Ablizorm

Prologue - Aug 08

Ellie was a big girl. She knew how to speak to her betters, how to lie with the impassive expression and innocent smile that grown adults rarely knew what to do with. She knew her manners inside out. She knew basic maths and what mushrooms were poisonous. She knew that being a big girl meant being strong and invincible. Big girls don't cry; that's the rule. But eight year old Ellie didn't feel like a big girl as she sat there, silent tears pooling up in her deep blue eyes. She bit her lip, moving to press one slender hand up against her face. The other dug into her thigh, covering her bloodstained knee. A fallen branch lay beside her, streaks of dried blood caking to its bark.

Her face, pale and tear streaked as it was, glowed with a certain pride. Twigs and little bits of dust were deeply woven in her curly auburn hair, but the little girl didn't seem to care.

She was still caressing her knee, when she heard a distant call. Her mother. Ellie attempted to stand, only to fall back down with a grunt. Her wound had split open again, and pain steadily coursed its way through her veins....

The sun was fading fast, disappearing beyond the horizon. Streaks of light shone through the trees, casting Eliie's face in a comforting beam of sun. As the warmth spread through her body, she gave out a silent gasp as the skin above her knee stitched, ever so slowly, smoothing over. The blisters and the dust...faded. As the last of the sun was swallowed by the stars, Ellie's face was, if only for a moment, completely immersed in light, showing her perfect features and brilliant smile.

~•~

That particular vision had started before the rest. Ellie was a different person now, having seen so much despair in the last few years of her life — having been through more emotional turmoil than perhaps anyone else her age

Six. That's how old Ellie was when she started having them. They would come in her sleep, slither in where they were unwanted, innocently piling up in her mind until there was just a jumble of memories—each as faded and indistinguishable as the rest. It was infuriating, not knowing whether it was her imagination or something actually important, something she needed to remember.

Sometimes it was just too much. Memories of things she had never experienced would infiltrate her mind, occupying her consciousness for hours. At first she tried hiding it. Her curse. She would run into the forest behind the house and cry under a large oak. Its leaves were thick, the branches stretching far over her head. It made her feel like a princess in one of her friend's silly romance novels, nestled in a tree that would provide safety from the horde of remenisance that brought a foreign sense of nostalgia. It was the one spot she would go when she was overwhelmed or stressed. Her heaven.

That was, until one of her friends found her passed out on the floor.

~•~

It was like any other day, really. The occasional headache, slight pain, but nothing enough to fuss over. It only got worse, gradually, a pattern growing steadier as the hours ticked by. Her vision grew blurrier, but she hid it well.

"Are you feeling alright?" They were sitting at the kitchen table. drinking their usual morning coffee. Toni eyed her worriedly. "You seem...distant," gone, her expression said what her words didn't. She gave Ellie's unwashed hair a pointed look. "If you want to talk, you know we're always here..."

Ellie fingered the linen tablecloth, trying to find the right words. Why does she sound so—hesitant? Why can't she just ask? She looked over at her friend. Toni looked so unbothered. Her blond hair was smooth and straightened, freshly washed. Her green eyes held no dark circles, and her clothing was in style, cute with her slightly tanned skin. "Well? Hello?" Ellie blinked, then flinched, noticing Toni 's frantic hand waving around her face. "Oh um yeah, I'm-I'm – will you excuse me?" Ellie nearly knocked over her chair, bolting upwards. Toni 's expression could have been comical if Ellie hadn't been so desperate to get out of there. It wasn't even Toni , it was just...ahhhh Ellie, get it together, you're not making any sense.