Alethea has always been awkward - eccentric, even. On a typical day she spends her time cloistered inside a tiny apartment hiding from the world she doesn't really understand. When her therapist encourages her to push herself outside her comfort zon...
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The shuffling of footsteps made me tremble and draw my body further into the safety of my catacomb. The bones of the skeleton beneath me creaked under my weight and I held my breath until whatever monster haunting this hall had passed by.
When the king had said that there are those who beg to be released from purgatory I had thought it to be nothing more than a meaningless threat to scare me, but he had been telling the truth. Purgatory was the Hell that time forgot. Creatures I had only read about in stories hid in the shadows here, waiting for unsuspecting victims to fall into their path of devastation. I had been unlucky enough to come across many of them before I found my current refuge hiding next to a pile of bones in a wall of catacombs.
The first day I spent in this place was worse than my darkest nightmares. Clawed hands and sharp teeth tore at me until blood soaked my body. In the end that was the only reason I escaped. The blood had made my skin slippery enough that I was able to slide free and make a run for it.
The king also seemed to be telling the truth about me being undead. Once I had gotten away from the claws and teeth my wounds had healed in a matter of hours. And I had yet to feel hungry. But I did feel thirsty....just not for water.
It amazed even me how many asthma and panic attacks I could have in such a sort amount of time here. Without fail, every time I thought I was getting a grip on my situation something else would happen to send me into spiraling hysteria.
Dust from the disintegrating bones tickled my nose and I tried holding my breath to keep from sneezing. A relieved breath escaped my lungs when it worked, but I winced as I inhaled again and the dust went down into my windpipe.
'Oh God, there is bone dust in my throat!' I screamed internally.
My hands flailed at my sides in panic and I retched repeatedly. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew the sound was going to attract monsters, but I couldn't stop. There was part of a dead person's remains inside my lungs!
I was so far past lost control it was no more than a speck on the horizon. Bye, bye composure! Disgusting amounts of sweat, tears, and snot ran down my face as I sobbed like a baby.
As I was in the middle of my nervous breakdown a huge hand latched down firmly onto one of my flailing arms and pulled. I fell from the crypt and my head smashed painfully against the stone floor. Figuring I was about to be attacked again, I let out a bloodcurdling shriek and lashed out at the creature with all my might.
"Will you cut that shit out?" a man's voice snarled from above me. "If you keep wailing like that every beast in purgatory is going to be down here within minutes."
Blinking up at him in surprise I immediately stopped screaming and shut my mouth with a snap. He grunted and lifted me up from the floor by my arms. I was so surprised to find a seemingly normal human being that my brain couldn't form words. I say "seemingly" because despite having two arms and two legs and normal human features, he was far too tall and his irises were a flaming red.
