I conceal my face with a black cloth as I walk with the ill and coughing people, my heart overflowing with dark repent. They are suffering greatly, and it is all because of me, my self, my body, my blood, my birth. They do not know this, no one knows this, all they know is that I, inexplicably, am not a victim of the virus. I show no symptoms, I am completely physically healthy; however, my mind is haunted with the guilt of causing the entire world to be sickened.1
Benilda. Making people sob and scream.2
There is no cure for the virus, no healing medicine for the malevolent virus that I gave birth to. I am responsible for the deaths of a hundred-no, a million people, and all I am to them is the sole healthy person. It’s my fault people get sick and die every day.3
Why?4
I was born an inner mutant; I was average in appearance, but my inner body was extremely unusual. My blood was entirely different from human’s blood, having different contents and ways. It was still red, and looked perfectly normal, but it was absolutely different from all known blood types. My saliva, unbelievably, too, was dissimilar. I only recall being told that it was not normal, my own saliva. That could have been an exaggeration, but I often find myself testing my saliva and doing experiments with it. Benilda. That caused pain and death.5
A young girl of 10 approaches me, coughing hysterically and sobbing uncontrollably.
“Have you seen my mother?” she wailed, quivering, “They took her away because she was sick and”-the girl began to cough for a moment-“And they needed to do something to her! Please, help me! I can’t find her!” I could not respond, for she vanished along with the crowd of ill people.6
I only hear the choking sobs and screams of agony, knowing that I had caused it all. The darkness of midnight seems to taunt me, the screams and sobs echoing in my mind, and people quietly praying that they be cured and saved. I weep into the black cloth, the cloth they gave me in order to prevent me from catching the disease. They wanted me alive, to help them, to be the hero in their lives. 7
Benilda. Monster I made.8
Benilda, the name of the virus, had rapidly passed from person to person, and reports of strange deaths and a virus outbreak had spread as well. Soon, the entire world was infected with the ghastly curse.9
My blood, my very blood, has transformed the merry world into a dark forest of death. Benilda came from my blood, and I almost hear, every time I hear a painful cough, the virus silently thanking me for bringing it to life.10
Benilda. Killing the young and old.11
I wish I could go back in time, stop my birth, stop my mother from confronting my father, stop my blood from infecting everyone.12
How I miss the lovely and sunny days, before darkness, before the virus, before my blood infected the world. Now everything and everyone is infected by me. And I regret it.13
The Japanese policemen were taking everyone to Japan. They planned to test the ill people there and find a cure. But I knew that taking the Germans to Japan would infect Japan, the only remaining country not to be infected with the illness. And I would be there, to help with spreading Benilda. 14
Benilda. Breaking hearts and robbing hope.15
As the bitter cold stings my skin, I try to overlook the other victims surrounding me. I try to overlook the fact that it was I that made them suffer. If only I could find the cure to this disease and save them, like they want me to.16
Save them from the horrid deaths that await them, save them from the horrid hallucinations they see, save them from the horrid pain they suffer, save them from the horrid loss of their loved ones, save them from the horrid cold that stung their bodies.17
Save them from the horrid virus.18
Benilda. Named after me.19
A contest entry
- I want the most entries EVER by Everpurple.
400 points, ended October 30, 227 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest - Beginning Luck by tallblondie.
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Comments
1 - 8 of 8
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Great premise - though I really feel that this is not particularly a short story - it seems to fit more as a prologue or epilogue to a novel. As a reader, I would have liked the mystery of how the virus worked (i.e. what is was about her blood that caused the virus and how she 'infected people') revealed at the end.
Thank you for entering Beginning Luck and welcome to the finalist's list.
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Um, yes I really did like it, even though stories of any size about diseases scare me to DEATH, this didn't really go into the characteristics of the virus (thank you for that, phew).
But it was very realistic. Thank you for writing it! -
Wow, that's one of the best pieces I've seen on SW. It's such an effective story with a lot of emotion, all this guilt and stuff, it's almost like The Great Plague from 1665 (I think, not sure about the date :S). But this coughing, spluttering, sobbing, I wonder how it got to them. Benilda. Awesome, great stuff !
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Wow! That s very sad i hope that never happens to the world we are in now. Very Good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
beginning: 4, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 3, dialog: 5, characters: 4.
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Awasome
You did an amazing job!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Keep up the good work
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This was very good. It was so sad, I can't imagine the guilt she must be going through, that's a lot for a girl to have to live through. Although, I do hae a question. If she can't get it, she's the casue, wouldn't biohazard specialists take her and try to figure out what is different about her that makes he immune? and, if not that, what about her causes it, because fidning out the cause is a large step to finding the cure.
This was a really good peice, you are a talanted writer. It was very sad and heart wrenching.
-Savannah
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I Like It
I did like your story a lot. But in thee end, I think you should change some of the commas in the last sentence to periods, so that it is a paragraph instead of a run on sentences. But other than that I liked your story a lot.beginning: 5, language: 4, plot: 5, ending: 4, dialog: 5, characters: 4.
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Eek... Creepy, well-written, slightly horrifying. Beautiful.
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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