Raava Academy

Morning Wood

It's suddenly hard to breathe, and at first, I can't figure out why.

It feels as though I'm laying back on a hard surface, my shoulders are wedged tightly between something, and when I open my eyes nothing changes. I panic, thinking I've somehow turned blind, then I slowly close my eyelids and open them again, hoping for a better result. Nothing. I try to lift my hand to my face, to see if I can look at my fingers, only to wince in pain when my knuckles connect with a hard surface just above.

"Hello?" I shout, but my voice sounds muffled, as though the sound can't travel. I shuffle around, hearing grit and dirt move beneath me, feeling a cold, damp surface to my left, my right, even above and below.

"HELLO?" I yell again, and the sound dully echoes, forcing me to wince as it reverberates around.

I ball my hand into a fist and bang on the low ceiling, feeling dirt sprinkle onto my face with each muffled thud. I try to move my legs, kicking them into the barrier surrounding me, but there's not even enough room for me to bend my knees.

And then, it starts to dawn on me, forcing a cold tendril of fear to envelop and then overwhelm all of my senses. I'm trapped in some sort of box, buried in the fucking ground.

"Help!" I wheeze, coughing at the dust and dirt I've already caused to spill in.

I pound my fist violently against the barricade above, again and again, knowing it's stupid, but I need to get out of here, I mean, why the fuck am I here in the first place? I'm going to die! I start to suck in short, terrified breaths, the air getting thinner and thinner each time, until I become dizzy. I can't even move, and I'm going to die, like this, suffocating in a tiny fucking box.

"Help..." my fist thuds against the wood.

"He..." my fist thuds against the wood.

"H-h..." my fist thuds against the wood.

I spit out fresh specks of dirt and grit. I'm going to die, on my own, crying in the darkness, feeling blood stream down my clenched fist, and choking out muffled tears. I whimper, pressing my palms up into the wood above, pushing. It's futile. There's nothing but earth above. There's nothing but death here. I push anyway, harder and harder, until the wood cracks, and I scream, scream until my lung are raw whilst cold earth spills down, pouring onto my face, over my body, filling the already tiny hole.

—

I awake, sitting bolt upright half-way through a terrified, choked scream, gasping blissfully cold, crisp air into my lungs, my heart pounding so hard I can hear it thudding in my ears.

"Korra!" I hear a voice and feel something behind me shift. Someone's here, I'm not alone... I'm not alone... I choke tears of relief, collapsing into a ball on my side, clutching my knees, feeling strong arms envelop me from behind. It takes me a minute, maybe longer, to realise I'm in my dorm, in my bed, and that these warm, comforting arms belong to Asami.

"Shh, it's okay," she says quietly, from just behind, and I swear I've never heard her voice sound this gentle before. I feel her breath on my neck, and it helps to calm me as I gently rock myself, trembling, damp from head to toe with sweat. She whispers words of reassurance, her voice soothing my haunted mind, and the tremors gradually melt away.

Eventually, fear is replaced with relief, and I place my still-trembling hand over hers, just beneath my breast. "Sorry," I say, sighing, uncurling a little from my wound-up ball.

"You're apologising for having a nightmare?"

"I don't even know what that was. Never had one that bad," I say, idly running a thumb over her hand, "Asami... it felt so real."