“ I felt as though something was watching my every move.”
was my body aching? With my hands behind me, propping up my body, I could feel my muscles straining. The floor was a deep brown, moisture sinking into the ground and pooling somewhere deep below. A weight seemed to push on my chest, my hands giving way and slipping deeper into the wet earth. The grime covered up my fingers, dirt crawling underneath my fingernails. I could feel small splinters embedding themselves into my calloused hands.
With a huff, I finally willed my torso upright. Wincing, I felt a sharp stab of soreness work its way up through my spine. Maybe it was the nap on the floor. My neck hurt, too, especially when I turned it in just the right direction to the left. It must have been the nap; my neck always hurt like this when I slept oddly. Plus, who knows how long I had been laying here.
Looking all around me, I tried to find the portal to the outside world. As beautiful as it was, I knew I couldn’ t nap here forever. Slowly, I stood, uneasy on my own feet. Grasping a stem for support, I let it hold up my weight until I could safely stand. It was smooth against my skin, and about as thick around as my muscled upper arms. My hand fell back down to my side as I apprehensively eyed the rest of the bush.
Taking uneven and slightly pained steps forward, I found the plant was much larger than I had thought. The flowers and leaves continued on, painting a never-ending picture of foliage. Taking no mind to this, I
38 pressed on, feeling as though my body was filling with weakness rather than strength. The longer I walked, the more drained I began to feel. My arms and legs ached from the short, sporadic walk. Never before had I been unable to keep up with this pace. I always was an athletic person, well, at least not a couch potato.
“ I felt as though something was watching my every move.”
Passing a heavy breath through my lips, I only now began to notice how frigid the air was. I could see my breath; the cold stung my extremities. Odd, from the moment I awoke, the air had felt warm and inviting, like the sun’ s rays on a nice, autumn day. The longer I walked on, the more biting the air became.
I felt as though something was watching my every move. The sudden weight from before closed in around me, choking me. The heaviness settled around my neck, right up against my windpipe. I couldn’ t swallow; I couldn’ t call out. Panic raced through my limbs as my hands grasped at the invisible force at my throat, trying to pry off whatever it was. My hands connected with my own skin, and the harder I fought, the less I could breathe.
Sinking down onto my knees, surely ruining my jeans, I gave up on fighting this force. Immediately, all the weight lifted off of