Tears stroked her cheeks, dripping to the dark waters beneath where she lay. They fell, shattering a red glass façade around her. She sat in the pool of blood, trying to make sense of it. I hope I drown in it, she thought to herself. I hope this lake envelopes me and drags me away. To the hell where I belong.

The pool seemed to show her everything she had wanted to erase from her mind, reminding her of every memory she tried and tried again to forget. The voices swirled through her mind, making her head ache ever more. Every voice seemed to yell at her, scream in her mind. The blood waters showed angry, hurt, disappointed eyes. Some glared, some stared, some begged. She shook her head. “No,” she murmured. She hadn’t meant for anyone to get hurt. So many had died because of her. No matter what anyone had said. Never mind the lies they fed her. It was her fault.

She took up some of the red in her hands, watching it slip back between her fingers as the visions and the voices disappeared. She closed her eyes and let the rest fall away.

The moon had before shimmered on this scene, but now hid behind its shield of foreboding clouds. Winds picked up and the first tears of the sky began to drip down. She let them fall around her, mingling with her own; it didn’t matter anyway. She was alone. Nothing mattered.

Finally she couldn’t hold on any longer. There was nothing to hold on to at all at this point. She threw back her head and let out a scream, long and bloodcurdling, chilling to the bone of anyone who would hear it. Her eyes, once full of grief and anger, sadness and revenge, were now only filled with insanity. She had lost the firm grip she once had. She kept screaming until there was no breath for it, then took another ragged breath and continued screaming.

“WHAT IS THIS?!” Words suddenly formed from her endless cries. “WHAT IS THIS, THIS THING THAT HAS FORSAKEN ME SO?! WHY HAS EVERYTHING BEEN RIPPED FROM ME?!” She stared to the heavens for the answer, but only the lightning and mocking thunder came from there.

She shook violently. The rain came down now, harder than before. She tried again.

“WHO IS THERE THAT HAS WISHED SO MUCH ME MISERY UPON ME?! WHY MUST YOU PLAY SUCH HORRIBLE TRICKS ON ME?!” Once more, lightning and thunder were her only answer.

Her wet face dropped into her hands. She was done screaming, as her voice would no longer allow it. She sobbed uncontrollably. Why? She lay down finally, still shaking. The pool had grown, not just from the rain, however. She didn’t know what was happening until she finally felt a stabbing pain in her side. She twisted to see a huge gash where blood seemed to pour from endlessly.

She closed her eyes. Finally. Something good. The sharp, bloody rock was still held tightly in her hand. She curled up again in the blood, letting it immerse her. Something finally going her way.

Pain gripped her tightly, but a smile still rested on her lips.