"Painful Reminders"
The trouble with life was, It always took a wrong turn. And it always got worse before it got better. This was a hard lesson to learn for some, and there where a few that never did seem to learn it at all. She was the second type. Oh she tried to remember that things could and would get worse. But in those long lulls of no one even sparing a thought her way she had trouble remembering that pain. It wasn't her fault that being ignored made her careless. Well, maybe it was, but she didn't mean to do it. It just happened, and countless times it ended with trouble.
It had been a chilly morning, and with her ungodly tumble into a pond her dress was stiff with cold. It happens that someone noticed her cold state and offered to dry her. Of course she had agreed whole heartedly to it and soon his magic had her dry and warm. All she wanted was to be dry, and her guard was dropped just enough that she didn't notice the creature behind her. The first she even noticed of the cruel presence was claws piercing the skin of her head, digging in and holding her down to the spot. She couldn't turn to see what it was, but she knew already. It had attacked her before. Instead of killing her right then though, it lifted her and flung her into a tree.
Her frail body crumpled to the cold ground broken and battered already by that painful crash. She just wanted to lay there and play dead, but she knew it was going to tear her limb from limb even if it thought she was dead. With a grunt she rolled to hands and knees and then up to her feet to charge in for her own attack on the awesome creature.
She didn't have much to defend herself against it and it was stronger this time somehow, but she did her best. Actions blurred together, and she was losing. A usual thing for her, but this meant life and death. Just when she couldn't get up again it suddenly vanished. Praise be to Bob and anything else she could think of that seemed religious. She couldn't stay where she was though. It might come back after her, and she was in no condition to fight now.
Blood soaked the ground from the numerous cuts on her broken little body. Velvet skin was stained with reds, blacks, and blues and it hurt to breathe. Her dress was in smoking tatters and long since thrown from her because of igniting. Trembling hands where lifted and a cry filled the air at the movement. Teeth gritted hard and one hand moved to the her arm, half way to the elbow. The skin was slightly lumpy and it made her dizzy just to touch it. But she had to do this, and with a jerk and a violent twist her bones shifted, with a wave of pain, back into place. Her cry filled the air again before soft sobs tore from the broken girl. One more, just one more to go. Despite the broken arm both hands dropped to grip her calf. A deep breath was taken before that same jerking/ twisting motion was given and she gave a scream this time before retching on the grass.
Hours passed with her curled on the ground wracked with waves of pain before she could even attempt to crawl from the gardens. She didn't know where to go, did she even have somewhere to go? It didn't matter she just had to leave this place before it came back. Such a thought and fear could drive her until death. And without further thoughts she just crawled where ever her broken body took her. It was a slow and pain filled trip, but she was leaving a perfect blood trail so she couldn't stop until she reached a safe haven.
Night had long since fallen before she reached the said haven. And the place her body led her all through the day to was the manor. It had been a hard trip across gods only know what type of lands. She couldn't remember most of it. In fact she couldn't remember anything but the fact she had to keep going. She was sick with pain and blood loss and all she wanted was rest. Something clicked in her pain clouded mind a moment before she entered the manor. The Head Mistress will be angered if she bled on her floors. So what was left of her dress, a tattered piece of material just big enough to be of use for it's next job, was pulled from it's place around her hair to keep her from crawling over it and falling, and she backed into the manor slowly.
Through the halls she moved, going backwards with her head twisted around so she might see where she was going while her previously unused broken arm was put to work. Blood was cleared completely from the hall's floor just moments after it splattered down. This too was long work, but finally she reached Mithras' hall and then the door to the room she stayed within. It of course had been left open a crack so all she had to do was back in. The last drops where wiped away and the door shut.
Across the floor she moved, still wiping away the blood until she reached the bed. Bloody cloth was finally discarded to crumple in a red stained heap in the middle of the floor. She's get it later...much later. Try as she might she could not get herself up onto that bed to rest. The pain was in too great of white hot waves for movement like that. Finally her good hand grasped the heavy top cover and yanked it off to puddle to the floor carefully. Her and it retreated under the bed and there she put it to good use. Most of it piled beneath her before she collapsed upon it and the rest was left bleeding out from under the bed. There she fell into a fitful pain filled sleep that came and went with pain wrenching spurts.