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RVA: Shadow of Doubt, Renewal
May. 11th, 2016 01:42 pmShe didn’t so much wake up as start swimming. Not that she’d ever been in a body of water larger than a bathtub, but it felt like swimming, or rather what she imagined swimming underwater would feel, in darkness, pressure all around her, crushing her, unable to breathe. The surface had to be somewhere, but she’d lost the way. She panicked and flailed wildly, but creatures grabbed her by the arms and legs, pinning her to the soft sand of the ocean floor until she slept again.
She woke, swam, felt herself begin to drown again. But each time it felt as if the surface was a little closer, the light a little brighter.
After a long time, she found herself laying on the shore, too exhausted to move. Vague shadows of people passed near her, but the sun was too bright to make them out. They spoke to her, but their voices were too weak to be heard above the roar of the surf.
Eventually some of the shadows became clearer. The ones in white she didn’t like very much. They made her stand and try to walk, catching her as she fell over and over again. They kept asked questions and she couldn't’ make out what they were saying. She tried to tell them this, tell them she how tired she was, but her tongue was stiff and stupid in her mouth, and all she could do was babble and drool like a newborn cub, the frustration of trying so hard making her weep.
There was another shape that was almost always near when she was awake. It was tall and spare, dressed in shades of blue. When they were near she was able to calm down, pay attention to white shapes’ demands with more patience. That shape wanted to help her, she knew.
Gradually, the shapes became people. Some she knew, like the nice lady in blue, and the ones with the black and white fur. But she couldn’t remember their names, couldn’t form the words to ask, and the frustration of trying and failing over and over made her growl and weep like a child, until dreamless sleep came again.
Then one evening, finally, she woke up all the way.
( Rip Van Ali )
She woke, swam, felt herself begin to drown again. But each time it felt as if the surface was a little closer, the light a little brighter.
After a long time, she found herself laying on the shore, too exhausted to move. Vague shadows of people passed near her, but the sun was too bright to make them out. They spoke to her, but their voices were too weak to be heard above the roar of the surf.
Eventually some of the shadows became clearer. The ones in white she didn’t like very much. They made her stand and try to walk, catching her as she fell over and over again. They kept asked questions and she couldn't’ make out what they were saying. She tried to tell them this, tell them she how tired she was, but her tongue was stiff and stupid in her mouth, and all she could do was babble and drool like a newborn cub, the frustration of trying so hard making her weep.
There was another shape that was almost always near when she was awake. It was tall and spare, dressed in shades of blue. When they were near she was able to calm down, pay attention to white shapes’ demands with more patience. That shape wanted to help her, she knew.
Gradually, the shapes became people. Some she knew, like the nice lady in blue, and the ones with the black and white fur. But she couldn’t remember their names, couldn’t form the words to ask, and the frustration of trying and failing over and over made her growl and weep like a child, until dreamless sleep came again.
Then one evening, finally, she woke up all the way.
( Rip Van Ali )
