this was for the start of a story that I never finished lmao but I thought I'd upload it bc I LIKE it
It takes approximately 2 minutes for someone to drown. 2 minutes to lose consciousness, that is, and then a lot longer for the brain to shut off completely. But 2 minutes is a long time when your life is flashing before your eyes.
All I can see is darkness. The sunlight glistens slightly above the water, but it's too far above to reach me here. I've given in to it, let the ice cold waters immobilise me more with every second. I feel the reeds pulling me down and dragging on my ankles, as the merciless fingers of the lake finally grab on to me, fingers that turn into twisted arms to envelop me in their icy embrace.
Screams made underwater will never reach the surface, and he will never hear my pleas. He will never hear these words I want to say, he can't see my face for the last time, and I will never be able to touch any human body again except my own. I'm frozen to the core, but in the heart where it really matters I am still alive. But not for long. My lips were always dry and chapped, and now I feel the scream snaking it's way out of them, trying to swim up in the waters, but not being able to quite make it.
90 Seconds
I have to close my eyes, because the water is beginning to blind me. It stings, and I begin to see him everywhere. This is his fault, he led himself to insanity. The voices, they never stopped in his head. I see his deranged eyes and his screaming mouth, warping into cruel words that I can barely remember. His face multiplies until there are tens of thousands of them, all shouting and screaming and crying in a language I cannot understand.
60 Seconds
There is a hazy light drifting towards me, and I smile as I realise. It's coming to save me. I'm going to live! I will survive, and then I can finally see my family and apologise for everything I have done. But as the haze slowly drifts towards me, I realise it is not coming to save me, it is a demon. A demon coming to haunt me until my last breath. Is this what his demons looked like?
30 Seconds
People say your life flashes before your eyes when you die. But it's not happening for me. I guess I will have to conjure it up for myself. I don't have any early memories, except one. The earliest thing I remember is this screaming, my mother I think, and then this unbelievable calm, this silence, this beautiful light. Not the nicest memory, but that's all I remember.
A small opening cracks it's way into my consciousness. It's a small one that grows with every second, before bright white light begins to envelop all my vision until I can no longer see. I know I have seconds left, and I let myself accept it, falling into the light..
I hit something big and flat, landing on my back. I open my eyes very slowly; all I see is white. But I know one thing.
They're coming.
I can see their figures through the frosted glass door, all white. There must be at least 10, although I can't make them out too well. I go over my options; there must be something I can do to get rid of them. Anything.
I look down at myself - there may be something in my pockets? But as I see what I'm wearing, a small groan emits from the bottom of my throat - I'm wearing plain white trousers, and a plain white t shirt - they seem to fit perfectly, and cling to my skin.
As I stand next to the door, I turn around and asess my surroundings. I'm in a small, cold, white room. No windows, decorations or furniture of any kind. Except... a bright white chair in the middle of the room. I could have sworn it wasn't there just now - I could use that t-
I feel a sharp pain all through my back as the door slams into me, catching me off guard as I hit the floor.
They're here.
And they're dragging me up now, two of them, into the center of the room and onto the chair. I pull against the figures holding me down to the chair, but they only tighten their grip.
I have to face him.
As my vision clears, I take a look at the figure standing a few feet in front of me.
I try to shout out, but nothing will leave my mouth.
He - it - has a completely white face. And I mean completely; a humanoid figure in a coat, like a doctor's, that covers it's entire body - with a blank face.
It takes one step towards me and falls straight through the floor. It would be comical if it wasn't for how terrified I am; I feel my wrists released and instantly look to my right. I see that the figures restraining me have disappeared as well. The bright lights are like cold knives, cutting into me. I know I have to get out.
I am about to push myself up off the chair when the bright white lighting shuts out, enveloping me in the even colder darkness, and I begin to panic. I jump off the chair and begin to walk backwards - I can no longer see a light from the door.
My back hits something flat once again and before I can register what's happening I'm falling, falling through space. I try to scream but again nothing comes out - the drowning sensation becomes more prominent and I feel like I'm weightless...
I close my eyes, waiting for something, anything. Waiting to hit the ground. Or do I continue like this forever? Just falling through nothingness?
And then I start to see him.
His face, imprinting itself into my very consciousness, into my emotions, into me.
And then I hit the ground.
But it isn't hard, it's soft.
And fluffy, and sort of comfortable?
If this is what death feels like, it's not as bad as I imagined.
