The Shadows

Chapter 3

I awoke, and like any other time I fell unconscious, I woke feeling worse off than I did before with very little memory of what happened prior to my blackout. I forced my eyes to focus as I began to concentrate on what's happening. All I remembered were flickers of what I would have once believed was a nightmare but I knew differently. I wish it were though, at least then I would remember where I was, or better yet, who I was.

My thoughts were swirling in my head like a whirlpool in an attempt to regain some sense or sanity. There were still things in the shadows, I could feel them hiding and almost sense the hot stench in the air surrounding me, causing panic to begin to erupt from within me. My breath became labored and I slowly sat up as the air became heavier, as if warning me to run.

Faint breathing in the darkness became louder, increasing my panic levels and my need to escape but the darkness became constricting. I felt suffocated, with no way to escape. I raised to hands to my throat to relieve some pressure but it didn't work. I couldn't breathe, no sound came from my mouth. I felt like I needed to cough but the pressure wouldn't let me. My throat burned and I was beginning to become lightheaded.

Lack of oxygen was beginning to cause the entirety of my body to ache, my head began to spin and my eyes burden. I closed them and focused on relieving the pressure on my throat, however succeeding very little.

I heard whispering, the sort heard from a great distance or one mistaken for a lost memory. Just a whisper of a sound but nothing I could make out. Almost as if the state of my mind and body was causing hallucinations, sounds and sights not existing in reality but causing real fear in my weakened state. My eyes continually fluttered open and closed as the whisper became louder, more a solid sound. A word, a name even, repeated in desperation. It became louder as my brain attempted to focus on the sound. One word repeated over and over coming closer to were I had again collapsed. A word. A name, still shouted in a whisper, becoming louder every time it's repeated.
"Raven..."
"Raven..."
"RAVEN!!"

".... Raven.." I mouthed in a whisper, trying to speak, trying to breath. As soon as the word was released from my lips, the pressure was lifted. My chest heaved in much needed breaths as I began to choke on the burning sensation of air returning to my lungs, traveling down my throat.

"Raven." I heard again as hands shook my shoulders and my head began to roll and my eyes flutter open. I tried to speak, but there was no sound other than that of a choked whisper. My eyes were still spotted with flashes of bright lights as I tried to recover from near death by asphyxiation. The hand remained on my shoulder as I slowly sat up. I still didn't know who was there. My head was still feeling fuzzy much like the memory of moments just before.

Raven... It felt familiar... Something I knew well. Something I knew on the tip of my tongue but not able to places. What could the significance of this simple word, but I knew, deep down I knew that it was important.