The Nowhere Girl

Chapter Two

Nicole

~

Everything was numb.

I wasn't fully concious yet, I could only feel the stiffness in my body. My arms and legs felt like lead weights were tied to them. I tried to open my eyes, but all I was greeted with were blurry images. I kept lying there, flat on my stomach, breathing in the musty scent of earth. There was something scratchy on my cheek, my fingers began to twitch back to life, and I took a deep breath.

The air was fresh. I could smell something slightly smokey in the breeze.

My eyes fluttered open painfully, I triedd to focus, but my brain was having trouble proccessing my surroundings.

Leaves. I was lying on a thin bed of dead leaves. The wind whistled in my ear, I was outside.

Wha...

I mustered up the strength to move my arms, slowly, but painfully, I managed to push myself up so that I was sitting on my knees. My body screamed in protest.

I sat there, for I don't know how long. Waiting for all the feeling to return to my limbs. I just felt...drained. Exhausted, like I had spent the whole day running a marathon. I rubbed my eyes, allowing my brain to catch up with the rest of me.

Okay Nicki, what happened?

I remember having a really bad dream. I was with my dad, but then he left, and some men tied me up... then they put me in a machine and... wait.

That wasn't a dream. It felt too real, I hadn't simply imagined the burning sensation that went through my body. That I know was real. The pain had been real.

Then how did I get here?

All the details began flooding back to me, those men, the machine, the experiment... I didn't remember anything after that, nothing that could have led me to this place. I looked around at the bare trees, they were huge, gray, and stripped of all their leaves. Like looming ghosts. Unless...

Oh no. Am... am I dead?!?!?!?!

I frantically felt my body, the goosebumps on my arms, my torso still in tact, my heartbeat. As I felt around my back there was a slight throbbing coming from between my shoulders. I reached under my t-shirt for the area that I felt pain, my hand just barely touching the surface.

"SSSHHHHHHHHHHHH, ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" I drew my breath in quickly, the skin between my shoulder blades was hot and tender, when I pulled my hand away from the wound, there was blood. 

That must have been where the electricity struck me... what else could it be? 

I took a deep shaky breath and tried not to panic, I passed my lifeguarding course, I should know that paniking solves nothing! But I couldn't help worrying about how bad it was, if I could see my back, would my skin be all black and charred from the burn? How much blood have I lost already?

"Okay, okay, you're gonna be okay, don't worry, just... just find help, focus on that right now. Find help." I felt crazy stuttering to myself like this, but it was all that was holding me together. I felt like if I didn't keep moving or focusing on something else, I would break down.

So I certainly wasn't dead. Well... I was pretty sure I wasn't dead. I took another glance at the surrounding forest. It all seeemed so, gloomy. So dark and dreary...

This can't be heaven. Unless I'm in the other place.....

...

Nah. I haven't been that bad.