O brave new world

Untitled Part 8

I wake up suffocating. My throat hurts, my head hurts, everything hurts and have I mentioned my throat yet? It feels like I'm eating glass shards. That alone is enough for me to struggle with breathing, but there's a weight on my chest that makes it impossible. I whish I had a mirror somewhere. I've always wanted to know if you really turn blue when you can't breath. I mean, would it be more like a bruise purple or really truly a smurf blue?

I can't breath! It's finally registering and I flail around. Someone barks, and then the weight is gone and a wet tongue is on my face. Oh my God! Someone broke into our house! They're going to kill me! What do I do, what do I do!

Someone barks again and I crack open my eyes to look at Max. The dog. Right. And yesterday comes crashing down on me.

I am desperately trying not to cry, my throat feels bad enough as it is but my mother is dead. She's dead! And I'm all alone god knows where. What if rapists live here?

Tears start to run, and it hurts, it hurts. I want to die, to never feel anything again. I can't breath, everything in my throat hurts so much. The blankets are suffocating, I kick them off but I still can't breath. Every breath is hell, every swallow torture, and the tears and sobs are on another planet. It hurts. I'm going to die. Why is my mother dead? It hurts.

Someone is shaking me, pounding my back. Something disgusting comes out of my throat. A tissue is handed to me, and gratefully, I blow my nose and dry my eyes. My throat still hurts, but it's passible now. Another tissue is handed to me and suddenly I find myself sitting on a toilet with steel grey eyes looking into the bottom of my soul. Mr. Blackbourne's here. He was one of the good guys, right?

"Are you all right, Miss Sorenson?" Well, I don't really think he'd believe me if I said I was fine. Not even I'm sure what just happened.

- Can I have some water please? Lukewarm.

He frowns slightly, but fills a glass and hands it to me. I down it all, and immediately my throat feels better.

- Thank you. I'm fine now.

"Miss Sorenson, you are not fine. You were having a fit on the bedroom floor; you are lucky that dog barked or you might have died. Are you allergic to anything? Do you know of anything that might have caused this reaction?"

- No, my throat always hurts when I wake up. But today I remembered that my mother is dead, and then I had to cry, and it kind of got out of hand.

"This is not something to be taken lightly, Miss Sorenson. Ms. Evans will be by later today to arrange for a doctors appointment; I'm sure he'll want to know exactly what happened. Do you believe this has anything to do with you suddenly becoming mute?"

- I guess, but I wouldn't know why. This is how it's been as long as I can remember.

He sighs. "It's still rather early; would you like to continue sleeping or perhaps have some breakfast?" I am not going back to sleep. Never again. Mr. Blackbourne said I could have died! I will never, not ever go to sleep again.

But really, he doesn't have to bother with breakfast. I'm fine without it... Nervously, I push my finger at my lip. "It would be not trouble, Miss Sorenson, really. I was planning on having some myself anyway." Well, if he's sure...

- Yes, please, if you're sure it's no trouble.

"I'm sure it is. Would you like to change? You're room is right next to this bathroom, the kitchen is just down the stairs at the end of the hall. I trust you'll find everything?" I nod rapidly and he leaves. A moment later Max pads in. I hug him. He saved me. If it hadn't been for him, Mr. Blackbourne wouldn't have come and I might have died, he said so.