Shorts

Reincarnation

{changes from first to third person, beware ;)}

The flames licked at my feet. I could feel my skin burn. Pain traveled vastly through my body as the dress that covered my cold skin erupted into flames. My hands were tied behind my back. I stood in the middle of a field attached painfully to a wooden pole. My body was wrapped in heat, sweat pouring down my back. Terror filled my mind as I screamed, trying to break free from the bonds. People surrounded me, terrified and eerie looks covered their features. Pitchforks and torches were carried in their hands. I screamed for help as I felt the flames meet my upper thighs, scorching my pale skin. The man who stood in the front of the crowd laughed and stepped forward, speaking loudly for everyone to hear.

"No help will be given to you here, witch. You deserve this painful death. You shall burn in hell for the sins you have committed." Cheers and smiles traveled through the crowd. I glared at him through my pain and screamed once more. I could hear my voice travel through the wind behind me.

"Pray tell how you think you can stop me. A curse will be cast upon this night!" I screamed at him, spitting at his feet as the flames caught on my dark raven hair. I sneered at him, laughing quietly. I took a breath, ignoring the flames traveling up my body, and began to speak, "Nasci potest a morte. Vita manet in ultimo spiritu constitutus," thunder sounded from the sky and rain poured down from the clouds. The flames that surrounded my body turned a deep purple. "Nasci potest a morte. Vos quoque si ex altera vita!" Wind whipped the flames around my body as I laughed loudly. I saw people run into their house, screaming in terror as lighting struck . "You think you can hide from the terror that is Ariana Bevill? You all will soon meet the fates I've laid upon you! You're kin from many generations to come will also lay bare the curse! There is no hiding!"  Pain once again absorbed my body, making me scream out in horror. The faces all around my scorched skin resembled that of fear, twisted in grimaces and mouths open in treachery. The flames swallowed my face, the rain stopped, the world was quiet, and everything dissolved into nothing.

..

The doctor worked with the women, egged her to push harder. Labor was a difficult thing but luckily the women had already done it twice before. Although, she had gotten her tubes tied due to problems occurring in her last pregnancy. This one was a grand surprise, magical even. Heaving, she pushed as hard as she could, screaming desperately. A loud cry sounded throughout the room. The doctors immediately went to work as the women let out a sigh of relief. Minutes later, she was passed a beautiful baby girl with bright green eyes and jet black hair. The women had previously planned to name the newborn Anne but as she looked into the large blinking eyes something inside her told her to name the baby Ariana. So, she did. Life in the house was as normal as anybody else's. Ariana played with her mother while she cooked and her father worked hard to pay bills and keep the family happy. Five years pass with no interruptions in their happy little world. On the sixth year of the child's life something strange happened. In the middle of the night, fire caught in the toddler's room. There were no signs of a break in nor were there signs of electrical problems. In fact, there were many times fire mysteriously caught, when no Ariana was around. The birth of Ariana wasn't just a coincidence. It was, indeed, magical.

..

My dark hair was pulled back from my face as I look at the burn marks on my shoulder, lightly caressing the scorched skin with my fingers. The scars appeared when I was 10 years old. Mother worried it was some kind of disease. Father thought I had burned myself on accident. Neither of them were right, of course.

For as long as I can remember I'd been having dreams of a young women tied to a pole, bright red fire surrounding her glowing eyes, screaming strange words in a language unknown to me. Afterward, I had always heard her whisper my name. She'd always say the same eerie thing. "The time will come for me to once again rain. You will know when to travel the way to my lonely village near the river. Only then will I return." I'd wake up in a sweat, my body hot to the touch.