Part 2

Sirene burst through the door of her home, arriving hours earlier than her parents assumed she would be. There, she saw her father writing on the floor, holding his stomach and screaming in pain.

"Father!" Sirene yelled. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"No, stay away Sirene!" Her father said between screams. "I don't want you to catch it!"

Sirene thought back to a few minutes ago, the strange lady telling her she would be immune to this plague, and approached her father.

"No. You took care of me as a child, now it's my duty to take care of you." Sirene said, her voice full of determination.

For days, Sirene cared for her ill parents, but their symptoms just got worse and worse instead of better. Every night she cried until she fell asleep, feeling helpless. What was happening? It was on the sixth day when it all came crashing down.

Sirene was woken by her father calling for her. When she entered his room, she froze. Her mother wasn't breathing.

"Mother!" She cried, rushing over. She felt her hands, and they were cold. She had died during the night.

"Sirene..." Her father said, his voice barely a whisper. "Please, leave this wretched place. Make me proud. Make your mother proud. We have always loved you."

"Father, no! Please, I'm not ready!" Sirene said, her eyes full of tears. "Don't go!"

But it was too late. Her father had breathed his last. She stayed in the room for a full day, holding them both and crying, until she ran out of tears to cry. She finally stood, shakily, and walked to the front door of her house, planning to walk in the woods, to at least get some fresh air. But she opened the door to an angry mob.

"They will try to burn you..." she whispered to herself. The lady was right.

"There she is!" A neighbour she recognized yelled.

"She's the one responsible for all this!" A man she had considered a friend yelled at her.

It seemed most of the village was here, and they had lit torches. Knowing she couldn't fight them all, she ran, towards the woods. She easily outpaced the angry villagers, but she didn't understand why. She was never particularly good at running, but it was like they were in slow motion.