Dying light

Knarled Roots

Copine's pov

The liquid was a deep, saturated, crimson and seemed to come from the back of Eva's head. She was still ice cold despite the life shining in her eyes. In one swift movement she sat up and began coughing up murky water which had sat in her lungs for far too long. She should not have been able to breathe with that water clogging her lungs.

She turned to me, her green eyes burning silver in the light of the moon. She didn't look at me: she looked through me.

"Eva?" I reached out to touch her hand only to have her pull away from me in disgust.

"You made me fall." Her statement was said in a voice that was not Eva's. It was smooth and melodic, as though it belonged to a villian.

Within seconds she was up and running back towards camp, her fiery red hair flowing behind her, unaffected from the river she had just fallen in.

***
Eva's pov

My head was foggy as I ran away from Copine. He made me fall in, he changed me. I didn't feel cold. I didn't feel wet. All I felt was pleasure in the form of slight unease. Every nerve in my body was on fire with eagerness as I raced back to camp. I didn't feel like me. I felt like a predator. Swift and silent in the night as though my mind had been over run by an animal. My senses were sharp, my legs lean, my fear gone. I was the predator now.

***
Copine's pov

She was faster than most people on the track team and it took me by surprise. There was something very wrong with Eva and I just knew I needed to find her before anything bad happened. I made it back to camp to find her calmly sat on a tree branch a couple of metres from the ground. Her eyes tracked me as I walked towards her, watching me profusely - eagerly awaiting for something.

Those weren't her eyes. They were silver, sharp and violent. They were not the eyes of the girl who I loved. They were not even the eyes of a human. She stared and stared and stared before slipping soundlessly from the branch and standing in front of me.

Eva wasn't that light. Any human falling from that height would have made a sound. I was so lost in thought I barely noticed that she had dropped to the ground. She was on her knees, out of breath and wheezing.

"I-i..."

She collapsed, eyes still open, staring blankly at me with their leafy greeness.

The forest was silent in that moment as I leant down next to her. Her breathing was shallow and I soon noticed the large gash at the back of her head. The source of the shadow of red earlier.

I span round to hear voices as Taylor and Callum rushed towards us, worry clearly splattered across their faces.

"What happened?"

"... I don't know."