Under the Blue Moon

Chapter 31

The thing that brings your mind up to the surface of consciousness ever so briefly is the sounds of heavy footsteps. A lot of footsteps. You don't know where you are or what is going on around you. Then as quickly as your mind touches the surface of consciousness, it sinks back down into the abyss and your internal lights go out.

The next time your mind comes up to the surface, what you hear is a loud noise that sounds like metal being cut into and pried apart. You recognize that you feel heavy and breathing seems to be a task that is almost impossible. And once again, your conscious mind succumbs to the abyss. You have no sense of time or space. You can't even feel your body, but something inside is telling you to get back up to the top, and to stay there.

Not knowing exactly what you need to do to breakthrough the surface of consciousness, your mind grasps for anything it can hold onto. In the midst of clutching for something, anything, you hear low murmuring. You think, "Do I hear people talking? What are they saying?" In that moment, you decide that you are going to use the murmuring voices as the lifesaver for your mind to hold on to, that will keep you above and not below, in the depths where everything is black, viscous, and shapeless liquid. However, those murmuring voices that you were holding onto so tightly as the singular source of your buoyancy suddenly disappear, leaving you to grasp for something to keep your mind above the surf.

You try to take in a breath. Because that's what you do when you have been below the surface for too long. You break through the surf and take in a big and satisfying breath. However, doing so brings about sharp and shredding pain to your throat and chest. Then you hear a weak and raspy cough and think, "Did someone just cough? Was that me coughing?"

In fashion with your basic nature, you attempt to make the best of your current situation, and you use the pain you feel in your throat and lungs as the buoys that will keep you and your mind afloat. Another few seconds of silence pass and as the pain in your body starts to subside, so does your fragile grasp on consciousness. But right before your internal lights go out, you make your last-ditch effort to stay above the surface by shouting, "HELP ME!" You scream it out as loud as you possibly can. Your effort to scream brings about another bout of that sharp and shredding pain in your chest. And once again, you use the pain as your floating red and white lifesaver, but as it had done before, the pain subsides and so does your ability to stay conscious. That is when you hear a man's voice. Loud and quite clear now, saying, "Ma'am, You hold on now. We are coming to you. We see you. You are going to be fine! You just hang on, Love."

You think, "Oh good. I've been found. I didn't realize I was lost." Then without any warning, you are pulled down, yet again, into the black depth of unconsciousness, into the thick and murky abyss.