A Touch of Scarlet

01

We're brought into this world to live: eat, learn, sleep, repeat, repeat, and repeat again. Until the time comes when we die. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work ... right?

For some reason I don't think it's working out that way for me.

⋆⋆⋆

The pavement beneath me digs into my skin. My head burns as if filled with bubbling-acid.

Numbness takes over my body, numbing out every single inch of the blistering pain that tries to overwhelm me completely.

I watch as the thick, bright flames dance beautifully around an object a few feet away from me.

The bright oranges and reds mix together in sync.

I watch in awe until my stomach  clenches suddenly. The realization hitting like a sledgehammer. My blood turns to bubbling, ice.

My car sits in the centre of the flames, the still body of a young woman sitting in the passenger seat. Her head sits limply, slumped on her shoulders. Her blonde hair turns black as it mingles with the scorching-bright flames.

My sister, Andréa Ames.

My sister and I have been all each other has ever had. Our parents disappeared when I was two and Andréa was seven.

I stare at her beautiful, limp body. Watching as the bright flames reach for her, no longer dancing but violently licking against her sun kissed skin, leaving long angry-burn marks.

I lay frozen, watching in horror as she fades away from me, unable to reach out to her.

A quick pain erupts throughout my arm. Looking down, I see my hands clenching onto the rocks beneath me, so hard that blood starts to stream down my fingers and into the ground.

I try to scream out to her but all that escapes me is a raspy-croak.

The faded noises begin to return and my head throbs.

I clutch onto my ears as I fall to the ground, the world around me begins to slip away.

I slowly start to fall into a deep darkness and then all at once the darkness collapses. Everything goes pitch black: incasing me in slumber.

⋆⋆⋆

Once you've felt death you're not supposed to wake up... right? Well if that's right, it isn't anymore. Or is it? Wait what's going on?

My eyes snap open at the sound of footsteps. A woman in pale blue scrubs walks into my room.

No wait this isn't my room.

I slowly glance around the faded-magenta space that surrounds me; taking in the scents of hand sanitizer and sickness.

The woman comes towards me slowly with wide eyes.

"What are you looking at?" I try to snap but all that comes out is a raspy sort of hiss. She ignores the awkward noise that escapes me and continues over to where I lay.

"You're a miracle. How are you even alive?" she whispers as if talking to herself, her soft voice cut off in thought.

"miracle?" I repeat weakly in confusion. Then I try to laugh but it comes out as more of a strangled sort of cough. I think about what the second part of her sentence was.
"Wait w-why are you surprised that I'm alive?" I question, attempting to form a full sentence.

The woman's thoughtful expression turns to one of pity. She looks away from me, then back.

"Do you know why you're here Lydia?" I squirm uncomfortably in surprise at the question.

"Um, yesterday my sister and I were coming back from dinner and then-"

The images of the dancing flames, shattered glass and my poor sister's limp body laying crumpled and burnt in the middle of the mess. The bitter memory streams back into my mind.

Tears threaten to fall but I push them back.

"Is s-she dead?" I ask, mentally choking on the foul words.

I pause, waiting for my mind to wake up so that I can be brought back to my reality.

The nurse gives me a sad look, "I'm sorry Lydia but she hasn't woken up yet and the damage is extreme".

"W-why is my damage not extreme? I don't feel sick at all! Why can't you fix her like you fixed me?" I exclaim, attempting to put as much power into my voice as I can without passing out once more.

Then it all comes back.

A car coming out of no where, colliding with mine, then our car catching fire, Andréa shakily pushing me out, me rolling to the side through the broken glass from the car window.

I had watched in horror as she'd attempted to open the door for herself but it wouldn't open. Then the smoke and flames had reached her and she had fallen limp against the seat of the car. I'd watched the only piece of family I had left burn away from me in the most literal sense possible.

"I don't understand why you've healed so quickly. When you came in, you had a deep wound on your thigh. It was deep but had already started to stop bleeding on it's own. You also had a cut on your temple but now all that's left of it is a thin pink line." she explains.

I stare back in shock "How long have I been asleep for?" I ask.

"Five days. Only five days" she replies absently.

"How is that possible?" I reach for my temple and feel along the thin scar. It feels as if it has been engraved into my head and has been healing for at least a couple of weeks, not at all like a couple of days.

______________________________________________________________

Authors Note:

Hey everyone, thank you all for deciding to read 'A Touch of Scarlet'! Just to warn you my grammar is not the best so when you see my mistakes, first I'm sorry and second just try to ignore them and continue reading (this is a first draft after all).
If you like my story and the chapters please remember to vote: to vote you press the little grey star, once you've voted it will turn gold. Votes are important for the stories success. Also if you have anything to ask or say, feel free to leave whatever's on your mind in the comment section.
I hope you all enjoy 'A Touch of Scarlet'. :)
( Character name pronunciation:
• Lydia Ames: Lid-e-a Aimes
• Andréa Ames: An-drey-a Aimes )

Copyright © 2015 by Simone Rutherford. All Rights Reserved. This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events are a product of the authors imagination (unless stated otherwise). This book is protected by copyright laws. Any resemblance to any person (dead or alive) or event is purely coincidental.