Chapter 1 - Date Unknown

I’m burning alive. Am I a witch? The pain, I can feel my flesh melting from my body. I can feel the death of a life I don’t know. I am on the ground. Did I hit my head? Oh dear God please hurry and take me! I can’t handle the burning anymore.
My first breath I realized two things. First the air was cool and I could smell every detail around me and I could not smell burning flesh. I could smell the leaves of a forest, the smell of fresh rain, the smell of animals running around me. Second I could not scream. I wanted to move, force this body to work. I need to get help. I must have a disease of some sort. But nothing works I must be doomed to lay here and die like a helpless fish that lost its water. At least that fish can flop around, at least it could move. What is wrong with me? I welcomed the unconsciousness.
As I laid there for an undefined length of time it seemed that the burning lessened just a little from the outer parts of my body, my toes seem almost cold. My fingers wanted a shield from the wind. I wish I could move and put those cold feet and hands over every burning part of me. I could hear nothing except the beat of my racing heart but yet my breathing stayed the same. It seemed almost too slow with the racing of my thoughts. With every breath I would search for some information of my whereabouts. I can smell water that always seems the most prevalent. I can smell the sap from the trees. It smelled almost sweet as if the rain sprinkled lightly with fresh sugar. I could smell the leaves more clearly than before. Some of the leaves were dry, deprived of moisture, almost as burnt as I felt.
A new smell filled my nose. Is it a fox? It’s fur has the smell of blood as though from an animal just devoured. I could sense the beast moving closer to me. Not the outer feeling of your skin crawling, but more as though I was being closed in on. Every breath brought the beast, that animal, closer and closer to me. The cold nose of the animal touched my right arm. It felt so good not to feel burning in that one spot if only for a second. I projected my thoughts to this savior. Please just bite me hard, on my neck and end this misery. Or go get the rest of your pack and tear me apart. I think that I won’t even feel it from this endless fire, with the exception of my feet and hands. The cold nose very slowly would touch different parts of my body. I could feel the cold trail the animal left as it nuzzled through my hair. As it smelled my ear I longed to hear the huffing of its breath. But just as quickly as I smelt that fox the smell vanished. Is this sickness so bad that the animals of death won’t even touch me? I wish I knew what happened to me. Why are my thoughts so clear yet I have no recollection of a past of any kind. All I know when I woke is this burning sensation tearing through my very soul. Maybe I am in hell, stuck in this eternity of burning.
After what felt like years yet another breath brought a strange smell. This smells almost like a reptile of some sort. A frog I think. I can smell the excretions of some foul smell perpetuating from its body.
Far off in the distance is the smell of smoke and wood. Could there be someone with a campfire? The small so intoxicating that it scorches every depth of my soul.
If only I could move or make a sound. If I could only open my eyes and look at what might be surrounding me. If only I could scream not only for a release of pain but maybe for a second of not being so helpless. If only…
I started to take comfort in the pain. At least I knew I was still alive. Maybe I was going through all of this horror to survive and come out stronger. Maybe I would be the antidote for all others that caught this illness. How long have I been lying here? How much longer must this suffering go on? I believe it takes a week for a virus to run its course. But by that time I will have died from dehydration. What have I done so wrong in my life that I am doomed to suffer this pain just to die of dehydration? I must be getting used to the pain or it is lightening up just a little. My lower arms and lower legs now are feeling a bit cold. It feels almost as if all the burning is pulling from the outer extremities and drawing right to the center of my heart. If it is possible, it feels like my heart is beating faster than humanly possible. It feels like as the burning grows closer to my heart the faster it beats.
I think I passed out from exhaustion or pain. I wanted to scream when I woke from my nap. All my body was freezing cold except for my heart. It was exploding with fire. It is beating so hard that it is a steady drum of a cats purr. My fingers dug into the ground and my body arched. I’m moving! The pain is all but gone and transferred straight to the heart. My body is wreathing like a snake about to die. Am I having a heart attack? Oh dear God please forgive me for all the mistakes I don’t know about. Please allow me an easy transition into heaven. Please make this end quickly. Then the explosion, my eyes flew open as my heart stopped beating.