The bell tolled beneath the moonless night sky.
"At last..." she thought.
Her last thought. Her last words. Her last moments, here on this Earth, here in this form. One in the morning, a single bell. The sound coursed around her, through her, vibrated and echoed in her mind, tugged at her muscles, pulled her to her feet. There was a sense of happiness, of some merry jig just below the surface of her pallid skin, already dead these last few weeks, as she walked into that numinous river, that final walk, the cold waters of death tugging gently at her ankles, welcoming, welcoming...