sceNe 34 - ʀouɢʜ ᴡiNNiɴɢꜱ

I knew that offering myself to Cryztal would likely be nightmarish, but it was clear that we wouldn’t be able to hold her back overnight. I was terrified and anxious about whether or not the potion I found in the study was the right one from the recipe, but it wasn’t exactly something I could depend on trial and error to answer for me. As long as I could keep her focused on me, I could prevent her from going out and attacking people.

When preparing to be eaten by your childhood friend, you want to believe the potion saving your life would also reduce the pain, but the moment she bit into my thighs, I knew this was going to be excruciating. I reflexively wanted to scream, and covered my mouth. While I hoped to not alert any possible nosy neighbors, I mostly wanted to pretend I could keep up my willing front for Cryztal. I tried to distract myself by thinking about how powerful and clean her bites were, as I expected to be shredded and tugged on only to be held there as my blood rushed out of my body.

I could feel my body being drained of blood, but my mind was desperate to cling to my body as long as it could. The second bite crushed my ribs and cut my torso wide open. Despite her powerful jaw, apparently having my organs fall out in a barrage of bloody mess was preferable. I could absolutely hear how satisfied she was with every part of me that fell out and down into her mouth. The idea I tasted good was almost enough to distract me from my nervous system blaring like a fire alarm. Almost.

As she dangled what was left of my body by my arm, I couldn’t even resist. The blood loss and shock from the pain were too much to do more than continue to hope this was the right choice. Dropping me into her mouth and swallowing me down her throat, I saw what I could believe to be my last glimpse of the world I came from. Shortly after I felt a tight crushing, like my head was being squeezed from all directions. And then…

Nothing.

No pain. No touch. No sight.

Is this death? I felt like I had no body. Like I was boundless.

Maybe I was drifting. This had to be death then. Pretty boring stuff. I guess it feels relaxing.

I just hope I was able to help her.

…

…

Suddenly I was choking. Actually, more like drowning!

As I began to cough, I felt my body return. Slowly I could feel myself laying in a bed, covered by sheets, choking on mucus. I couldn’t move my body beyond moving my head, so I looked to my right hoping to be able to breathe again. Clearing my passageways, I tried to look around, only to become more drowsy. It was only clear that I was in my own bed, back at my apartment.

Sometime later, I shot up out of bed. I was awake and could move my body. Frantically I grabbed my legs to see they were attached like normal. I ran my hands up my body, finding no signs of Cryztal’s bites. It was a little easier to accept that, along with the fact that my fingernails were much longer, and the hair on my legs had grown back. What shook me was that my scars, which had previously littered my upper arms and legs, were gone, leaving very smooth skin.

Wanting to let Cryztal and Jason know I was okay, I reached to my nightstand to grab the phone my parents had given me. Even if they turned off the service, I could just use wifi to message them. But looking at the time, and then the date, I realized it had been more than a day. A day where they believed I was dead. A day where Cryztal likely believed she killed me.