Delirium

Fire. Was all she felt. From the moment her eyes opened till the moment the moon came up her whole world was in flame. Her skin itched and her tongue stung. She'd awoken in the forest her body covered by leaves and twigs like a murder victim had been disposed. Her entire skin had been on fire as she walked through the woods, her vision spinning and twirling as she tried to find her way out of the woods.

Her memories pushed to find her activities, anything that had led her here. But each time she tried a ringing would begin that halted her attempts in a hiss of pain that refused to let up and it only made her head split more so she stopped for the momentum. She'd walked and walked stumbling over roots and dead logs that lay around as she tried to find her way through the forest.

The sun was hanging low in the sky bathing it red with fire as she finally broke the tree line and staggered onto the asphalt dropping to her knees as she smiled in relief as she touched the asphalt floor. Her eyes went up to meet the gaze of the sun a movement she regretted soon after.

It started as an itch, a heat burning in her eyes that spread over her face. Then slowly it increased to a sting and a scalding like hot water. She hissed out in pain as the steam rose off her face, neck and arms while she cried out in pain. Picking herself off the ground as the steam began intensifying she stormed back for the woods her mind seeking safety in the shadows of the trees blanket.

Crashing into the ground in a heap the steam slowly down abated. The burns remained visible her cries and whimpers a testament to it. She lay on the ground panting hard as she cried quietly not bothering to move herself off the floor.

While the pain still throbbed she realized soon enough that the fire within had not subsided. It still throbbed and lashed out like a mockery. She pushed herself up finally as the sun disappeared behind the horizon staggering out her body shaking viciously. To an onlooker it would seem a corpse dragged from the pit to walk again.

Her trek went on for hours each step more painful than the former as she burned slowly. Her eyes itched and scratched taking everything in her not to gorge them out. She blinked consistently as she moved on begging her vision to clear enough for her to find help.

Help she found in the form of a road side bar, the twinkling lights of Mama Gran's sign flickering over the road. Stumbling in the bells rung to announce her presence, her feet carrying her into the building as the bar lady zeroed in on her. Eyes that seemed to take in her raggedy state went wide as the lady rushed to her.

"What happened?". She fretted and fussed over her as she guided her to a table. Her eyes horrified at the burns on the girls face and arms.

"Someone call an ambulance". The lady shouted while she cringed the voice like bells in her ears as everything rung loud. The woman seemed to be watching something to her right where there was an activity she couldn't place her hands on. Her limit was focused on just a few metres in front of her enough for her to notice the lady. But nothing stood out to her more than the bare neck that throbbed in her vision. A vision that had suddenly cleared showing only something her body longed for, a beat beneath the skin that pulled to her like a string.

The bar lady watched the boy at the corner frantically put water into a bucket to use while the other waiter was on his phone shaking his head in disagreement with whoever he was on call with. Turning would have helped, alerted her to the fangs peeking down the red haired girls upper gum. She turned a second early forcing the lips that had been parting to shut quickly.

*You need anything girl. Food , water, name it.". She asked.

"Thirsty.Just thirsty". She rasped her vision still focused.

*Eddy. Get her some water to drink. Frank how's it going with the ambulance?".  The bar lady shouted out. Eddy scurried over with a glass of water that the bar lady offered to her. She took the water in her hands that shook like jelly and guided it up to her chapped lips. It tasted like water, tasted and normal nothing she didn't know before. Yet it did nothing for her vision and the fire in her nerves and body.

The lady took back the cup and placed it on the table while the neck throbbed more and more as it pulsed and called to her again. Her vision swirled as it pulled her to the pulsating vein that seemed to be the center of her world.  She felt them again, the two troubles that seemed to push her to poke them into the woman's skin. She knew it was what they were intended for.

Ring. The barlady looked back to the empty chair that the red hair had been in shock etched in her features.

"How.. where'd she go?" She turned to the door that still had the ringing bell above it.

The asphalt greeted her face bruising it even more as she skidded and lost balance. She rolled to a stop stopping and slumping down. She couldn't feel any energy anymore, the fire had turned into a fiery blaze within and she knew it wouldn't stop till it was quenched. Her mind kept shattering on itself as her senses rang and cried out to her. Turning she pushed herself onto her back so she faced skyward. A cough left her lips spilling blood with it as she moaned in pain. Her gaze locked on the four moons in the bloody sky that was her vision as she moaned out more the pain clouding her thoughts as her head pounded.