Weightless

CHAPTER 1

Harper~

Air was the first thing I noticed when I woke. Eyes stuck together with imaginary glue, I took deep breaths of unnaturally sweet, pure air, letting it fill my lungs, my stomach and finally my head. The skin on my hand, sandpaper rough, rubbed brainlessly over my eyes, seeming to loosen the spell that held them in place. Slowly they opened, letting the soft, smoky light seep through my eyelashes.

Like a slap to my face a severe flood of dizziness clotted out every sense in my body. My eyes snapped closed and I grasped my head in between my knees while the taunting pain flooded my brain. Every sense in my body forced me to throw up, but nothing came out. The pain gradually started to subside, first from the base of my neck, then from the ears, behind the eyes and the forehead.

With the pressure of pounding still left on my temples, I allow myself to breathe in that weirdly clean air and open my eyes for a second time, even slower than before. Again that soft, smoky light filters through my eyelashes, alerting my senses, yet drowning them in a sleep like syrup.

Eyes cracked, I start to feel around lightly with my second greatest asset. I feel pillow like softness with a faint tingling sensation at my feet. I recognise a hardness at my back, and allow my fingerprints to explore the rough, potholed bark. Reaching slightly higher I find natural handholds and gently drag myself away from the cushioned ground. Grasping these handles for dear life I open my eyes fully and wait till the mudslide of swirls relents. The pounding extends to my ears and behind my eyes, but the pain seems to have retreated to the depths of my mind.

As my eyes slowly explore my surroundings a new thought touches my brain. I overlook it at first but its stubbornness is too powerful to ignore.

"Where am I?" Feeling like a turntable, I find myself spinning around, gaining speed as I try to take in the foreign surroundings. Like a blow to my head the dizziness returns. My feet steal my brain but blind my eyes, traveling in all directions but the one towards the tree, my only safety point. My knees give way and my shoulder makes contact with the earth, my head and body following close behind. Head over heels I descend till the pillow like grass gives way to bumps of wood that punch me in all directions. Unable to find strength to move I make myself limp and after what seems like a lifetime I start to slow until the sound of air rushing past changed to the soft whispering of wind in the leaves.

It was only till I reacquainted myself with the world and sunk into the bush behind me that I realised for the last hour I had been in this strange land I haven't been breathing. And that was the first time I screamed.