--The Death and Reanimation of Eloise Deorwine

Miss Eloise Deorwine was born into a well-oiled machine of a family whose wealth and power glittered like a ruby in the eyes of their admirers. Her father ran a solid half of the City with his businesses and his charming personality. Her mother stayed at home and sewed and lounged all day. And Eloise, their darling daughter, was the light in their eyes; even after seven years, when her little brother Eilos was born.

Eilos, on the other hand, could not be considered as the favorite child.

Almost immediately after his birth, Mrs. Deorwine grew distant and loathed to see her own child. Postpartum depression was the official diagnosis, but even after her year-long depressive bout had passed, Mrs. Deorwine made almost no effort to be involved in her son's life. And so Eloise took up the role of raising Eilos, and her mother became the isolated ghost haunting their home, and her father became a source of approval if she ever managed to find him outside of his office.

One of her father's more illustrious business deals was the Circus--a huge, sparkling, colorful mass of tents and lights and sheer spectacled entertainment. The first time her father took a eight-year-old Eloise and a year-old Eilos to see it, Eloise had the strangest feeling of being swallowed whole by the maw of the entrance. Eloise liked wandering the grounds with Eilos and eating cotton candy. Eilos liked watching the performers, especially Azalai Belle.

The Deorwine children grew, as children are wont to, until one day Eloise was fourteen and Eilos seven. And on a trip to the Circus, a normal part of their routine, Eloise decided to take a slightly longer route home in order to better see some of the Circus's views of the City. She was violently mugged by a pair of criminals who saw her jewelry glinting and wanted it for their own. That is how children die, dear reader. It always seems momentous and meaningful after the fact, isn't it so poignant that such a sweet life was cut so short? But when Eilos saw his sister's bloodied body lying on the hospital bed, her stomach ravaged and ripped to shreds and her heart monitor struggling to keep time, he just felt an all-consuming wave of horror and nausea.

Because it is horrifying, dear reader. That is all that such a death can be.

When her heart gave up, and her heart monitor shrieked a single apathetic note, Eilos screamed. When his parents finally dragged him away from Eloise, he begged them to do something, anything, to help his sister. Mrs. Deorwine just got a far-off look in her eyes. Mr. Deorwine set his jaw and prematurely blamed the calls he was about to make on his son.

Eilos was strictly banned from the hospital for the next few days as the doctors toiled over Eloise's body. He will avoid this subject as much as possible, but if you manage to ask him, he'll honestly tell you that he doesn't remember very much of that week. He won't tell you that the only clear glimpses he remembers are prime scenes in his nightmares.

When Eloise awoke, she felt cold and blinded by the fluorescent lightts and tired. Her family was gathered around her bed. She thought her father might've been crying. She knew that her brother was, because when he hugged her she could feel his tears soaking into her hospital gown.