Me And Glee

She sometimes wondered if he was referring to the cadavers or to himself.

Soon, Sareena would be 12 years old, and she knew what that meant, even though no one had told her.

She knew.

When she was younger, she used to think of ways she could try to get out of what was bound to happen, but no matter what she schemed, she could think of nothing foolproof.

She was no fool, but she sure felt like one.

Something had to work, or she would end up dead, just like the rest of them.

At least, that's what she thought.

As she got older, things began to change-

she changed and life as everyone knew it changed.

Chapter 2 -

Ten years had gone by in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

Sareena was now running the funeral home that had been in her family for three generations.

As much as she cursed the smell of formaldehyde, methanol and other liquids whose essences had perfused her clothing, hair and skin, there was a part of her that secretly got off on it.

Gasoline, paint thinner, cigarette smoke…the (un)usual list goes on.

It was so unladylike.

Didn't matter…she never liked the idea, let alone the reality, of being a lady.

When Sareena finally started her menses at 16 years old, she cried for a month straight.

She knew what was coming for her-

she knew what was coming for them all.

By the time she was 18 years old she could feel it growing inside of her.

She called it Glee -

because, like many other deadly and dangerous things that made her sick, it also made her smile.

And these days smiles were getting harder and harder to come by.

Chapter 3 -

"Who the fuck opened the goddamned window?"

Sareena murmured aloud to no one through clenched teeth as she sat bolt upright in bed, eyes still shut.

When she squinted through one eye to peer at the lone window across the room, she saw that it was, in fact, still shut.

Where did that steady, icy chill that woke her from her sleep come from then?

Before she could finish the thought in her half-asleep mind, she knew.

The time was drawing near.

There was no one left in Sareena's family.

She'd buried or cremated them all, according to their written wishes.

Every single one, even the ones who were younger than she was.

She imagined what kind of life she might have 10 years from now, but she could never take it seriously because life was drastically different than anything she had conjured in her young, 12-year-old mind 10 years prior.

She knew that her family had some dark secrets, but nothing could've prepared her for the reality.

Sometimes her mother's voice guided her towards what she felt were hopeful solutions, but inevitably, her father's voice drowned out everything.

Sareena knew what she had to do, and not just for her sake, but for the sake of the entire world.

Chapter 4 -

Sareena started waking up at 4am every single day.

It was one of the best things that she started doing during this period of her life.

No one told her to do it.

Chapter 5-

The sky was a deep, dark blue that only hinted at the dawn to come.

Sareena had purplish half moons under her eyes.

She barely ate and hardly slept.

Her nights were plagued by the creeping suspicion that she was losing all sense of herself.

She couldn't remember what she'd done the day before, let alone the years before.

Not anymore.