33

The gentle swish, swish, of something outside of my consciousness brings me around, and warm fluttering heat that seems to be growing over my back, heels, skull, and legs, as my limbs tingle back to life, and I start to cough. Not warm enough to heat my lifeless corpse and the inner block of ice that is my organs.

My body wracks with the sudden crack of a violent choking fit that fully wakens me because it hurts like hell as though there’s a fire in my lungs. My eyes flutter open, through the hazy fog of a headache that’s awful, to the point I’m nauseous with it, and my body feels like it doesn’t belong to me.

My fingers flinch of their own accord, and the sudden sensation of smooth yet also rough and damp textured balls pull my eyes to where I can feel it. Blinking, fluttering my lashes until my hand comes into focus, and I realize it’s laid on gravel and sand, mixed. Wet, shiny, tiny stones and pebbles smothered in grittiness. My fingert