Beep.
I turned my head at the sound, its resonance recognizable.Deep in the pit of sleep I seemed to have fallen into, its incessant noise was less of an irritant and more of a salvation, a link to wherever I’d come from.
A link to who I was.
Whatever was making that noise, and wherever it originated from, that was where I needed to get back to.
Beep.
Lifting my hand in front of my face, I could just make out my palm in the gray mists.The fog in those barren parts had a life of its own, a malevolent and encroaching beast that grasped for my ankles and tried to trip me, but even its intensity wasn’t sufficient to blind me.
“I’m still alive, then.”My fingers grazed my temples, the deed comforting as I wandered on.“Not gone forever.”
Alive.
The word jarred.
I had reasons to be alive, didn’t I?
Someone was supposed to be with me.
Someone important.But who?
Beep.
“Adam.”
My name echoed from somewhere far away in the guise of a female’s voice, and though I spun to greet its owner, there was no evidence of her in the shifting shadows.
“Adam, können Sie mich hören?Can you hear me?”
“Yes!”I called out, hoping my voice would travel through the thick fog to whatever lay beyond its insidious reach.
“Adam!”The cry was shriller that time, melding into the next beep as it came.“Adam, wake up.”
“I’m trying to.”Turning in a circle, I thrust my fist through the gloom, reaching for anything I could sense there, but there was nothing.Nothing but the low-level panic stirring inside me.If there was help waiting in the murk, then why the hell couldn’t they hear me?“I’m here!”
Beep.
“Lass uns Englisch sprechen.”Her voice came in German again, but her instruction that they speak English was wasted.I was managing the translation with ease.“Maybe English will help to rouse him.”
“Vitals are good.”Another voice that time, another woman; the sound of her voice whipped around me like a cold breeze.“Some response to painful stimulus.”
Pain?I straightened at that idea, cognizant that discomfort had played some part in bringing me to that dark place.
“Reduce the dosage of sedative.”The first voice was contemplative.“Let’s see how he responds.”
Beep.
How I respond?
Looking to the smoggy sky, I wanted to scream with frustration.I’d been staggering around in the haze, aware of no one except the occasional phantom, yet abruptly, there were people apparently willing to pull me from the gloom.However loudly I called out, though, they didn’t seem to hear me.
Dread rose within me, ballooning from my stomach and traveling north, threatening to cut off my air supply.If they couldn’t hear me, what did that mean?
Would I be trapped in the desolate wasteland for eternity?
“No!”I screamed that time, falling to my knees as the simple task of holding up my own head became suddenly intolerable.
