Seventeen inches under loose, recently displaced soil, lied a girl. She was beginning to move around, fingers and toes fluttering long before her lashes. The intermittent muscle spasms in her arms and legs causing her limbs to twitch beneath the weight of the cool, moist earth.

As she roused, she smelled and tasted the soil surrounding her, panic sat in and she gasped for air. Each time her mouth opened dirt filled it and cold fingers of fear would grip her heart and squeeze. The pain threatened to drag her back into unconsciousness, but terror snapped her back every time. And something else. The soil that threatened to suffocate her also quickened her mind and body.

Here, in the thickly wooded area of a forest, the moon shone bright enough for a passerby to see the pallid hand break through the soil and the girl bursting from the earth gasping for breath.

But no one passed by, no one saw.

The girl lied curled up next to the pile of dirt letting the crisp air fill her starving lungs. The soil had given her life. Resurrected her. Even as she lay there, she could feel it giving her strength. Struggling to move, she filled her hand with dirt from the pile and stuffed it into her mouth. She only bothered to chew when she came across a bug or other crawly thing. Once she had swallowed, she gorged on another handful, cramming it into her mouth. She needed her strength.

It took some time, but she willed her legs to move, to carry her toward the sound of a rushing stream.

Loam clung to her skin and hair; a byproduct of her resurrection, afterbirth waiting to be washed away.

She could not remember the last time she walked outside barefoot, perhaps she never had, and every pebble, stick, or stiff piece of grass felt as though she was walking on glass. A small chuckle escaped her dry, cracked lips and her frail, scarred hand flew up to stifle the noise.

Never did she think she would be grateful for the transformation process or the pain her maker inflicted upon her body and mind, but withstanding pain was now child's play and she didn't even flinch.

After wandering along the side of the roaming stream, she came upon the edge of a lake. The water was still, reflecting a perfect moon when the clouds gave way to her light.

Wearing only a small tank top and a pair of grimy panties, she waded into the water feeling the coolness take away the residue of her rebirth, her creation. She dipped her head under water and opened her eyes and stared into the lake's darkness before screaming into the water.

The sound echoed in her ears and filled the water with rage, but never broke the surface.