Drift

Chapter 5

Lia is telling this story now, and no longer I. It's hers to tell, at this point. Certainly not mine.

  ~~~ 

I snapped awake.

Water??

"Haahh!!" I shrieked, sputtering water from my mouth. 

I was in water. Freezing cold water. It had to be below zero. I immediately started to tread so as to keep afloat. I looked to my left and my right for the yacht as I struggled to stay above the surface, but I couldn't see anything whatsoever. A sudden wave of panic shot through my entire body, hitting the hardest in my chest and head, like a shot of pure adrenaline. My kicking feet felt the same way. As if someone had just injected pure adrenaline into them. Now that I think about it, it probably actually was adrenaline. 

All I knew was that it was quiet and still. Disturbingly soundless. No sound of wind, water, birds, fish, voices, or anything. And the water, aside from the disturbance I had caused it from struggling, was flawlessly glassy. Perfectly smooth.

My eyes darted around, looking to find if I could see anything farther than three feet away. I couldn't see. I couldn't see anything at all. Nothing. There was nothing but freezing, dark, grey and black fog, slowly shifting and churning, engulfing me. I wanted to scream, but I didn't know where I was or what had happened. I could hardly see my own hand in front of my face. Where are the others? I wondered. Where's Ben? What if there were pirates or something like in Captain Phillips? I panicked to myself. Okay, that's just ridiculous, I thought. 

As I kicked and pushed against the flat water, I noticed a searing pain. Many searing pains, actually. The shock of waking up where I was had prevented me from noticing, but now it was all kicking in. I realized that my the right side of my head was killing me. I lifted my right arm to feel my face with my numb fingers, and let out a loud high pitched groan when realizing that my arm was either really badly sprained or broken. All I knew was that there were chunks of flesh missing, and my forearm appeared slightly bowed. The cold salt water aided the shock factor in preventing me from feeling anything immediately. 

I noticed I felt several other parts of my body did not feel as they should, but as bad as some of the pain was, I tried my best to avoid thinking about any of it. Yes, I needed to do something about my wounds, but first I needed to get out of the water. I didn't need to see anything to know that I was swimming in a compound of salt water and my own blood.

I then began wondering what monsters there were in the water right below me. Maybe right next to me. Maybe there was a shark charging for me at this exact moment, following the trail of my blood from the mystery injuries. Maybe there was a Megaladon coming up to me from beneath to swallow me whole, like on the "Jaws" poster. Maybe this terrifying place is where those mythical things hide from people. Was I about to die? Worse, was I about to die a painful, grueling death... alone? Which second would be my last?

These thoughts raced through my head. Agony shot through my body. Tears ran down my face as I felt as if there were screams all around me... that I didn't hear... yet... I did. Conversations that were old and ones that were new... some even familiar... all ringing every so slightly, like the lingering tune of a tuning fork that's been hit on something. Voices, people, faces, sounds, clothing, buildings, fields, forests, animals... none of which I had ever seen before. 

Wars. Blood, gore, and rain. Eyes and noses burning from the smoke of guns and cannons. Yes, cannons. I heard the screams of soldiers shot, dropping down to the mud, covered in sweat, blood, tears, and clods of dirt, weeds, and grass. And I heard the cries of their friends who had just watched it from 2 feet away. Barks and growls of grey dogs the size of bears in bladed Roman armor, running underneath horses and disemboweling them. Yelps. Horses thundering hoof beats... snorting and whinnying... soldiers, weapons, and armors from a time and place that I did not recognize.