Nothing is ever certain (Part 1)

The braided labyrinth of cringing discomfort gradually begins to ease…ugh…but that putrid taste of water-logged hostility is all the satisfaction these eccentric, aching lungs are going to receive. Choking, drizzled brims are flung ajar to release another fit of grated coughing. Ears pivot backward, seduced by the whet dagger of unfamiliarity. Scrunched features are given seconds to gawk, absorb the bewilderment which mercilessly gnaws into my naïve assumption of how the world is supposed to work. Inked fear and terror strokes my renewed heart to engage when… ...movement... Unsteadily, I throw a sideways look to the source; panicked alarms blare off in my head...stumbling nerves are undone by how those alien colors seem to come alive; contorting – threatening! Gilden pupils, soupy and befuddled, find the energy to sharpen as the shadows converge. Anxious, trembling legs draw inward, pushing their length across the saturated earth into the weeping patchwork beneath the fallen, grubby canopy of sun-kissed pearl. Livid, jeopardized lips draw apart on the cue of memories which serve to remind my instinctual defenses how to act. But that show of meek resistance does nothing to hinder the crowding, repulsive shade. IT attacks before my disdain for this helpless situation gets the chance to find a foothold in the chaotic, slippery screen of emotions… Feebly, I reach for those spools of aged energy; untouched for years. Teeth brandish, gashing together as those brackish fingers tiptoe over me. They withdraw…taunting, sickening my fortitude with uncertainty. "S-s-," wounded, impossible denial – quivering from the dugout of pitifully crafted threats, "stop it!!" The shade races in! Arms elevate to shield me, but their effort is useless...they crash, splash down -never finding contact- and fling sludge in the process. These painted limbs gather beneath me, shying my collapsed frame sideways in a helpless attempt to escape. Molars grind, jerking upward -snapping at the air around me- but that horror doesn't cease, no matter the gash of teeth or internal resistance. While the wild, savage smoke rapes...engorges...demanding compliance...an eruption of hot, pulsing pain washes over my throbbing, tight breast. Writhing...the darkness envelopes my cry and recoil. …too weak to resist... The fear of death didn’t sway me, nor did pain; but this uncertain, alien world... ...it did... Surprisingly, the vile smog retreats from my groaning, shivering carcass. Those quivering spools are absent their magical threads…but life (mine) still resides in this fleshy, mortal body. One shutter peels apart, narrowing on the retreating shadows and the kaleidoscope world through a sideways perspective....A shape...bobbing, wavering in the sobbing, blue green atmosphere. Once more, my head pushes upward. The pale, ghost-like creature begins to move off. One quivering leg pushes itself beneath me, slipping on the mud and jarring the attempt to make it act like a prop, “w-wa w-wait," the soft, rasp of my voice pleads with that retreating shape. Frail glances circle the wooded grove -- expecting my tormentor to return any moment, "p-please…"

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