Fear and confusion were the first things she felt when she fell. When the bubble of her old world popped, she was being suffocated by icy water. It dragged her down into its depths, throwing her like a rag doll wherever it felt. Right before she ran out of breath, she slammed into a pier support, nearly knocking her unconscious. Gripping the pier, the used the last of her strength to crawl up (or what she hoped was up) until she broke through the surface of the water, only to be knocked under again. Still maintaining a fierce grip on the beam, she inched back up again and gasped for air. She couldn’t tell if the water was colder than the air as her lungs prickled with icy thorns. Her limbs were heavy and her mind muddled, but all she knew was that she needed to stay above the water. Her eyelids drooped, but she remained clinging to beam, whether by the last of her strength or because her arms were frozen in a position she didn’t know, but she didn’t get submerged under the black waters again.
When her eyes peeled open, the sky was still dark, but it was slowly lightening up. The water around her was much calmer than before but still had a strong current. She couldn’t feel anything below her neck, but her face was burning from the cold. Her limbs detached themselves from the beam and she felt herself sinking into the water. Fear coursed through her system again, making her non-existent limbs move. She really hoped she still had arms and legs--she couldn’t feel them and her neck was too stiff to look down. Apparently, she still did because she broke the surface again, though this time she was bobbing down the river.
She forced her body to move towards the shore, urging her burning lungs to just make it a few more seconds, and then a few more, and then a few more, until she finally felt something hit against her numb legs. Struggling out of the water, she crawled out onto the crunchy snow along the water’s edge. She lay there, her mind slowly fogging over and sleep whispering sweet things.
Her body was suddenly lifted into the air by a pair of arms, but she couldn’t tell whose. She didn’t care; she was just so tired. If she just slept for a little bit, she’d feel a lot better.
“Don’t you dare close those eyes!”
The voice seemed so far away and sleep seemed so close.
“Dammit!”
Her eyes drifted shut. She was already feeling so nice.
Fire suddenly flared in her torso, and then in her legs. She screamed for it to stop, but the hands that carried her were putting molten lava on her. It was too hot, too hot! She liked it better when she couldn’t feel her arms and legs, now she was in pain! Hadn’t she felt enough pain?
“Just hang on, just keep those there until I get you to the hospital.”
Why was the voice doing bad things to her? Didn’t they know they were hurting her? She struggled in the arms of the voice. She heard it curse, but didn’t care. They were making her feel like she was on fire and she didn’t like it. She screamed until they let go. They were in a small space so she couldn’t escape, by the voice grabbed her and held her roughly, stopping her movements. The voice raised her out of whatever they had been in and ran her into a building. The building was made out of fire!
She kept screaming that it hurt, but other voices took her arms and legs and held her down. They put her in a bed and strapped her down, covering her in things that made her burn even more. She hated the voices and what they were doing to her! Her lungs and stomach and chest were too hot! She struggled and struggled, but no one came to her rescue.
“Are you sure this is the easiest way?” The first voice asked. “She was screaming the whole way here. Can we just ease her into regular temperature using a bath?”
Another voice, a lighter one, responded.
“We’re using the room temperature patches to get her to normal temperature, but considering her state of hypothermia she’s lucky she’s alive. What exactly was she doing?”
“She crawled out of the river.”
“What?”
“Crawled right out of the river. I just happened to be watching the sunrise when I saw her there.”
She was feeling a little better now. The burning was better, more like being too close to a fire rather than actually on fire. She tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, but the straps restrained her. The voices seemed to have noticed and came to her.
“Hey honey, my name is nurse Katy. Are you feeling better?”
She nodded. The liked Katy’s voice. Katy untied her limbs from the bed too. She really liked Katy.
“Can you tell me your name?”
This voice came from the person that took her out of the river.
“My name is Inspector Roger Smith. I’m the one that took you here. What is your name?”
She wasn’t a bit fan of the Inspector’s voice; it was too gruff and not nice at all like Katy’s. She tried to open her mouth, but only a squeak came out. She tried again, but a louder squeak escaped.
“Let me get you some water honey. I’ll be right back.”
Katy strolled away quickly, whispering under her breath “poor thing.”
“Are you the package?”
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