The Downfall Never Felt So Short...

Tears rolled down her dirtied cheeks to the dusty stone beneath her. Pain radiated from the inside of her core to the very skin that threatened to sag from her body. Oozing sores pockmarked her fur from snout to tail. Itching, scratching, rubbing, biting. No matter what she did, what she took, she could not relieve the feeling that they were still there. Sliding, slithering, moving about beneath her skin. Were they laying eggs in her intestines? Would she start crying blood in hopes it'll make the worms happy?

Eating was impossible. Drinking was difficult. Every bite, every sip, it would roll up her throat and onto the pile of grass that her companions had laid beside her. At least the plant would absorb some of the bile so that it would stop splashing back into her face. Cold and shivering, she huddled against a rock, eyes in a glazed over state as she attempted to stay coherent and aware. She was succumbing to the fear, to the sickness.

Falling from grace had never hurt so badly...

"Delphi"