming from me? No way...'

...

'...No way.'

I had no idea what kind of expression I was wearing on my face at this moment., 'The fire I shouldn't have been able to survive from, the fragile "cage," and these chirping noises...'

It might sound crazy, but...

Did I reincarnate as a bird?