Run Away With Me

My memories seemed muddled, I remembered hitting something very hard with my back, and sliding along. It didn't seem like a slide or something downwards, more like flat ground with somebody dragging me along.

I remembered somebody screaming. It was so loud I wanted to cover my ears but one of my hands felt a bit funny. So did my legs. I wondered if somebody was sitting on them, thats what it felt like.

"He's dying!" Somebody screamed. They were screaming it like a mantra and I wondered if they were talking about me. Was I dying? I didn't see my life flash, I just felt, strange. Like I was part sand. My eyelids were definitely sand, they felt so heavy and gritty.

"Be quiet!" The person was screaming, and I felt a bit woozy. I wished they'd be quiet. If my eyes had been open, I would have closed them. I was very, very tired all of a sudden.

People were suddenly picking me up and the pain burst like flowers of fire all over my body. I tried to open my mouth and scream, but my lips were glued together and no muscle in my body moved. I felt like I was trapped in a cocoon.

"Help!" My internal voice screamed silently. "Oh God please help me!"

The pain was so bad my whole body seemed to be tearing itself apart. It was more than anything I'd ever felt before. Everything closed in on me and peace settled for a while.

***

I awoke later. But I didn't really awake. My eyes didn't open, though I tried my hardest to make them. I tried to wriggle my toes and I couldn't. I tried to lift my left leg, then my right, but I couldn't. I tried to lift my right arm but I couldn't, I tried to twitch my left arm but I couldn't. I tried to roll my neck and I couldn't.

I thought to myself: Alright Frank, don't panic.

But for some reason, that seemed irrelevant. I wasn't going to panic. I knew that. I was in a bubble of numbness and the world didn't exist.