Snowdrop by PhoenixBlade

Almond

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Snowdrop

By: PhoenixBlade

Prompt: Almond

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Almond bread.  Her mother was quite famous for her almond bread.  Whenever festivals came around, the villagers would beg her mother to come down from the mountain to make her delicious almond bread for them.  They even paid her for it and it always gave the family more than enough to buy food for the next few months if they spent it well.  How she loved her mother’s almond bread.  It’d been a while since she had any. The last couple of times her mother made it, Souta had been very sick so she had to stay behind to watch him while her mother went down to the village.  How she craved for them...

Even now as she lay watching the snow fall down on her limp form.  To say that she was in pain was stretching it a bit.  To say that she was in so much pain that she wished she was dead was probably right on que.  She couldn’t move her legs, or her arms, or her head; actually. she couldn’t move AT ALL!  Even the simplest curling of her finger caused a rippling shockwave of pain that shot throughout her body. She refrained from doing so again after a few more times of it.  It hurt to even breathe. She couldn’t even cry out in pain because her jaw couldn't even move.

Tears welled up in her eyes, mixing with the blood that had pooled around her eyes.  She blinked and felt the mixture of tears and blood flow down the sides of her face.  How did it come to this? All she had wanted to do was give her dying brother a snowdrop flower; that was all. Now here she was, on her way to her deathbed, freezing and bleeding to death, surrounded by snow, snow and even more snow.  She’d rather die in the comforts of her home.

A gurgle erupted from her throat, and it hurt.  A choked laughter, but it was a failed attempt at one, as she tried to laugh at the irony of it all.  Her brother was dying at home and here she was, dying before him in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nothing familiar but snow.  How cruel fate was to be taking Souta away and to place her death in a place like this.  Yet fate was even crueler to her parents, who would lose both their children and not be able to have anymore. 

More tears flowed, washing out the blood from around her eyes so that she could see the hazy white sky.  As sad as it was, she was glad to be rid of the blood so that she could see more clearly one last time, but really, all she wanted to do to close her eyes and give into the sleep that was calling her, but being the stubborn her, she kept her eyes open, though not fully, as she continued staring at the sky.

Maybe I’ll be able to recall this image in my next life, she thought, that way I’ll be more careful if the same thing happens again.

She closed her eyes and tried to suppress the shudders that were forcing its way through her body.  It hurt so much, but she was freezing and her body was responding to the cold badly.   She was just so tired of it all.

Just take me already, she spoke to whichever deity she hoped was listening, just take me and get it over with. I'm tired… it hurts too much… Just let me go…

She opened her eyes again as the tears came out faster.

Please…

She coughed as blood flowed down her throat, “p-pl…ease…”

A fit of coughs seize her, rippling through her body as a barrage of pain once again shot through her body.  Once it passed, she felt limp, limper than she was before.  The fatigue was getting to her and she gave into it freely, letting her eyes drift close.

Please…

She thought she heard a crunch, but perhaps it was her mind playing tricks on her because she thought she had seen her mother earlier and she had been happy for a few seconds that she finally had help come, but it had been nothing.  Now, she was going to die delusional and alone.

Crunch!

I’m…so…

Crunch!

...sorry…

Crunch! Crunch!

…Souta…

Something hovered over her, but her eyes closed and before she could wonder about it, her world went dark…

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My younger sister happened to be selling braided bread for her drumline during the holidays and they had an almond flavored one. I decided to buy one on a whim and now I LOVE almond bread! :) Still not too fond of the nuts though...lol