Light penetrates Apollo's eyelids. He can only open one eye and sees foggy lights above him. Focusing in, Apollo sees that they are ceiling lights. He tries to raise his hand to touch his face but instantly regrets it as pain stabs through his arms and chest. Groaning, he lowers his arm slowly back onto the bed and exhales as the pain releases. He looks around and realizes that he's in a hospital. He tries unsuccessfully to look down, mentally feeling his body. A throbbing ache pulses through his body, like poison in his blood. Somehow, he knows that he won't survive. He closes his eyes as hot tears run down his temples.
∞
Apollo feels himself waking up groggily, but this time he feels strange and somehow unearthly. He looks up and sees the ceiling lights still above him, with both eyes this time. He is still in a white hospital room. He looks down and realizes with a start that he is glowing. I must be dreaming. I wonder if this is what a coma is like.
He floats off the bed, lying a foot above the bed. Yep, I'm definitely dreaming. His feather-light body is suddenly blown away over the bed by a strong gust of air and he tumbles across the room like he's in space. He thrashes out to grab something but his hand flies straight through the bedside table. The current carries him through the hospital walls and out into the night air. This is the strangest dream I've ever had, Apollo thinks. He can't feel the cold, only the pressure of the wind that nudges him through the sky. He sweeps through the night, disoriented and confused. He is soaring over the quiet town of San Luis Obispo and away from the ocean, away from the cliff. Red and green traffic lights blink below him, growing farther and farther away as he soars upward toward the stars.
He gains altitude and bursts through the clouds. The moon glimmers silent and watchful, like a calm, smiling eye. The cloudy landscape below him looks comforting and distant, like a fantasy world. He can't feel anything. His sense of touch seems to be completely gone. He's had some pretty weird dreams, but never this weird. Maybe he's dead. NO. He wishes he never thought that. He isn't dead. If he were...he wouldn't be here.
Several minutes pass. Apollo doesn't know if it has been minutes or hours or even the whole night. He silently watches the white, soft landscape travel away, waiting for this strange dream to end. Apollo wonders ironically if you can get tired of dreaming. The clouds are unaffected by the current that still caries Apollo toward the moon. It's like only he can feel it. Apollo feels exhausted and is ready to go back to sleep now. The night time city from above was really pretty and all, but after a while it's not as pretty. He must be in a coma. He wonders where George is.
Occasionally there are parts in the clouds and he can sometimes see city lights or dark forest. The wind is unyielding, and Apollo drifts off to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
Dead End
ActionApollo is glad to say that he came back from the dead. Twice. He isn't too happy about nearly dying twice, but being a ghost wasn't so bad. It all begins one cloudless, summer day... He is rock climbing, as usual, and a challenge against an arch ene...
