The Academy (Part 2 of the Syndicate Series)

Chapter 13- Breathing

Rosine:

No one ever talks about how much drowning burns. It's not just your lungs screaming for air, it's every in your body panicking in the absence of oxygen. The muscles in your legs, your fingers even, are telling you to move, but your brain can't seem to control anything. And it's like acid in your throat as the murky water forces its way back out of your chest.

After being in the dark and letting it take over your entire body, the light hurt. I could see it through my eyelids, and it was blinding. When I felt the next compression, my eyes were finally forced open, just as something in my chest cracked and water poured from my mouth.

"Fuck," A man's voice hissed. It took me a moment to recognize it as Forte. "Rosine, can you hear us?"

I recognized Nyoka's voice, "Get her on her side. She's probably going to-"

Apparently water wasn't the only thing that comes back up when you drown. The contents of my stomach spilled onto the ground, and that was the first time that I truly processed that I was laying on grass. I was out of the water, I was safe on land.

Nyoka's hands were on my shoulder and hip, holding me on my side. I could see Frote kneeling in front of me, so I assumed that the hand rubbing my back reassuringly were Daitan and Phoenix. His breathing was hard like he had just run a marathon, which may have meant he was the one to drag me back out of the water.

What the hell had happened? I couldn't remember details, I just remembered being out in the water and then going under. How had he gotten to me? How did he manage to get me all of the way back to shore?

Then I remembered the hand, the pale one that had reached out of the water and dragged me down. The whole ordeal was so fast that I couldn't process it, but the stress and terror mixed with the symptoms of drowning just brought up the contents of my stomach again.

Forte fell back onto his heels, then just sat, looking like he was in shock, too. "I- I'm so sorry, I think I cracked her rib- I don't...."

"It's normal," Nyoka reassured him when I stayed silent, just relishing the feeling of air in my lungs again. "When civilians apply it, it happens about half of the time."

"Happens when doctors do it too," I heard Phoenix mutter as she tried to comfort him. "About a third of patients."

"I'll run for the school nurse-"

I couldn't talk yet because of the pain in my throat, but I shook my head and made a sound of protest.

Daitan's voice was incredulous, "You don't want me to get help?"

I just made the same noise again as Nyoka scrambled to kneel in front of me next to Forte. She was still gripping my shoulder to keep me on my side, but crouched down so that she was closer to my eye level, "Rosine, you need medical help. There are things that could still go wrong, dry drowning or-"

"It was him," I choked out. "...Can't trust the staff."

There was a moment of silence while my friends tried to process that my father was undeniably trying to have me killed. It was like we were all waiting for the reality to sink in, or to be able to sort out our best options, but Forte finally broke the silence.

"I don't understand. Why can't you trust the staff? I'm staff-"

"It's hard to explain," Daitan started. "A long story. Either way, we need to get out of here and back to our rooms. It's the only place we know we're safe."

"I need to know what's happ-"

Nyoka cut Forte off, "I'm sorry, but we really don't have time, we're totally exposed out here. Rosine, can you...."