preface

 

"Kill a man, one is a murderer; kill a million, a conqueror; kill them all, a God."

Death comes to me again, a girl, in a cotton slip, barefoot, giggling. "It's not so terrible," she tells me, "not like you think, all darkness and silence. There are wind chimes and the smell of lemons, some days it rains, but more often the air is dry and sweet. I sit beneath the staircase built from my hair and and bones and listen to the voices of the living. I like it," she says, shaking the dust from her hair, "especially when they fight and when they sing." And in that moment, she runs her small hands over my eyes, closing them eternally, "Goodnight, Emilia."

I wake up in a small room, built out of wood. It's dusty and smells like death. Getting to my feet, I walk to the door, only to see myself surrounded by the crowd of people once more. A smile grows on my face. I must have passed out from too much drinking, and my friends probably put me in the closet, I don't know why.

Suddenly, I hear the music stop as a scream fills the house. I see Dan and Harry running up the stairs towards the scream, so I follow them, only to run into them as they stop in the middle of the doorway, "She...She's dead..." Dan whispers. I can see the tears running down the boys' cheeks then stop in my tracks. My eyes widen as they lay upon the lifeless body beside the bed. Her hair is matted with blood and so are her clothes and face. It seems as if she had been stabbed multiple times. Her dull, lifeless eyes stare blankly at the ceiling, mouth gaping open.

That's when I realize...

...that girl is me.