The Floaters [cake au] ✔

⌛ ➀ : waking up ⌛

Characters ^

Chapter 1: waking up.

The first thing I saw when I woke up was a blonde haired teenager hovering over me with his eyebrows raised and a confused expression, lips in a pout.

I sat up with difficulty, my head pounding like a hammer was hitting it, and noticed that I was in the middle of a meadow. "Mm... where am I?" I grumbled, squinting as I took in the sunlight. This place looked nothing like home, where it always rained. No, this place was sunny and bright, and there wasn't any signs of a beach, so why did I smell sea water?

The guy helped me up with a curt smile. "I'm Luke. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit. And it's Calum."

"You smell like it too..." he added, wrinkling his nose. I gave myself a good whiff and found that the salty smell was coming from my own clothes. I was so muddled. Where the fuck was I?!

"Can you tell me where I am?"

He gazed upwards at the blue sky and said, "It's hard to explain, but basically you're trapped between being alive and being dead. You're a, uh, a 'floater', like me, and I haven't seen someone new around for weeks. I was beginning to get real bored!"

It took me a good few seconds to clock what he'd just told me. "A floater? What do they do? Float?"

He chuckled. "Nope, they call us floaters because we're not dead yet. Your real body is in a coma right now, and until you wake up or get your life support cut off, you're stuck here."

I scratched my head, beginning to understand. "Oh right, so you're telling me that I'm like, in the afterlife?"

"Kinda. Not yet. You're not dead."

I groaned and put my head in my hands, before removing them since they smelt so heavily of brine. "Right... well is there anywhere I can take a shower and get some clean clothes? I stink so bad I think I'm gonna puke."

"Yeah, come with me."

We walked through the meadow, flowers growing at our feet and butterflies fluttering wherever we passed. Luke caught one on his hand and said hi to it, whilst I smiled from behind. "So, do you live here or something?"

He nodded. "Pretty much. I fell into a coma seven years ago when I was nine, and haven't woken up since. I'm surprised my parents haven't let me go yet, staying here for so long can get to your head. And it's really boring."

"What's it like compared to earth?" I was intrigued by this place, the place that looked so familiar to earth but wasn't. I tried figuring out how I could be here and feel everything, ending up with a confused mind and the resolve to give up.

"Oh, not much different. We still have night and day, and the people who come here form villages. C'mon, if we hurry we might be able to catch some more newcomers!"

He started running after letting the butterfly go, and I did too – only I struggled because my leg seemed to be heavier than usual. "Wait, I can't run that fast!" He turned around and focused in on my legs.

"You must've broken your leg or something – the doctors probably put a cast around it and that's why it's hard. Do you need a hand? I'm pretty strong," he asked, picking me up and catching me off guard.

"What the heck, put me down! I can still walk!"

He simply laughed it off and ran with me in his arms, whilst I mentally cussed at him. We made it through the meadow and crossed a small bridge, before arriving at an open space where a circle of people were gathered. My eyes caught on to Michael, who appeared to be making himself at home already.