Born Again
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BEEP....BEEP....BEEP
Water.
All around me.
If the deep is an oxymoron of fulfilling emptiness then the ocean is a mighty queen. It doesn’t need to beg, my body goes unwillingly. This is fate described by the ancient Greeks, a tragedy. There’s no rising out of the ashes for me.
I am suspended, helpless, as the cold, murky substance gushes into my ear and out the other. Wave after wave thrashes against my fragile body. I am tossed to and fro.
My nose burns and my eyes see only the dark expanse, it’s so well blended into the night. I feel so tiny. This is nature verses human, and we both know how that goes down.
My legs kick out frantically. My arms wade through the thick, dark mass of liquid. My hand grasps onto a smooth object. A buoy? No, just debris. It’s so cold. So dark. I can’t see a thing.
My tongue tastes a familiar metallic tang. I’m bleeding out. I’m bleeding in. The unrelenting pressure feels like thousands of pinpricks against me. I’m being battered. My dress weighs heavily on me like a Titan is dragging me down to the depths of the abyss.
The savage sea intends to bury me. It won’t be long before I’m another one of its young tributes. But then, just for a second, I hear sound.
It’s a very minute sound but it’s getting closer every passing moment.
Before I’m submurged underwater again, I hear them.
Someone’s screaming.
Someone’s crying.
Someone’s bellowing my name in what I can only describe as anguish.
My heart answers to that voice by squeezing in complete and utter pain.
Goodbye, forever love, my conscience utters words I don’t know. Discreetly, like it’s keeping a secret from me.
Before I can scream, I’m thrown under again, so deep that my lungs burn.
My precious oxygen leaves me in puffs of bubbles and joins the surface.
A numbing tingle travels up my spine. The recesses of my memory begin to fade.
I welcome the dark.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
The sound of mechanical whirring pierces through my foggy brain.
My eyelids flutter open.
I’m welcomed to a blurry image. All I know is that it’s no longer dark. Fragments of light seep through the haze.
Someone is breathing heavily.
It doesn’t take long to realise it’s me. Gasping uncontrollably. Someone is rubbing my back. Someone is shouting for the doctor.
There’s so much noise. So much activity. But everything’s so fuzzy.
‘It’s alright, baby girl, steady breaths,’ a deep voice says.
I turn towards the voice. My breathing slowing. My vision clearing. Seated on a chair besides me is a middle aged man. His gentle eyes surrounded by laugh lines is now creased in concern. His orbs are the colour of chocolate sundaes. I feel a deep familiarity and fondness to him. Like he’s seen a part of me no one else has.
It’s only then that I realise I’m on a bed.
‘Where am I?’ I croak. My voice sounds sore, unused.
‘You’re in a hospital, darling.’
Hospital? I scan the room. Muted yellow walls and a sterile floor greets me. I catch a glimpse of a bouquet of forget-me-nots on the bedside cabinet, with a balloon reading: Get well soon, Ashlynn.
My mind flashes me a glimpse of these same flowers, but more elaborate, more blue. Placed in a intricately carved vase, with seashells on the side.
These are my favourite flowers... I think?
‘Who’s Ashlynn?’ I mutter, my voice barely a whisper.
The chair besides me squeaks piercingly as the man abruptly stands. His eyes are wide, in shock? He runs his hand repeatedly through his dark hair. For some reason I want to reassure him, but just then a flurry of nurses make their way to me.
They check my vitals, my throat, my head. They feed me some meds and I’m back to sleep again.
When I awake again it’s darker. I’m in the same room. The man who was here earlier is nowhere to be seen. In his place is a lady in a white coat and plaid skirt. Her head is tilted down, her focus on the clipboard on her lap.
‘Hello,’ I cringe at the way my voice scratches my throat.
The lady jolts her head up. Her surprised expression quickly warms into a smile.
‘Hey there, I’m Dr Lana Williams. I’m the lead consultant assigned to you. You’re probably wondering where you are’.
‘I’m in a hospital,’ I say quickly, for some reason wanting to please.
‘That you are,’ she smiles, Before turning serious.
‘Miss Somerville, what is the last thing you remember?’
All I remember is a dream. But even that I can’t focus on. Something to do with water and darkness and a voice.
‘Is that my name?’ I ask instead.
Dr William’s smile turns into sympathy.
‘It is indeed. Miss Somerville, I understand that you must be frightened and feeling lost and very confused right now, so I’m not going to beat around the bush.’
She looks at me expectantly, like she’s waiting for me to fess up that I’m just fibbing, that I know exactly what I’m doing here. When I don’t respond, she sighs.
‘Your name is Ashlynn Somerville. You’ve been in a serious accident in which you almost drowned. You’ve been asleep in this hospital for a very long time, Ashlynn. But our staff have tried their very hardest to produce the best results towards your recovery.’
My mind is a mess. My heart suspended on my next question.
‘How long?’ I whisper.
‘Six months’
Half a year! I missed half a year of my life. This doesn’t make sense!
My heart thuds an erratic rhythm and before I pass out my mind wavers to that kind man with soulful brown eyes.
Who was that man from earlier?
When the Dr replies, I realise I said that out loud.
‘He is Denver Somerville. Your father.’
My mind goes blank. I drift.
