The Winged

20- Blame

It was the sound that roused me. Ringing in a muffled echo like some sort of... siren. As if someone was screaming into both my ears, then all of that noise was exploding inside my head and making everything hurt. Well, almost everything— there was a strange numbness tingling in the tips of my fingers where I didn't feel anything at all.

My throat seemed to be as dry as the leaves that crinkled on the forest floor, yet my head felt sticky and wet, with sweat or blood. Maybe both. I didn't know. All that I could understand was that I couldn't see, or for that matter, feel anything. At least, not in my arms or legs. Yet what I most certainly could do, was hear.

The strange tinnitus, still ringing inside of my head, wouldn't let me rest. Getting louder and louder, it just wouldn't fade, as if refusing me the thoughtless dozing that I longed to sink back into. I groaned, or rather, I tried to. The only sound that I could draw out was a feeble breath. Slowly, I became aware that there was pressure being taken away from all the points on my body, leaving me in a floaty daydream.
"Azure!"
There was a feeling. On me. On my shoulders?

I realised that I could move my arms and legs again. Whatever weight had been pinning me down had left me now- been removed? Not that I was about to try to move my aching limbs. Whoever had freed me was most likely the one causing this new sensation on my shoulders...
"Azure, come on!"
I let out another groggy murmur, voice projecting a little stronger this time. I... knew that voice. A high-pitched sound. Somehow still bearing the slightest hint of sweetness despite the distressed edge to the words. Whoever it was sounded anxious, scared even.
And it was making the floaty thoughts that had engulfed me fall away.
A flat, stone-cold surface began to tickle my back as the voice continued to interrupt my peace. The floor. That was the feel of stone beneath me. Was I laying down?
"Azure please!" The voice shrieked again, pressure intensifying on my shoulders.

I was asleep. My eyes were shut, so I had to be, right? Or at least, I wasn't awake.

The voice was pulling me out of the strange slumber, but I didn't want to wake up. The voice was flooding memories back into my empty head, memories and thoughts that I didn't want to think about. The voice was familiar... unsettled and urgent. And as much as I tried to keep my eyes shut, the voice just wouldn't leave. Laying in serene silence was so much easier than facing what I had left behind when I passed out. I exhaled softly, eyes beginning to sting. That's right... I passed out. I could remember that much now. But why?
Oh, I moaned. I didn't want to remember, it made my heart hurt. Sleeping was so much easier. Why couldn't 'the voice' just let me rest?

I wanted to simply lay still on the cold forever, but there was an unmistakable urgency, a desperate edge to the boy's yelling that was calling me back into the world.
Oh. It was a boy's voice? A young boy, in fact. And he was calling me...
I knew that I couldn't run from what was waiting for me. Eventually, I would have to wake up and face the world. With great difficultly, I tried to surface from the depths of the darkness that I had slipped into.

There was a bright luminance spilling into my already burning eyes. Dazzled, I could only blink.
Someone above me gave a gasp, "Oh! Thank goodness..."
I tried to find them through all my wincing and let out another breath, chest feeling weighted. Ow... why did every inch of me feel so sore?

Through my blurry vision, I could see that there was a figure kneeling over me. By ignoring the blaring lights and the hazy mist of my irises, I could make out a pair of purplish spots in the centre of a blurry outline, crowned by a droplet of black.
I knew those eyes, that tumbly hair... and I knew the voice that went with them too.

"Micah?" I whispered through cracked lips. Slowly but surely, my consciousness was returning.
As my vision cleared, his face eventually came into focus. Micah- all those clouded shapes and colours were coming together to form the little boy.
It didn't take much effort from me to make out the relief that his face melted into, halfway between a smile and a frown as he leant over my unmoving body.
The boy gave a hurried nod, smiling hopefully, "Yeah, yeah it's me!"