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Chapter 17 – Just Wait and See
Darkness closed in on her like a plague, wrapping itself around her weightless body. Her throat was raw from screams as the metallic taste of blood pooled in her mouth. Her lungs were begging for respite, burning with pain as the cold bit her skin.
Her darting eyes met nothing but space as it swallowed her whole, and all she could do was wait for oblivion to come to her.
She was choking.
CHOKING.
CHOKING CHOKING CHOKINGCHOKINGCHOKING.
Ophelia gasped awake with a violent surge, leaping off the bed and clutching her throat. Her airways were constricted as she stumbled to the shower adjacent to her room. Her hands wildly searching for the button that turned it on as dark spots clouded her vision. The remnants of her nightmare held her in a vice-like grip.
A steady stream of cold water suddenly rushed out of the shower nozzle, drenching the sweat off her body and shocking her enough to force breath. Ophelia collapsed to her hands and knees as she slowly began breathing again. Remembering the exercises Bill taught her on her first day in Korbin.
In 2, 3, 4, 5.
Out 2, 3, 4, 5.
"I'm better than this. Why the fuck can't I get over it?" She growled under her breath, irrational anger bubbling in her chest.
She'd defeated terrible enemies, saved innocent lives, and fought off gods. If she could do all that why couldn't she go to sleep without suffocating?
"You idiot," Bill called out from the bathroom doorway, making Ophelia's head snap in his direction. "Your fear doesn't make you weak."
"Then why can't I close my eyes without feeling like I'm gonna die?" Ophelia flopped onto her back, letting the cold water hit her face with closed eyes.
"Because like everyone else in this universe you have your own shit to deal with. But you will cope with it. You will get better." Bill confidently said as he crouched next to Ophelia's head. His huge shoulders hunched as he tried to make himself as small as possible.
"I really wanna believe you, Bill." She humourlessly chuckled to herself, the cold-water droplets numbing her face.
✺
"This is totally a velociraptor. You cannot convince me otherwise, it's a prehistoric lizard bird with murder on its mind." Ophelia shrugged as she stood on top of a struggling beast.
"No, I'm naming it Iggy," Bill argued back, holding the animal in a chokehold as he talked to Ophelia. The scaled animal screeching in anger at the assault.
Several weeks have passed since Ophelia first woke up on Korbin. Her first few days on the alien planet were spent in a perpetual cycle of anxiety and impatience. Is mum taking her meds? Did Bruce remember to go to his therapist? Had she already been kicked out of university from her long absence?
