Hell Flower

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The first drop of blood landed in the fire, and with a hissing pop, flames roared up in a geyser from the embers and coals. It was like they were coming from beneath the earth itself—a volcano erupting.

I yelped, leaping back as the heat of the flare singed the tiny hairs on my arm. The blood in my hand boiled, immediately vaporizing as it hit the air.

"Did it work?" I heard Veronica's hushed voice, but it sounded distorted, like it was coming from the end of a tunnel. Like she was shouting from hundreds of feet away.

"Wait," someone else whispered, but I couldn't tell who.

My lungs burned. I gasped, trying to pull in air, but everything around me was on fire. The entire world was engulfed in flames, devouring every ounce of oxygen to feed the inferno. I tried to scream, but nothing came out.

Then, with a gust of wind, an icy silence descended on the woods. The trees bowed in the gale, stilling like they were petrified. The fire dimmed as the dancing flames withdrew into the earth—the cursed forest contemplating the offering I had given her. The glowing coals froze.

A sharp pang jolted through my heart. Something pounded against my rib cage from the inside, like someone caught in a house on fire. An intruder begging to be let back out. A buzz traveled through my veins like they were electrified.

I screamed, pain tearing through my body. It felt like my insides were exploding.

Before I knew what was happening, I was on my knees in front of the dead fire, gagging as my numb hands raked through dirt.

"Oh my fucking God!" I cried. Dirt piled into the cut on my hand, but I could barely feel it, and I didn't care. All I wanted was for the pain raging through my body to stop. It was blinding. Everything flashed from blaring white to black like strobes at a rock show.

"Allison!" A voice shouted, but I couldn't place it. It came from every direction at once.

"What the fuck is happening?" another voice yelled, the sound piercing my eardrums like knives.

"Shut the fuck up!" I rasped. Everything was too loud! Each sound sent a jolt of pain through my brain like lightning.

My back arched, and with a heaving gag, thick, black blood spewed from my mouth. I tasted metal on my tongue. Bugs squirmed in the dark, wet splatter in front of me, writhing and burning. Their fat, bloated bodies crawled over my fingers. They oozed goo as they climb up my arms, trying to leech into my body again.

I shook them off with a muted scream. When they hit the ground, they burst into flames, sizzling until they became charred embers. I felt them still hanging from the goo dripping from my lips and chin, crawling their way back up to my face. Frantically, I pulled at the strands, trying to get them off.

The entire night buzzed and hummed, like feedback from a broken microphone—distorted riffs blaring from an electric guitar possessed by the devil. I pinched my eyes shut, like that might somehow drown out the nauseating noise.

"Oh my God!" someone screamed.

"Shit!"

Like a wave receding from the shore, the paralyzing pain suddenly ebbed. I gasped, pulling as much oxygen into my lungs as I could.

The sound of something crunching and cracking echoed through the entire forest. Like tree limbs snapping—something big was breaking.

And then a scream: "Allison, run!"

I snapped my head around, my eyes flashing open.

In a split second, I leapt to my feet. A tunnel of teeth roared towards me like a train on a roller coaster. The ridges on the roof of the creature's enormous mouth were ink-black, glistening with saliva. Globs of boiling spit flew at me, stinging as they hit my skin.