The Foreigner & The Pessimist (malexmale)

27. Lane

**Trigger warning for blood and death.**

I hear a voice. A voice calling out my name. "Lane." It says, like a whisper.

I open my eyes, trying to find the source, but I see nothing. I feel nothing. It's like I'm floating. Floating...somewhere. Somewhere dark. Drifting. Just drifting. Is this death? I wonder. Is this my eternity now? Or am I just dying. Dying, but not quite dead yet. Is this the in between? A plane of existence between life and death?

The last thing I remember was being outside. I was having a panic attack. And then the ground...it started shaking. It was shaking, and then it was splitting, and I was falling. I was falling down, down, down. Down into a hole. A hole in the ground. And...I think I hit something. I hit something hard, and then there was water. Water pouring down on me like a waterfall. Water as cold as ice.

I needed to get up. I knew I needed to get up. I was freezing. I was gonna drown if I didn't get up. But I...I just couldn't. It was like my brain couldn't make my body respond. Like no matter how many times I told myself to move – even just to roll onto my back so I could keep my airway clear – I just couldn't do it. And then...and then I was choking. I was choking and then I was...I was here.

Floating, but not like in water. Kind of like I was just...existing. Existing somewhere outside of reality. Somewhere outside of time.

"Lane." The voice calls out again, startling me.

"Who's there?" I ask into the darkness; my voice seeming to echo off invisible walls.

"A friend." It purrs.

I try to ignore the chill that sends down my spine. "Am I dead?"

"No."

"Then where am I?"

"Where you need to be." The voice responds, closer this time. As if it's speaking right next to my ear. "I need to show you something."

I swallow. There's a strange familiarity to that voice, though I can't quite place it. "What do you need to show me?"

"A memory."

"A memory?" I ask; confused.

"Yes."

Fuck, drowning is weird. "A memory of what?" I ask, but I get no answer before my body suddenly jolts. Jolts like I was moving, and abruptly came to a halt. It's an odd sensation. Odd, because I'm still floating in the pitch black. Floating and...birds...I hear birds chirping. Why are there birds?

I look down – suddenly realizing I'm able to move again – and see a small patch of thick bladed grass beneath my feet. A patch that quickly begins to grow, wider and wider, as trees and bushes, and a whole giant world of vibrant greens and blues and reds erupts around me faster than I can blink. Faster than my brain even has time to make sense of what's happening. A forest. I'm in a forest. "Is this the memory?" But my voice comes out different this time. Like I don't think those words actually came out of my mouth. It's more like they came from my head.

"Lane?!"

I jump. Now that voice I recognize! "Dad?" I ask. It can't really be him, can it? Calling me? That's not possible.

"He can't hear you."

My heartrate begins to pick up. "Why not?"

"Because this is a memory. You have no control here; you just need to watch. You need to remember. Your ship landed on Ishleknia. You were supposed to stay in the lab. To stay with Catlea while your father collected samples. But you didn't. You wandered off."