Consumption

If I don't think about it, it can't affect me, right? This isn't my house, this isn't my room. I don't know how I wound up here. There's heat in my chest and my head. I feel like I might hurl. The world around me is completely silent, but the silence is deafening. It's still there, across the room. I know if I look at its face, I'll forget again.

I'm trying to cling to what I know. My name is… I know this… damn it. I think it started with an "L". Lisa? Leo? What was it that I was trying to remember?

Oh no, it looked at me! I can't look back. Did I already look back? I see it. It's not of this world. Or is it me who's out of place? Is there still a world outside? The light through the window is red and blue. The shadows on the wall look like people. I smell smoke. I don't know where I am. My ears ring in the silence.

Its back is turned to me now. The body of a crow. The face of a man. I can hear it crying and I want nothing more than to comfort it. I want to run across the room and pull it into my arms. My life! My life depends on it! I dare not. I can't remember where I am. I hope it leaves soon.

It stops crying, I panic as silence returns to the world. It burns my ears, and the heat radiating through my body intensifies. It's almost like rage, but it makes my heartbeat slow. The thing starts to hum, long and high, like a wasp crawling into my ear. My heart! Oh, the heat! There's so much heat in me! Oh, my heart is breaking! I grasp at my chest desperately. My hands find the heart-shaped locket hanging from my neck.

I remember a woman's face. My mother? My sister? She has orange hair and freckles. She's screaming. She's missing one of her fingers. She… she lost it in the accident. We were driving towards camp. We… I need to find bandages. Yes, my sister. I think she is my sister. She is waiting for me. I need to find Megan. The room is empty now. My name is… Eliza. My name is Eliza. I need to hurry.

The bandages are on the floor next to me. I grab them and run out of the room. I can't remember where I left her. I can't remember where the crash happened. The other half of the house is blown wide open. Bricks and broken glass cover the splintered earth around me. The stairs I’m running down creak, I fear they might break but they do not. I’m running as quickly as I can through the rubble in the yard. Broken rebar tears my pants. My knee starts to bleed, but I have to keep moving.

I smell the smoke more clearly as I reach the road. I stop for a half-second to breathe. I’ve spotted a familiar green truck about four yards ahead of me. I can hear Megan sobbing. I have to get to her quickly, but the road is blocked by a pileup of abandoned cars. I desperately scramble onto the hood, then roof of the nearest sedan. I leap from car to car, moving as quickly as I can to reach her. I catch myself just before I tumble into a broken windshield. I‘ve reached Megan at last.

Her breathing is shallow. Her already pale skin has turned papery, and there’s blood all over her clothes. Her hand.. Her hand is gone. Not just her finger. She’s still holding my T-shirt to stop the blood. She looks weak. I tourniquet the arm, I radio for help - for anyone to help us. No one responds. Megan passes out. My face is wet. The girl is still breathing, but I wonder for how much longer. Her hand is missing! I… I see something across the road, hardly visible through the smoke. It is looking right at me but I don’t understand it. A bird with a man's face. My clothes are covered in blood.

“Please, please help us!” I cry out. I don’t know what it is, but I am desperate. “Please! She’s dying!” The girl is getting cold. “Please…”

The creature starts to cry. I… I can’t remember what I was… I need to help it. I need to heal it. The ground around it is crimson. The crying begins to fade and a great heat engulfs my body. Black arrows shoot into my skin… out of my skin. The girl is regaining color. I think she might be alive. I am being pulled now. I feel myself being pulled upward, then backward - my body is a kite. The girl reaches out to me. She desperately claws at my chest. My vision is darkening. I hear a hum of some kind. I think… I think I’m humming. Something snaps from my neck. I hear metal hitting stone. I hear a scream. I can’t see now. I start to cry again. The world goes quiet. I am alone in the darkness now. The screaming has stopped; the silence is ever-present now.

We are floating.