Darkness That was what you had remembered last. Now your mind was groggy and slow, making it hard to produce any coherent thoughts. Your body however had no problems demanding your immediate attention. Your throat was dry and burning all the way down to your lungs as if you had just swallowed lava and your tongue was now coated in the leftover ashes. That wasn't the worst of it however, all your limbs felt as heavy as lead, yet the skin covering them sent searing stabs of pain throughout your entire being. You had never experienced pain like this. It was so relentless that you didn't even dare try to move, speak, or even open your eyes. Staying still seemed like the best choice. However this plan was ruined by a steady rocking motion. Your entire body was slowly rocking back and forth, back and forth over and over again. That's when your foggy brain decided to remind you that you were previously being drowned by a pack of vicious mermaids.
The waves. Your mind deduced that the gentle swaying must be the waves of the ocean carrying your lifeless body towards the shore. It was the same push and pull of the tide that had washed poor Chief Little Big Panther's corpse upon the sand for his grieving tribe to find. Whatever is cast out into the sea will always be returned to land. You had heard that somewhere though your muddled brain couldn't quite remember where. Nor did you really care to remember really. You were sure you were as good as dead and this was just the aftershocks. You weren't really sure what happened to people after they died. Did their spirits linger around a little while? Maybe your soul would stick around until someone found your body or until you were properly buried. Then maybe you could finally be at peace. After all you did die rather violently now that you thought about it. Maybe you were now a ghost; re-living your tragic death over and over again like those residual hauntings those ghost buster wannabes always claim are real. You really didn't want to think about re-living being drowned. It was bad enough the first time around. It wasn't so bad being carried on the waves though, if not for the screaming agonizing pain that only seemed to intensify with every second. You liked it better before when you were numb and sinking to the bottom of the ocean. But bodies always float back up to the surface.
You were content to just lie there; not thinking too deeply about anything but the pain coursing through your veins, when suddenly it was as if sound itself was returning to you. You heard a low steady stream of humming vibrating somewhere near your ears, though you couldn't make sense of it. The back and forth rocking continued only now you could hear the lapping of the waves. And as you were beginning to pay attention to these details, all your other senses decided to wake up as well. You were freezing cold and shivering all over. You were still soaking wet and your hair clung to your scalp in wet dripping patches. You still felt like you were sinking as well, only it felt wrong. The substance you were in didn't have the consistency of water though it was thick and moveable like it. You also realized that you weren't lying down horizontally like you had originally thought. Instead you were in a sitting position with your butt to the ground, your legs limply outstretched in front of you as your upper half was propped up against something solid and hard. There was something warm wrapped around you too. It emanated heat to your back and torso like a really great heated blanket. That's not right, your inner conscious said. Though your brain felt like it was covered in thick molasses and cotton you still had enough of your right mind to realize that you were no longer in the water and you were more than likely not dead yet either. Alarm started to slowly creep its way into your shut down system and it stirred you to try and open your eyes. Even though it hurt just to breathe you somehow managed to open your impossibly heavy eyelids. Your eyes immediately stung from the sea salt of the ocean. Instant tears flooded your vision and swept away the abrasive salt from your eyes. When your field of vision cleared you still saw darkness, but it wasn't the inky blackness of the unconsciousness. What you saw was more of a deep blue so dark it was almost a mix between purple and black, yet it was dotted with thousands of tiny specks of white. Stars. Yes, it was the night sky above you that you were looking at. That meant you had to be alive!
