Page 21 of No One’s Daughter

I stood a moment longer than I needed to, then turned and made my way down the aisle, my footsteps echoing too loudly against the stone.

It felt as though the walls had drawn in without moving. I knew every step was watched—I could feel it like a weight pressing in from all sides, thick with something unspoken.

She watched my every step until I’d made it to where a small wall-fountain basin sat. The holy water and its ritual expectation stared at me. Fuck, I really hoped those tales about vampires and holy water were fiction.

Please don’t burn.

Please don’t burn.

I ironically prayed.

Then, with the old woman watching I dipped the tips of my fingers into the cool liquid, quickly bringing it to my forehead and doing the sign of the cross with a sweet smile on my face when I realised it wouldn’t hurt me.

Feeling smug as shit and untouchable I pushed the door open harder than necessary and stepped outside, the cool morning air hitting me like a slap to the face.

Only then did I realise how tightly I’d been holding myself together.

I had wandered further than I’d realised last night, to the edge of the old part of the city.

The overwhelming sharpness in my senses from before had dulled, receding to something more manageable. The noise had quieted. The scents no longer crashed into me all at once. It was all still there but it seemed distant now, like I could reach for them if I wanted rather than having to endure them.

My skin had settled too. No more crawling unease.

I slowed as the first golden stream of sunlight began to break over the rooftops, a thin line of gold cutting across the horizon. It spilled slowly, and my gaze lifted.

There it was.

The sun.

A strange stillness settled over me as I stepped forward, reaching a hand into it, testing the moment without quite knowing why. Every story, every half-remembered myth flickered through my mind.

Burning.

Ash.

​Death.

But, the light touched my skin and… nothing.

Just warmth.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding as something loosened in my chest. I stood there, letting the early morning light settle over me.

It felt ordinary, almost disappointingly so.

What had I expected?

I glanced down at my hands, turning them slightly as the sunlight caught against my skin.

They were still my hands.

I was still me.

But not really.

My brow furrowed slightly as the questions I’d been avoiding began to surface properly.

What was I?