Elsewhere

2| Landing on the other side

Francesca.

Heavy. Pressure.

Stay.

Everything was grey. Or white. Or black.

Pain surged through me.

I wanted to moan. But I couldn't feel my lips. I couldn't feel anything but the numb feeling of pain.

"She's breathing."

Was someone crying?

Heavy. 

Cold.

My ears were pounding. The sounds of chatter felt like metal grated against my mind. I wanted them to stop. The voices continued buzzing like bees. 

What was happening?

Grey completely took over and everything swept away.

<><><><><>

I'd fallen asleep so many times without counting. I lost track of time, but apparently - according to my doctor - I've been here for about five hours. At the local hospital, of course. My doctor said that I could start getting some visitors. I asked for my mother, and she said that my mother had been waiting for the last two hours.

The hospital lights were glaringly bright. An unnatural white. 

I tried closing my eyes tight, but the lights still slipped through my eyelids. And whenever I closed my eyes, I started to feel myself slipping into my skin merely a few hours before. The hungry waves that engulfed me. The salty taste of the water.

So I decided to keep my eyes open, even under the blinding fluorescent lights.

I saw the door to the hospital room fly open.

"Oh my God," whispered my mother, running to my bed.

I winced when I saw her face. Her wrinkles seemed more defined under the hospital lights. I had almost died a few hours ago. What was she thinking when she heard the news? I must have given my mother a heart attack. I was all she had left. How could I act so rashly? I was smarter than this. 

It snickered. 

You're smarter than this? Obviously not smart enough to know they were cheating behind your back all this time--

"Thank God you're alright," she whispered, knocking me out of my thoughts. She grabbed my hand, a surge of warmth enveloping me.

"I can't believe what happened to you," she continued, finally sitting down on the plastic chair beside me.

I smile, in a way to reassure her. "I'm fine," I said, making sure my voice didn't go hoarse. She was still wearing her work clothes, from the admin job she had at a local business. 

"What happened this afternoon? Weren't you supposed to be with your friends--" 

"I..." I didn't want to talk about my friends. Even in my mind, the word didn't seem right. "I wanted to go swimming at the beach, then I must've overworked myself or something... suddenly I found myself drowning."

My mother's eyes teared up. "My baby," she cried.

"No, it's fine," I reassured her, squeezing her hand. "I'm fine, it was just an accident. Just an accident."

Another snicker from the back of my mind. An accident, you say?

"But you're usually so careful when you swim," she said. It was true. I was usually careful. I trained to be a professional swimmer. I was good in the water. I should've been able to avoid this near-death experience.