Touch in the Worlds - Return to the Beyond

17: Breathe

No, guys, T isn't dead...

I wouldn't kill her and have her wake up back in her own world...again...or would I?

*insert evil laughter*

***

Touch.

Skin was the first organ that regained control.

The icy cold of sea water gripped at me, licking and nipping at my arms and neck and shoulders. I was coasting away a few feet below the surface of the water. My eyes stayed closed, my nose and ears shut while I tried to deliberate if dying was better or not.

Would I wake up in a hospital back home again?

How many times could I keep this up until the Universe got tired of me and just let me stay dead?

Did I even want to find out?

Even as I began to regain the ability to think, I felt the water currents move around me. A large powerful body swam towards me, cutting the waves to make room for it.

The dark shape sank downtill it was just below me and then it begun to rise. My body curled around ashaggy furry thing as it swam up, paddling towards the shore. 

My head broke the water surface first, cold air hitting me but nothing else happened. My senses still stayed stubbornly in shut down mode while whatever had saved me, climbed up onto the rocks lining the cliffs where I'd fallen from.

I was rolled over onto the rocks to my back and then some of my hearing returned to me.

It wasn't very good though, it seemed like I was listening to everything while my head was wrapped in a plastic bag.

"Tulika...?"

A dark shape bent over me, voice familiar and worried.

Someone gripped my shoulder, shaking me ever so slightly.

"Come on, champ, you got to breathe."

I want to. My body won't let me, I thought.

Wet hair was pushed away from my neck as someone pressed down on the side of my throat. They picked up my frozen hands and began to rub them, fast and jerky.

"Tulika, you need to breathe."

There was a pause as another someone joined us. This shape was larger, also familiar but I still couldn't process who it was.

"She needs a hospital, Jake. She fell nearly 50 ft."

50 feet...

That didn't seem right...I knew the chances of surviving a fall that high were slim. So why was I still alive?

"I know, I know, I just want..."

He didn't finish saying what he wanted before someone placed a large hand across my chest, pressing down and them moving the hand up to my throat. Wetness collected near my lips.

It tasted salty and musty, disgusting. I would've thrown up if I could get my body to work.

"Damn it, T, I need you to breathe." A spew of profanitiesfollowed and then a shock wave hit my body, jerking me up. "Open your damn eyes, Tulika. Come on!" Another shockwave and thisone hit right at home.