Written in Life

(Chapter 12)

My ears rang and I took in a sharp breath, starting to panic. I clawed my way to the shore and hacked up all of the water that had made it's way into my lungs. I gasped deeply and desperately for air and fell onto my back, looking up at the gray, colorless sky above me. My lungs felt extremely tight and I winced at every breath.

"You okay?" I jumped and fell back into the water with a loud splash. A hand grabbed my arm and I clawed my way back up.

"Just peachy," I spat angrily. I looked at him and breathed a sigh of disbelief." How is it you're not wet?" I asked. He smiled.

"I landed in a tree," he said. He hauled me out of the water and I noticed that I felt alot heavier than usual. I looked down and was in a heavy wool dress with a lace up front and puffy white sleeves. Great. My hair was a soaking, tangled mess and I sighed. It looked almost black with all the water clinging to each strand. I stumbled and Cody caught me with ease and swung me back to my feet. I jerked away, making my head spin, and wavered uneasily in the tight buckled shoes I was wearing.

"I don't need your help," I snapped. I can do it myself. I took a step and the buckle caught the hem of the dress I was wearing, sending me tumbling foreword. I grunted in frustration and looked up to see Cody crossing his arms with a smug look on his face.

"Really?" he said sarcastically. He offered me his hand and I looked at it and then back up to him. He smiled and something in his eyes sparkled when he looked at me." Come on. I won't tell anyone," he said. I sighed and took his hand and he lifted me up as though I were light as a feather. I stumbled into him and he laughed." You're no so light on your feet are you?"

"Hey, you can't blame me," I said as I wrung out my hair." I've never worn a dress in my life." I hoisted up the heavy hem of the dress and revealed ugly yellow-white stockings. I looked around. We were on a swampy beach with a vast forest covering any other view of the distance. There was a dim glow in the trees and the sky was getting darker, trails of rain drizzling lightly above us." Do we have any idea what we're supposed to do?" I asked. Cody shrugged.

"My best guess is to try and find a town," he said. I looked back to the forest and back up to the sky. It was a deep gray-purple and stars were starting to appear between breaks in the huge clouds above us. A flash of lightning appeared and thunder soon followed. Out of nowhere, water started beating down on us and I gasped in surprise as I felt something being placed on my shoulders.

"Come on," Cody said, pulling me behind him. We ran into the forest and when we stopped I leaned up against a tree to steady myself, my dark mahogany hair falling in front of my eyes. The temperature had dropped extremely fast and I clutched Cody's coat around my shoulders, shivering. Cody looked off into the distance and I noticed he was wearing different clothing too. He had on a puffy white shirt with long sleeves and trousers with straps around his shoulders and only reached his knees, his yellow-white socks covering the rest. I laughed at the sight of it. He looked down at himself and laughed with me.

"We look ridiculous," I giggled. Cody nodded and looked farther into the trees.

"Town should be that way," he pointed out into the distance. I abandoned the tree holding me up and my head spun. I quickly held back on. Cody walked over and lowered his face so he was looking up at mine.

"You feelin' okay?" he asked. I shook my head lightly. I felt sick to my stomach, like something was cutting off air to my lungs and my head and feet ached.

"I think I hit my head on the way here," I said. The back of my head felt bruised and beaten and made the back of my eyes feel like someone was trying to tug them out of the sockets. Just to make the whole thing better, my toes and fingers had gone numb and were turning green. Cody must have seen I couldn't breathe well because his expression was that of concern and concentration.