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Thelma Howcroft was dead. She was most certainly certain of it. It did not matter that she would still stand and walk and talk and breathe and act as if she were living. She was dead. Her insides were putrefying, liquifying, turning to mush and rotting away inside this suit of flesh she was trapped in. No matter how much she scratched at her itchy itchy skin, she couldn't get rid of the decay. She could not eat. How could she? Her stomach did not exist, it was gone! She watched day to day as she grew thinner, her muscles and fat rotting away. Sleep did not come easy, not when she could feel her insides bubble and boil into nothingness.
How did she die, you ask? Well, it's not any of your concern… But if you must know. It was a horrible creature. A monster of a person. She saw it rip out someone's throat, and it certainly came for her next. Now she is dead.
Or perhaps… Not exactly. Perhaps that creature did come for her, perhaps it did bite her. But it did not kill her, not completely. Now she's stuck. Stuck with decaying insides that she cannot pull out no matter how hard she tries. But maybe… Maybe she is like the creature… Maybe all she needs is blood. Fresh, warm blood. It will keep her from decaying, it will stop it, it will save her!
The doctors would not listen, they will not give her blood. They ignore her cries that she is dead, she is a vampire , she needs blood! They give her food, but she cannot eat it, she cannot eat it!! They tie her down to the bed and force all sorts of tubes into her, they say it will feed her, but it is not blood, it will not help! She is certain her stomach is gone, the food will not stop her from rotting.
It doesn't, but the painful boiling in her stomach subsides somewhat --though she knows it must be because her stomach is gone. The doctors promise they will let her go if she agrees to eat. She hesitantly agrees, just to fool these petty mortals. She is a vampire, and one day she will feast on their blood. But for now… she will make them content by eating the foods they present her.
Thelma likes Thomas Elwood. He is filled with as much darkness and despair as she is. He doesn't treat her like the doctors do. He listens to her ravings for blood and nods along and offers his wrist. She tries to bite, but she can't quite get enough. The meagre blood is not enough to stop her insides from putrefying. She cannot blame Thomas, though. She just doesn't have her fangs. She must have lost them as she rotted.
The new doctor is strange. He skulks about at night, much like herself. He talked to her. She told him her story, how she's rotting, how she needs blood, but he is fool like the rest of the doctors. Cotard's Syndrome . What nonsense! She is a vampire, is that not clear?! She needs blood! He will not give it to her. Yet… He smiles at her. 'I will leave you to your nocturnal activities, mistress of the night.' He listened to her, really did. The other doctors do not. But he did. He does not bring up Cotard's again. Maybe she was able to bewitch him with her vampiric powers, twist his mind, make him believe she is a vampire…
It still does not solve her putrefying...