I try to follow the voice, but it's a million miles away, and my limbs won't carry me.
I need to get to her. I need to go back. How do I go back?
“Hey, take it easy.”
My eyes flutter at the familiar voice and do their best to open.
White. Everything is white.
Blinding like a hospital, but it’s not a hospital. I’m in a room with a small TV mounted on the wall above a sleek, black dresser. There are large windows everywhere, floor-to-ceiling, and the blinding light is from the sun filtering in through the window.
I hear the beeping now, a little louder, closer. A heart monitor, showcasing the uptick of my heart.
“Where am I?” I groan, trying to sit up, but it’s all so heavy. That metronome grows louder, faster.
“Hey, hey, take it easy. You’re safe.”
“Sabrina.” I hum, turning my head to the voice and peek into piercing dark brown eyes that seem to penetrate into your soul. I don'trecognize this person. I try to shift away, but I'm restrained. “Bri!” It's a garbled scream, causing my own ears to ring. Exploding lights flash behind my lids, and I throw my head back.
Rory lifts her little five-year-old hands, tears in her big brown eyes, red hair matted to her rounded, freckled cheeks where she’s been crying since I told my siblings I was leaving. “Please come back. Please don’t leave me alone with Mama too long.”
Another flash.
No. No.
I can't be there again.
The rate of the beeping climbs, but in my mind I'm tumbling….
It's a chopper going down…
Grasping at nothing, moving too slow… can’t… Can’t. Get. Out…
Doooowwnnnnn
A failed chanted prayer—
Flash
It's a bomb.
The heat of a building.
Fire claws at me.
Children scream in a language I don't know.
But I know fear.
“Get them out!”
It's hot.
So hot.
Flames lap at my back.
Can’t. breathe…
