The Price of Mortality

Chapter One

I hope you're doing well. I know that is such a dull way to start a letter after a month of being apart but I really do hope you are doing well. I haven't stopped thinking about you. Though, there isn't much to think about here. It's wake up, eat breakfast, read, write, study, eat lunch, read, write, study until you are so exhausted that you fall asleep. It's boring. You would hate it.

I'm glad you're not here, though. The mood here would surely smother your light. There is no laughter, no smiles, just masks, needles and death. I won't go into further detail. I don't know if I could even describe the horrors.

I hope to get back to you soon, though. That hope keeps me going through the days. That soon I will return to you and this nightmare will end. I'm afraid I'm falling asleep as I write this letter. I wish you receive this letter in good health and I expect your next letter soon.

My deepest love, G

Shaking. I'm shaking. Why? Opening my eyes was something so natural to me, has it always been? I open my eyes, seeing nothing but grass and mud as far as I can see. The sky was dark grey, the rain that falls from it crawling down my scalp and down my back.

"Miss?"

The noise scares me, making my body jump and I quickly turn towards it. A human, a woman, holds her hands up in soft surrender, her eyes soft.

"Are you alright?" She asks slowly.

My mouth opens, forming the words I didn't think I could string together. "Who am I?"

The woman shakes her head. "I don't know. But I can help you find out." She looks over her shoulder, where a man stands a distance back beside a wagon. "John, bring a blanket!"

The man just nods and grab one out of the back of the wagon and starts towards us. The woman looks back at me. "I am Edith, this is my husband, John."

As the man reaches them, he hands the blanket to his wife, who opens the blanket and throws it over my shoulders. It's heavy on my shoulders as she wraps it around me, tightening it beneath my chin.

"Can we take you anywhere?" Edith asks, her voice still soft.

I shake my head. "Where?"

The woman sighs. "I'll take care of you. Do you want to come with us?"

"Edith." The man says, his voice low.

She looks at him. "We can't leave her. She'll freeze to death."

The man looks around. "This could be a trap."

"A trap?" She looks around as well. "In the middle of nowhere? I think not." She looks back at me. "We'll take her home until she can figure out where she wants to go."

John hums, seemingly unhappy about her decision but says nothing about it. Edith looks me up and down. "Look at you, you're skin and bones. Can you stand?"

It takes an effort to get me up to my feet, Edith having to hold me tightly as I get up on shaky knees. John watches from about a foot behind us. Once I'm up on my feet, Edith looks me up and down again, her brows furrowing. "Darling, how long have you been out here?"

I shake my head. "I don't know."

"Okay, that's fine." She pulls one of my arms around her shoulder and starts to slowly lead me towards their wagon. John walks on the other side of me and when I stumble, nearly taking down his wife, he puts out an arm for me to use as support.

I nod at him, grateful for his aid as the couple guide me towards the wagon.

Once we reach the wagon, John helps me climb into the back, finding a place where the wood was not as wet as the rest of it. Edith climbs into the front seat and turns backwards to help me lay down and covering me with the blanket. John climbs into the front seat next to his wife and grabs the reins, urging the horses to get moving. I nestle down into the sparse warmth of the blanket as I listen to the couple talking above me.