inferno.

(this is just a bit of brainstorming. just thoughts and ideas fished from my crowded head. this darling little creature has been growing cold and dusty in a forgotten, cobwebbed alcove inside my mind. enjoy.)

at first, my whole body was aching. millions of tiny earthquakes were erupting underneath the fragile, translucent top layer of skin.

every blue vein was pulsing with the rapid, irregular beat of my heart. my breath was shaky, my lungs shriveled and constricted.

goose flesh rose slowly on every body part.

and then, the absolute cold turned into something much more unendurable. my body was on fire.

flames seemed to lick my heart, tenderly, as if it were a human child. each stroke of its vicious tongue caused an entirely different pain. each one more brutal than the last.

what was happening to me?

the fire was crawling up my throat. a deranged, stumbling child. scorching my esophagus, rubbing it completely raw. drying up every drop of moisture.

it slithered in every limb. head to toe, i was covered in flames on the inside. and still, it burned hotter as it continued to spread. my bones were splintering from the pressure of the excruciating heat.

and finally, when it reached fingertip to fingertip, monstrous blisters started to form there. when they were fit to burst, i pointed them away from my body. i clenched my eyes shut, seeing the awful inferno within. suddenly, the heat died down, if only for a moment.

it felt as though lava was dripping from my fingers, but at least it was extinguishing the flames brewing inside me.

i opened my eyes carefully, not quite sure of what had happened to my already weak, delicate body. and what i saw astounded me.

the flames i had felt deep within me were, unbelievably, streaming from my shaking hands.

i would've suggested that i was seeing things, but i inhaled the smoke through both nostrils, it's dirtiness stung my eyes.

and the trees by which i had been sitting were being swallowed by the creeping, hungry monster i had just created.