How the Dolphin Taught the Swan to Fly

VOICES

"Is this what dying feels like?" she thought, surrounded by darkness, punctured only by occasional streaks of lightning illuminating the sky. 

                  She was falling head first from a thousand feet, helplessly plunging toward the sea below. "I should've listened," she thought. 

                  "It's too late to play the blame game now," she continued, silently reprimanding herself as if she were about to accept her fate. 

                  "No, I can't die," she told herself with the last ounce of will to live. I am who I am. I was meant to fly, not fall."

                  But every part of her body betrayed her. She could barely muster the strength to open her eyes to see where she was heading. The strong winds jostled her unceremoniously and accelerated her descent. 

                The searing pain from the gash on her right wing made it impossible for her to move it. This singed wing continued to numb every part of her body.

                She could feel her blood rushing into her brain and start pooling. Her prolonged inversion began to rupture her blood vessels preventing her heart's ability to increase any blood flow and maintain her blood pressure.

               She was falling and plunging into the sea and started to smell the potent mixture of salty spray and the metallic tang of the churning waters below. The scent entered and exited her nostrils as if hesitating like a frantic rookie whose indecisiveness wavered every millisecond.

              But she was determined not to be discouraged by whatever new sensations invaded her defenseless faculties. She managed to silence her mind amidst the howling winds around her. All she could do was completely close her eyes and let a single drop of tear escape her eye as she resolutely allowed herself to fall further.

              Nothing...nothing...nothing...until a voice broke through the deafening roar of the thunder to reawaken her spirit.