Chapter 2

There was a hum, a constant drown of engines purring into life. I was in a metal room, with padded floor and walls with survival equipment and buttons. The door, a sliding panel on the side had an emergency release handle. It struck me, I was in a helicopter.

I couldn't see out of the window but I could feel the speed I was travelling, we were high and obviously not in busy air space.

Lowering my chin as much as I could with the neck brace I had on, I looked around.

I could hear voices down the far end by my feet but couldn't see them. Their accents were distinctively American, but where in America I wouldn't know. I recognised one, a female, her laugh still fresh in my mind, I heard her respond to the name Scarlett. I think she was the closest to me, her voice the loudest and most controlling of the group.

I could only see from her waist up as of the position I was in. She was in military wear, camouflage jacket with a wide black belt. She was turned, talking to someone but nobody replied. The fall must have affected my hearing.

Someone must have noticed I was awake and aware, because a man with doctor written on his shirt came over to my shoulder.

I looked up at him, giving him my best poker face, I was not going to break again.

He was tapping me on my shoulder, obviously trying to get a response. I didn't know what to do so I closed my eyes.

He continued to tap, this time on both shoulders but I gave him no response. He left me alone.

Time to think. I couldn't open my eyes without being noticed but I had to do something. I had no idea where I was or where I was going or who was taking me there?

I listened to the conversation around me, trying to place the voices to what I just sore. I could only hear the woman, Scarlett, answering questions that were never asked. The rest sat in silence except for the occasional burst of laughter spurred on by nothing.

The doctor I assume was wiping my inner elbow with a damp tissue, cleaning the area of my veins.

I felt a sharp prick on the inside of my elbow, forcing its way into my flesh. The feeling that followed was strange, a spreading that moved its way through my limbs to the very tips of my fingers and toes. It was good, even happy.

My mind fell to ease, it was like swimming but not having to breath, forever able to drift through life without a care. The flood of numbness over me was overwhelming and welcoming at the same time.

I was deep, plummeting down slowly, sinking. I was gagging, struggling to breath, gasping. Surrounded by water, up and down, a never ending abyss of light, clear water. It was peaceful. It was an uneasy peace, a peace I knew was fake.

But I could not focus on the world I was force into leaving, just the fact that I was drowning. I knew I wasn't drowning, that it was an experience that was artificial, an effect of medication, but it was still happening.

I was scared, I could do nothing but wait it out, feeling my lungs shut down and my mind starve. It was insanity.

I could feel my body dying, but it wasn't happening, but it felt so real.

I closed my eyes, I could shut out this fantasy, I could pretend like it wasn't happening because it wasn't.

Something was touching me, rubbing my right arm. I dare not open my eyes incase I was still drowning, that it was a trap to resume my suffering. It was soft, covered in cloth, rough but soothing. It was something to distract myself, to anchor myself down.

Slowly tracing the inside of my arm, I focused intently, watching blindly the feeling of a hand going up and back down. Simple, basic, primitive. But at the same time, so meaningful.

The feeling stopped. Now there was nothing. No longer was I drowning, but now, once again, I was laying down on a stretcher.