Forever Dawn

16. Pain is Horrible (Nessie's POV)

16. Pain is Horrible (Nessie’s POV)

I woke up to pain. Everywhere, all over. I just hurt.

It was almost unbearable. I kept my eyes squeezed closed, and concentrated on what happened. But that just contained more pain, and I gave up, deflated. I tried to take stock of my injuries.

My leg hurt, in several places, as well as my arm. I groaned. More broken bones. The pain was dull, a flat, unchanging, painful ache. Very painful.

My chest was a different story. Every breath felt like someone was stabbing me. Hard. Over and over. Tears watered my eyes.

And then, moving to the top of my pain list was the fact that my blood felt like it was on fire. Like liquid, heated metal was travelling through my veins. I bit my lip to keep from screaming. It hurt so much. My head felt faint, and I felt sick, and I wanted to collapse, except I was already laying down and it was impossible.

I was grateful as the flood of sleep overwhelmed me and swept me away from the pain.

Except, the pain was still there, worse than ever. I cried and I struggled and I tried to kick it away from me, but it crawled over and burrowed in and I screamed and screamed and screamed as the pain consumed me.

I flailed, and dug at my chest, trying to rip it out, but it had worked into my blood, and was stretching and reaching all of my body. My screams died down, and I just began to accept that the pain was too great, and I was going to die, and then…silence.

Nothing.

I blinked my eyes open. I was on the couch.

I enjoyed knowing I was awake, before my reality hit me like a hurricane. The pain was still there.

I squirmed, but I didn’t dare scream in case my mother was still in the house.

But I did gasp, because I had moved, and my chest was screaming. The gasp hurt too. I started crying, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes and falling down into my hair and past my ears. The pain was still pulsing through all my body.

Now was a moment when I wished there were someone here, even if they were just whispering sweet nothings in my ear, telling me I’d be okay, telling me the pain would go away.

I wanted someone to wipe away my tears.

I closed my eyes. There had to be someone in the house. Maybe they thought I would just fall back to sleep. So I did.

I dreamed of only pain. Pain, pain, pain.

It tore through my body, leaving destruction in its wake. Then it ripped through my neck. I gasped, breathless, then screamed. I felt the sluggish molten metal ripping through my blood, leaving gashes in my flesh and pain throughout my entire body.

I screamed and screamed and screamed, placing a hand up to my neck to stop the bleeding. It had to stop, it had to stop, it had to stop-

I woke up again, blood on my hands.  

I touched my neck, which was bleeding. I barely noticed the IV in my arm.

I just wanted all the pain to go away, to stop, to end.

I heard footsteps coming just as I drifted off into sleep.

It was only filled with pain, horrible pain. The same horrible pain that has been haunting me, hurting me.

This time, I only cry.

I wake up when I hear the front door open.

“Where were you?” I demanded.

“We were by the river.” My mother said. She walked over and sat down on the couch by me. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Miserable.” Was my only reply.

She stroked my hair. “Don’t worry, honey, you’ll be fine. Carlisle’s got you all patched up, and you’ll heal by the end of the month.”

 “I’m going to be stuck on this couch for a month?” I asked.

“No.” my mother said.

Then I started to remember the attack. Screaming and pain and…a smell that wasn’t vampire, werewolf, or human.

“Mom, I had to tell you something.”

“What is it, sweetie?”  she asked.

“Whatever attacked me wasn’t a vampire.”

She didn’t look shocked at all, she just kept stroking my hair.

Then I fell back to sleep.

I dreamt of the pain. It was a shadowy boy of black and red, and I was fighting it. I slashed and lunged at it, but it would not fall. I then kneed it in the stomach, and it tumbled to the ground, spewing blood onto the floor, onto me.

I’d defeated it.

I woke up relatively pain-free. At least, the worst of it was now gone. I still had most of my aches and pains, but the burning metal in my veins was gone. I almost cried in relief.

I lay there, wallowing in my happiness.

It took me a long, long time to fall back to sleep.