The New World

Ch. 1

My body ached, my bones feel fragile, like thin tubes of glass that would shatter at the lightest of touches. My skin felt like it was vibrating, a cold tingling chill settling deep within every limb, yet at the same time I felt like I had lava burning through my veins.

Sweat drenched my entire body and every breath I took made my lungs burn and my ribs creak. My head ached, my brain seemingly pulsing every other second. I could feel the beat of my own heart in every part of my body, beating at such an intense pace I thought it was gonna burst from my chest at any moment.

I felt freezing fingers running through my drenched hair, the muffled sound of someone talking to me, their soft spoken words fell on deaf ears. My eyes wouldn't open, my eyelids felt inhumanly heavy. I wanted to cry, to scream out my pain, to grasp the tender hand of my unseen caretaker and beg them to put me out of my misery.

It went on like that for hours? Days? Weeks? I had no real idea but it felt like an eternity before my brain simply seemed to shut down and I was no more.

I suddenly felt like I was floating, like someone had picked me up and held me in their arms. I could hear nothing and my eyes simply refused to open and then, I wasn't floating anymore.

I was laid against something hard and uneven. The ache in my bones had gone away and my racing heart had slowed to the point that I could no longer feel it. I felt something land on me, it was heavy yet it didn't feel like a singular object, it felt more like sand? Dirt?

Whatever it was, it kept coming. More and more was thrown on me until it compressed my body into my uncomfortable resting place. The chill of my new surroundings began to seep into me, past my clothing and into my skin.

It was comforting in a weird way, like sleeping with one foot outside of your blanket so you didn't get too warm or having your fan on despite it being winter time because you couldn't sleep without the sound of it playing in the background.

The cool feeling mixed with the heaviness of my surroundings lulled me to sleep.

I didn't know how long I was out for but when I finally did regain consciousness, I couldn't move. I opened my eyes and saw nothing but darkness. I was a little curious as to why I wasn't currently freaking the fuck out since I was an extremely claustrophobic person but I didn't really dwell on it.

I tried to move again and felt something above me shift before whatever was on top of me made its way into both of my eyes. I reacted instantly and slammed my eyes shut. My eyes began to feel irritated and I was sure now that I was lying under dirt.

I opened my mouth to speak only for dirt to drop down and fill the new, empty cavity. I clamped my jaw shut, doing my best to ignore the mouthful of dirt I now had.

Seriously, why am I not freaking out right now?

My eyes, despite being full of dirt, snapped open and I began to wiggle as much as I could, hoping to destabilize the earth around me. My fingers began to twitch and move until my hands had enough room to start digging.

It took awhile but eventually I was able to position myself upright. My hands dug the dirt out of the way and I continued pulling myself upwards until my right hand broke through the surface, my fingers clenched and unclenched a few times before my other hand joined its twin above ground.

As soon as my head broke free I was forced to clench my eyes closed as the midday sun violently assaulted my retinas. I spat out the flavorless dirt that had made itself home in my mouth and took in a deep breath of air. I exhaled through my clogged nose and cleared both nostrils of any dirt.

I slowly opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. I felt confusion take over as I stared at the back side of my house.

The one story tall home that I had grown up in for the last eighteen years looked the same as it did the last time I saw it. The black tiled roof, the off white siding and the wooden patio attached to the back, decorated with outside furniture.