It hurt
Tearing, throbbing, tumbling down
All she can see are blurs of colors and jumbled voices; as if all that existed in that moment, in any moment, surrounds her. Shallow breathes rush in and out, never enough, burning sometimes with frigid air
or the smell of a home.
"Is anyone there?!" She screams
The silence is hollow, her voice echoing.
Again she is falling, not down, but in all directions. Lena can feel herself dissipate, desperately trying to keep it all together. The more she fights, the more pain lances through a body she cannot see.
Again, away, lost
Time passes, at least she thinks so.
It's a cycle, random at best; constant at worst. Only a few moments of being, not even whole.
The first time she can feel the warm sunlight on her face she cries.
A meadow with flowers she cannot smell, life she cannot hear, but does she feel it. Bare hands run through the tall grass still wet with morning dew; her leather gloves tossed somewhere.
For a few moments, Lena lies there; smile small, throat still tight, knowing that only for a few moments…
Until the pulling comes back.
Lena doesn't fight it anymore, it only hurts if she does. She allows the scenery around her to warp and shift as it pleases. Now, she stands on the runway she had taken off on in the Slipstream.
There are bits that are different, patches of concrete flicker from a grey smooth surface to jagged rubble.
Uneven steps takes her to where the attached research facility should've stand.
Used to stand
Does stand?
She can't tell, it's a pile of rubble where the half the third story somehow still exists just as she remembers it.
It's day time?
The runway illuminated by the noon sun but the windows are lit up with the starry sky surrounding the building that doesn't stand.
The pulling is back, but she can hear voices with words cutting in and out. Half shadows unattached souls paint the ground.
Like trying to keep a closed fist around a handful of stinging ants. A while longer, maybe, hope.
"…saw….swear…..here"
She can't feel the tears on her face, their salty smell and taste is all that indicates their existence. Her body fights her, wanting her to just let it happen. but all she wants is to run to the shadows, to see someone, touch them and be touched.
"I'm here." It's a whisper tight with pain, the universe tearing her apart.
"Lena!"
Cold wetness splashes around her left foot. She knows by now that visually, in this moment, her foot is on dry ground. However, perhaps in another plane of being, another time frame, somewhere else.
Still she presses forward, unseen icy water up to her thighs, soaking through her flight pants that are still dry. It numbs the pain still in her throat, still in her body.
And still she fights.
"…na!?"
No, no, no, please
Cold up to her chest,
Shivering, shaking, somber
Only a few more moment until she'd be ripped away again. Reaching out, a desperate action, hoping that-
Warm hands wrap tightly around hers.
"Please"
Her choked sob is lost as the world blurs away.
Alone again.
