"THE PROMISE"There was an earthquake.
rescue11.jpg
No… not an earthquake; it had only seemed to her to have been so. Angela shuddered as a jolt of electricity surged through the epicenter of her being, her diaphragm abruptly spasming to life and reflexively inhaling a lungful of air deep into her chest.
Wha…? she murmured amid her confusion as she sensed that she was now somehow in the light, its overwhelming brilliance forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut against it.
Wait… I… I have… eyes? Her lungs continued drawing in air urgently and imperatively, and she felt the need to cough to clear out something that was partially blocking her windpipe.
How… how am I… breathing… again? What’s… happening? Where…? she wondered hazily as her consciousness gradually reasserted itself, along with her sense of physical awareness. A dense heaviness encompassed her chest, forcing her lungs to battle to fill themselves against its weight, and she was as yet unable to move her arms or legs. There was warmth accompanying the light, bathing her face soothingly under its tender caress, and, while she couldn’t be sure, she had the distinct impression that she had just been…
kissed.rescue7.jpg
There was a presence nearby, intimately so, she realized, its arm wrapped tightly around her chest as it held her body close in its embrace. Something interposed itself between her face and the intense brightness above her, eclipsing the light as she hesitantly began to open her eyes. She found herself staring into a human face, its features washed out and obscured by the intensity of the glare that radiated around it like a halo.
“You… you…” she spluttered weakly as she beheld its countenance, for a moment certain that she was looking into her grandfather’s eyes… and then clouds passed before the afternoon sun, dimming its light as her vision continued to clear. The image shifted subtly before her, and she found that she was gazing at a face not from her past… but from her present.
“You…”rescue9.jpg
“Yes,” Jason smiled back at her, gently wiping the remaining muck and ooze away from her face, “I
promised.”
(From my story "'The Girl' (Part 5): Angela's Purgatory.")
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.