EDGE OF DAY

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Her whole world blazed as if she'd just reentered the universe through the sun. In the distance, a voice screamed and screamed. Some part of her mind knew it was her, yet she still had no sense of where she was, who she was. She was travelling through oceans of fire, endless and vast.

It lasted an eternity, wishing only for death and the end, when thunder cracked her body, and the overwhelming heat and brightness collapsed. She grew aware of her head, arms, and legs. She could feel her back on something cool and scratchy. The light against her eyelids was as bright as the sun, but she blinked and forced her eyes open. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Her body stung and trembled.

Someone wrapped a coarse around her shoulders. She was picked up and lain on a soft, luminescent bed. A cool breeze drifted over her body, a balm against the physical horrors of cryo-suspension. Blood trickled through her veins. Her heart beat more firmly in her chest. Her skin tingled with a pleasant sense of aliveness.

"There we go." 

She blinked, straining to focus on the man who'd spoken. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a hard jaw-line. A name popped into her head: Will. But she didn't know anything else about him. Or herself for that matter.

"It's something isn't it?" he said. "The disorientation is really something. Can't imagine what someone who's been in there for forty years must feel like."

"Where am I?" she said, but her words were a jumble of sound.

"Hold on." Will moved around to stand at her side. Something sharp seared the back of her throat. She coughed, and felt herself choking. Her muscles contracted to push out a slimy, thick worm in her windpipe. Once part of it dangled from her mouth, Will pulled the rest. It hurt. She gurgled and spluttered, and sagged with relief when the tube was fully dispatched with.

"How's the tingling?"

"Like pins and needled."

Will leaned over the luminescent healing pod, and picked up her foot. He kneaded the sole with his fingers, going slowly up her calf to her knee.

The strain in her chest eased and her shoulders and neck muscles relaxed. His hands seemed to work miracles. She couldn't think of anything but how good it felt. By the time he'd finished her whole body seemed to be hers again. She could feel the plastic, jelly knickers and breast-tube sucking at her skin. Anticipating what she wanted, Will presented a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a grey t-shirt.

"I'll be next door," he said. "Let me know when you're done."

She sat up, crossing her arms over her chest. A bit late for modesty, but still.

As the door closed behind will, a memory flashed on her inner eye.

Her mother dabbed her knee with a liquid. The burning sting made her eyes water, but she wanted to be brave, because her mother treated her as though she were brave, because her mother's pride had seeped into her and made her strong.

The memory was like a switch, triggering a download of everything. The last couple of days were the clearest. But she remembered those weeks in the Boulder house with Ed too, and dozens of impressions from her childhood. It was like her identity had been rebooted. Everything, except the last two years.

She struggled with the rubber tube hugging her breasts, finally managed to rip it off, and replaced it with a sports bra. She rolled off the knickers, put on boxer shorts, and slipped the light trousers over her legs.

Will entered as she was tying her trainers.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded.