Pulse

What a night! Alice thought. And what a morning to wake up and feel alive. Well, sort of alive.

Alice stands at her vanity looking in the mirror. She stairs at her reflection intensely. Or at least where should be her reflection. Except she hasn’t got a reflection. She looks intensely at the mirror, waves her hand in front of her face. Nothing there. She leans in and out of view. Still nothing there.

Well he wasn’t joking about that, she reflected (now the only way she could reflect on anything).

He did warn her about the reflection. She feels her neck. Nothing there, the bite marks were gone. She shrugs. Fast healing, not bad. And no pulse. They definitely weren't the only perks he told her about, not that she could remember them this morning.

She puts her hair up in a bun. Handily, she’s put her hair up so many times before, not seeing her reflection isn’t as much of an issue. Make up might be more of a problem.

Next stop, breakfast. Alice takes a bite of the croissant, followed by a mouth of coffee. Unlike the films, eating is still a thing apparently. Vegan may need to go, but coffee can still be a staple.

No rest for the wicked though, still better get to work, immortal or not.

She gets changed. She can hear everything, absolutely everything in a half mile radius. Really interesting! And the neighbour downstairs was definitely banging his sister in law. Whispering on his phone doesn't work anymore. That will be an interesting convo later.

Reflection, fast healing, no pulse, not vegan, super hearing, and something else? There was definitely another thing. What was it?

Alice packs her laptop away, checks her handbag contents, and relishes the last dregs of her coffee. It tastes so good this morning. She was going to like this. She grabs her coat, keys, and unlocks the door.

As she opens the door, the sunlight rushes in. And that was the last thing.

Avoid sunlight. Oh fu…..

And just like that, she crumbles to ash. Another bite leads to dust.