Breathe Into Me

2.

AXEL - MANCHESTER

(T.W - Suicide, graphic content)
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

FLASHBACK

My first need is to panic when I wake out of the black abacus. I'm surrounded by an overwhelming sheet of white light, too blind to make out anything.

The heaviness has transfixed into my bones - my body is numb and joints stiff. Shifting my neck is the only slightest movement I can endure. And even that is done in excruciating difficulty.

The bitter taste of smoke dances profusely in my mouth, and withers in my lungs. This meticulously interacts with the taste of metal, blistering my tongue.

When I try to move, my skull bleeds out in migraines. Whether I've suffered a concussion alludes me, as I'm a little preoccupied with the deafening ring, pounding endlessly into my ears.

The ringing is short lived as I'm instantly hit by a cacophonous wave of screams, horns and sirens. I open my mouth to yell, but it feels stitched closed. 

"He's coming two," a hollow yet professional voice hollers in my ears. It crackles the flames in my skull.

Unidentifiable and blurry silhouettes hover around my vision.

Now semi-conscious, a mind numbing pain blankets over my bodily stiffness. I've been singed, knotted, mutilated and broiled into an inescapable bloody inferno.

My insides are discombobulating. I lay here helplessly with short term amnesia at the face of my mind, unsure why, how and where I am.

"Sir can you hear me?" My eyes follow the direction of the orthodox voice. Similarly to the other haunting shadows,  I come to face a female silhouette.

My head pounds excruciatingly as I struggle to decipher the clarity. Half of my voice is hoarse, torn and chained when I attempt to speak, "W...what happened? Where....where am I?" A bright glow of artificial light glimmers over my irises.

"You have been in a car accident sir. We are taking you to St Vincent's Hospital," the voice responds.

Her response sparkles the broken neurotransmitters in my mind - I'm positioned in two places at once.

One minute I'm faced with a bunch of unrecognisable shadows, the next, everything is a dark abyss again.

A mirage of orange, yellow and red burst in my mind. They holler furiously against the backdrop of me screaming Rye's name.

In an instant, the flammable collage is broken down by the bloodcurdling image of the Ferrari ploughing into our car. This is combined by the flashes of glass noiselessly splintering through the air - my body disobeys the laws of inertia as I'm toppled back and forth.

Shortly, everything correlates back to whatever reality I'm stuck in.

With my memory half intact, everything distances whilst Rye sharpens. Panic bulks up in my chest.

I try to push myself up. "I need to find my sister! Where is she?" As my vision slips in and out, the paramedic keeps the oxygen mask secure around my face, "Sir you are in critical condition. Please lay still."

The more I'm restrained, the quicker the fear slips through Rye's voice. And the louder it haunts my mind.

The past repeats over and over. I attempt to slide the mask off again, but the paramedics stubbornly resist.