Chapter Text
I had never given death much thought, especially not my own. I didn't spend my nights thinking of all the ways that I could die. I wasn't haunted by the fear that any day could be my last. I knew death was inevitable; after all, it walks in the shadows of all living things, eventually reaching out to claim what was bound to become a part of it in the end.
All things must end, all stories must have a last page, every thread unravels over time, even works of art fade with time. Stars burn out and hearts stop beating. Everyone dies in the end, even if not everyone dies the same way. People die from old age, or a sudden heart attack, cancer, a car accident, a slip in the tub, a hit to the head, a rabid animal, a hunting accident, murder, poisoning, or a bad allergy.
Death can take many forms.
For me, death came in the form of a strange man, red-eyed and pale-skinned, who appeared before dawn. He had been beautiful to look at for a moment, before I knew what he was, what he wanted. Like the calm before the storm, and it definitely had been a storm.
When I look back on that morning to see what could've happened differently, I remember his hungry eyes, his dangerous smile, his mocking laughter. I remember his grip on my arms; tight enough to bruise skin and break bone. I can remember the feeling of teeth digging into my neck, the ripping of flesh at the sides of my throat.
Then he let me go and I ran, dizzy and confused. Running on adrenaline and fear; I ran. Ran to the caves, ran to get away and to hide. I ended up falling down a hole, landing with a crack as my leg snapped. The bone had snapped in half and had ripped its way out of my flesh. But that was nothing compared to the burning in my throat, the burning in my chest, like my veins were filled with lava instead of blood.
I had lived my entire life in pain. I knew what it was like to have every movement, every breath, every moment accompanied by a pain so strong that on the bad days I struggled to get out of bed. I survived that, though. I always managed to power through the pains and aches, because 'the world doesn't stop for a little discomfort', as Renee once said. And I couldn't afford to stop my life for anything. I had too much to do and, if I didn't do it, then it would never get done.
But the pain from my human life was barely a scratch in comparison to the burning in my veins.
The man had followed me into the caves. He had been taunting me, mocking me. I remember begging and praying to whatever greater force there was in the universe that he wouldn't find me as I dragged myself away from the hole so that he wouldn't see me. Any hope of running was gone; that had been obvious by the sight of my snapped leg. I remember watching his shadow move across the opening at the top of the cave I had fallen into, remembered pleading with the universe for him to just go away as the burning grew hotter, and I had to bite down on my arm to stop myself from screaming or from biting off my own tongue from the pain.
The man left, I don't know when. I didn't know how long it took for them to give up his prowling and taunting, I don't know why he did. Perhaps he thought I was dead or dying and just didn't want to waste his time looking for a corpse in the caves.
Fate wasn't kind enough to see me dead, though. Death would've been kinder. Death wouldn't have burnt like whatever I was going through did.
And it did burn, it burned like hell itself was trapped in my veins, like my blood was being boiled beneath my skin. I don't know how long the burning went on exactly. It felt like it had lasted an eternity and a half when it was happening, it felt like I was burning to ash, slowly but eternally. I remember hearing the sound of my own heartbeat in my chest, it had been wild and erratic, beating faster than a hummingbird's wing.
And then it stopped. All of it; the burning, the fast beating, it just stopped. I opened my eyes again, not sure when I had even closed them.
I'd never given death more than a passing thought. But I'd never considered that sometimes death wasn't the end, sometimes it was a new beginning that you weren't even aware that you needed.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
Evangelina 'Eva' Swan
"They had Newborns fighting wars? The draft dodging must've been insane."
Isabella 'Bella' Swan
"I'm in love with Edward Cullen, who is a vampire."
Jasper Whitlock Hale
"Darlin', you are five foot three, if that; fighting dirty is the only way you can fight."
Rosalie 'Rose' Hale
"I'm sorry you had to go through that alone."
Emmett McCarty Cullen
"Never fear, Pipsqueak and Golith are here."
Alice Cullen
"You and I are going to be great friends, I've seen it.
Esme Cullen
"It's lovely to finally meet you, Eva, the kids have told us a lot about you."
Carlisle Cullen
"I believe that if we were to face judgement then it will be based on what we chose to do and not what was done to us."
Edward Masen Cullen
"I love your sister, so you and I are going to have to interact at some point, Eva, so could you at least try to be civil? For Bella?"