"Distorted Melody Chapter 1 - Broken Flower" by Sophie Hansen

As one of the Undead, had spent many nights hiding in those woods. I should have moved on to better, less
dangerous hunting grounds... but I always did live dangerously.



My name is Ambrose. I'm not particularly old, nor wise, nor powerful... despite being Embraced in a fairly
recent time, I remember next to nothing. Not of my Embrace, nor my sire, nor my life before I became what
I am now.



I remember... some things. Dark, terrifying things. Visions that continue to haunt me, but offer me precious
little insight into my past or my future.



I had found her, lying motionless - body cold and mind broken - in those woods, outside a town with a
terrifying reputation.



She can't have been there too long, or else she must have had some semblance of self-preservation instinct
remaining... if she'd been out there for more than a day she'd have been consumed by the sun's rays. Other
than that, the town was full of hostile fiends and Hunters, surely she'd have been found by them if not by
me.



When I first stumbled upon her, she was indistinguishable from a corpse, eyes dull and lifeless, staring
upwards towards the moonlit sky, not breathing, nor moving... her clothes tattered and covered with blood,
both fresh and old...



I'm not sure why, but I felt the urge to examine her more closely. As I approached I finally noticed the
swelling in her belly, indicating she had been with child... I was shocked and horrified when I leaned in
closer and saw that bulge move every so slightly... the child was still alive.



I've killed many... too many, in my Unlife... but never a woman, nor a child. Seeing this corpse... this
woman, with her unborn child fighting to live within her, chilled the already cold and stagnant blood in my
veins. It was a horrible abomination in my mind, and as I frantically searched my mind for what action I
should take, I was startled to see the woman blink.



She was alive!



I sank to my knees near her, placing my head against her chest, trying to tell if she was breathing or
not...



There was no heartbeat. In my horror at the scene I had stumbled upon, I was completely unaware that she
had been Embraced... she was Undead, as I was. As I lifted my head slowly, my eyes traced along her
abdomen, my stomach turning as I suddenly remembered the child within her. Cautiously, very gently, I
placed my hand upon it, fighting the urge to vomit as I felt the fetus react to my touch and move
about.



Shocked and frightened, I stumbled away from her several steps, unable to even stand as I sat there,
dumbfounded as to what I should do... for what seemed like an eternity, I watched her, a combination of
horror and pity creeping into my cold, dead heart... I couldn't leave her. In all my life I'd never seen
someone so horribly violated and abandoned. In my own life I had felt something akin to violation and
abandonment... but never like this. It was never so brutal.



So I saved her. I scooped her up into my arms and carried her off to relative safety, where I could watch
over her. To this very night I wonder if I did the right thing. Should I have spared her? Should I have
liberated her spirit from the shattered vessel it was trapped within? Should I have set her free?



In the safety and darkness of my haven she seemed to come alive again, in a manner of speaking. She didn't
move for several hours, until well after the sun had risen... in my concern for her, I had refused to sleep. I
was scarcely able to stay alert, and when I first saw her hand move I was barely sure I was actually seeing
it, and my mind wasn't playing tricks on me.



Her hand lifted slowly, ever so slowly, and caressed the bulge of the child within her very gently. I dared
not move, or speak, or blink... I was afraid if I did anything she would die again suddenly, and she would be
lost forever...



She did not move again for a very long time. Neither did I... I was becoming far too tired to move, anyhow.
But just as I began to drift off to sleep, still sitting, trying to remain vigilant, I suddenly became aware of a
sound...



It the woman. She was humming softly... it was a melody I had never heard before. it held an ethereal,
beautiful quality to it... once again, I dared not move, afraid she would stop and slip back into her total
catatonia. I just sat, and listened, to the woman humming faintly to herself and her baby, a sad melody that
spoke volumes in the very notes it was composed of...



Ever since then, I've called her Melody... my Melody.