A Day In September - BTS Zombie au

16: Delusional

Mara's eyes fluttered open.

She was met with a scintillating view of a starry night sky, but she looked upon it unfazed.

Up on the roof of a rusting, irreparable school bus she laid. The wind whistled a melancholic tune as Mara basked in its gentle breeze, her mind momentarily blank with confusion.

This dream feels a little too real.

The brutes that had once crowded around the bus with an insatiable hunger had now scattered in disinterest. The roof she laid on, the one that had a while ago burned her skin, was no longer scalding. Mara languidly flipped herself over, warm cheeks pressing against the cool metal. There was fleeting relief as Mara attempted to cool her entire face, pressing every inch of it on the surface. The girl sighed, staring down at the peeling white paint before weakly pushing herself up. Mara hissed when a sharp pain began to pulsate from her abdomen. Not only that, but upon standing, the world began to spin, this in turn coercing her to lay back down. Glancing down at her shirt, the girl was horrified at the giant blood stain. Upon touching it, the cotton material was stiff, the blood having dried a while ago. Mara was slowly coming to the realization that she wasn't dreaming.

She doesn't remember falling asleep.

Her memory was fuzzy, but it was all starting to come back to her. It was an enervating realization; it left her unable to breathe. Anxiety began to flood every rational thought, and all Mara could do was lay and stare at the sky as her world seemed to fall apart for the umpteenth time. Her lungs shrank, crumpled in the grip of a cruel reality. She wondered if everything was supposed to go to hell from the beginning; an imminent fate and an unfortunate conclusion. Mara already knew that nothing good lasted in this world, but it was a harsh truth she hoped would be proved wrong at least once.

The night sky was beautiful, and Mara tried to convince herself that that was the cause of her tears.

The girl avoided traveling by night, opting for a clear view of what was ahead of her. However, with little regard for her own safety, the girl slowly sat up.

If today's my day, then so be it. If I make it out, then I guess Ill open my eyes tomorrow for another day in hell.

Mara glanced down at her stomach, flashbacks of the incident leading up to the wound causing more tears to well up in her reddened eyes. The bags under her eyes were prominent, and the girl rubbed her eyes in sleepless discomfort. Despite having woken from a nap, she was restless. Too much blood had seeped from her wound—a concerning amount. Mara hissed when lifting up her shirt, the cloth peeling off of the wound with an excruciating pain following suit. The pain was intense, causing Mara to dry heave and groan, her body writhing beneath her shaking hand. The girl ripped at her thin cargo pants, wrapping the cloth over the gash in an attempt to prevent an infection. She tried to stifle her yelps whilst she did so, sweat beading at her pale forehead.

"Fuck, this hurts," she gasped, a twinge of anger beginning to blossom in her weary, hungry, and sickened stomach. She hated that the sky was beautiful, and the night was breezy, and that the brutes were nowhere near her, and that the night was a good night. She hated that everything was okay at that very moment, when hours prior, her best friend had been ripped from her grasp, and now she was alone.

All alone.

Mara couldn't contain the bile that rose from her stomach, that burned at her throat and left her mouth with a painful sting. Mara wretched off to the side, emptying what little contents she had left in her stomach. It had been mostly water, as she hadn't eaten since the morning. Mara whimpered, wiping at her mouth aggressively. She raised her hand in the air, ready to strike whatever her fist landed on, but she stopped herself before she could do so. She contemplated making noise, irrational thoughts battling against her conscience.