Slanted

Feet pound on the cracked pavement. My vision is slanted, like when you drop a camera on its side and all you can see is a sideways view of the ground in front of you. So that’s what I see, what I remember: feet on a cracked pavement. Sneakers, actually. Nike brand, with the swoosh occupying the whole right side. They’re dusty, just like everything else in this town. Dusty, dry, and desperate. The legs attached to the sneakers are muscular and tan, which means he’s probably a fast runner. That’s good, fast is what I need right now.

            I remember my heart beating loud in my ears. Growing slower as I stare at the crack in the road. Slow motion. I think my head was pounding too. I think there was pain. And the world tilted, blurred. I don’t think I could breath. And my world collapses from the outside, darkness blotting out everything I know. Until all I can see is the crack.

            After the dark, my eyes close. I go limp, unconscious on my side with my arms and legs curved around me. I’m a bird, watching from above. I’m a fly, I’m a plane.

I’m an angel. Or something.

The runner returns. I see dark hair, strong arms reaching for me.

            Everything went dark again, so suddenly I would have jumped, if only I had been conscious. There was a slamming sound, so loud I could feel it in my bones. It echoed…

 

            That’s all there was, all I can remember. No matter how hard I wrack my brains, nothing else comes. My eyes trace the smooth metal ceiling, focusing hard. There’s a solution, there has to be. But nothing is forthcoming. A metal dome, flat and grey. I’m wearing some kind of black sports-bra, and black shorts that remind me of my volleyball spandex. My body is scrubbed clean. The scar on my leg from going cliff diving has disappeared. The familiar freckle on my knee is no more.

            I feel like I’ve been robbed. This room, my clothes, my body leaves nothing, no clues, no memories of… Yesterday? Last week? Last year? Could I have been in a coma, recovering from… that thing? That thing that I cannot recall, no matter how hard I try? My mind hungers for information. I pace restlessly.

            And then, I am not alone.

            Not quite as alone. Because now there is something on the wall, a something that wasn’t there before. A hole, reinforced by glass, has appeared where a moment ago was only grey.  I approach it cautiously, like I forgot how to trust as well.

            A metal dome. For a moment I am so incredibly disappointed, but then something else comes into view.

            I recognize those legs. Those feet. The top of that head, those strong arms that reached for my, to save me, before the darkness shut down.

            An eye appears. Soft brown, streaked with gold.

           

Memories flood.