Moksha

BIRTH

She could hear her heart beating.

It was unnaturally loud and incessant. A rapid fire set of organic beats that threatened to burst out of her chest. When the din dimmed away, the cold began setting in. It was dark and she felt different. Like she'd been rolling around in something nasty. Something evil. She curled in on herself protecting the drum set of a heart that was still thumping against her rib cage. She didn't know where she was, or why she was there. Loud noises disturbed the calm that she had forced upon herself. There were yells and the sounds of heavy boots marching across wood. The door of the closeted space she was curled up in was ripped open and bright lights pierced the heavy fog of darkness that she felt she'd been born and raised in.

"Sally Jensen? My name is Todd. I'm with the police. You're safe now." A gloved hand gently held her hand. She shivered at the contact. Sally Jensen, he called her. Was that her name? Was that who she was?

"Where am I?"

Her voice came out as a whisper. Her throat felt scratchy and raw.

"You're in New York. You were kidnapped and held for a ransom for four months. Your kidnapper was killed in a raid. You're safe now."

She didn't feel safe at all. As Todd the policeman, gently picked her up and carried her out of the darkness, she felt exposed. Like someone had ripped the covers away from her. Sirens were wailing, people were yelling orders, uniformed people came up to her and repeated the same thing over and over again.

"You're safe now."

"You're safe, Sally."

She felt anything but that. So she concentrated on the only sound she remembered before chaos came knocking at her door. She could still hear her heart beating and it calmed her.