Atlantis

Emma

I am dead.

I must be.

But I can't be.

If I was dead I wouldn't be able to feel anything. Or think anything.

But didn't I drown? I felt the water in my lungs and throat and everywhere around me. I remember the darkness. I have to be dead.

But I am not.

I open my eyes slowly, my eyelids heavy. I look around. What?

I lie on a hospital bed, beeping machines and wires surrounding me. Next to me there is a heart monitor, and beyond that I can't see anything because I'm surrounded by a blue paper curtain. David and Sophie are nowhere to be seen. I see. I am in a hospital, obviously. I guess somehow, someone found me half dead at the bottom of the ocean.

I laughed. God, was I sadistic. I wasn't even meant to be alive.

I lay silently for awhile, questions racing through my head. What happened? How? Who? When? The whole thing felt like some fever dream.

Suddenly, a thin and rather pale looking nurse jerked open the paper curtain.

"Oh, you're awake early!" She said. Her voice was bubbly and cheerful. I nodded slowly. There was so much I wanted to ask.

"What-"

"Oh honey, I know you have a lot of questions but I assure you I am not the person to ask. Don't worry, they'll all be answered eventually," said the nurse. I wanted to ask why, but I kept silent. The nurse handed me a metal cup of some thick, dark liquid.

"What's this?" I asked, eyeing the cup.

"Oh! That's just something to help clear your head a little, it's really effective! It'll help you adjust," She said. Her name was Shelly, according to her plastic name tag. I shrugged, gulping down the liquid. I revolted. It tasted vile. I wanted to spit it out, but I forced myself to swallow it. I gave Shelly a weak smile.

"Well, are you feeling better?"

Surprisingly, I did. My head felt lighter and my vision felt sharper. I nodded.

"Great. Are you ready to meet your friends and begin the tour?" She inquired.

"A tour of the hospital?" I laughed meekly at my own lame joke.

"Oh no." She shook her head.

"Forgive me, I realised I forgot to explain," She said, looking into my eyes. I felt a little uneasy. She inhaled sharply, not breaking her stare. Finally, she spoke again.

"Honey, you're in Atlantis,"

I shook my head. 

"What?" I pinched myself. Maybe this was some sort of very realistic lucid dream. But nothing happened, and I probably looked dumbfounded because she repeated the words as sharp as the edge of a knife.

"You're in Atlantis, Emma," My skin tingled slightly at the fact she knew my name. Again, my head was swimming.

"No I'm not," I said, as I finally internalised what she had said a few seconds ago.

"You're in Atlantis, Emma."

She grinned from ear to ear.

"Why don't I show you?" She whispered, beckoning me over with a bony finger. I got out of the bed, and realised I was only wearing a white cloth robe which was a tiny bit too short for my liking. I shivered in the thin fabric. I shuffled toward the curtain and pulled it open, following her. I realised I was in a tiny room with no windows, contrary to the large infirmary I had expected. I sighed. I didn't know what to expect. I barely knew what had just happened to me.