Читать книгу Paralyzed - Ashlynn Dee - Страница 2

“Hurry, we’re going to miss it!” my mom exclaimed.

“I know” was my breathless reply.

We rushed past the attendant collecting the tickets, hustling to get onto the plane.

4 hours later

We were sitting in coach class, on the way back to Diamond Pass. I couldn’t wait to do our annual Easter egg hunt with my favorite cousins. We used to live in Emerald State, but when my mom’s younger sister Liesle got the dreaded Millant disease, we knew we had to move. The Millant disease was the worst sickness you could get in this new age, almost like cancer was in the 21st century. If you got the proper treatment, then your chances of surviving were okay. Those who didn’t take the medicine, a bunch of pills, and a disgusting drink, died more often than not. So we packed up our house and moved to the warm coastal town in what used to be Miami, Florida, now it was called Diamond Pass. All of the old United States had been changed a long time ago. There were two parts now, one of them a democracy, the other a kingdom. All of the states on the democracy side, the side we lived on, were renamed for different stones, minerals, and gems. The kingdom was a little different, no one knew their system, but the names are completely random.

Not many people lived in coastal towns anymore, they all wanted to live somewhere with less of a risk of getting into the ocean waters. The ocean was a dangerous place, not because of the creatures that lived in it; they had all died when the toxic gem dust had been spilled. It was a big attack, almost as bad as the First Attack. I had only ever seen the water from afar before since my parents were worried I would drown. Every athletic activity I’d ever tried had injured me, until I tried swimming.

************

I first experienced swimming when Clara, my closest friend, and cousin, decided she wanted to bring me to the coast to skip rocks. Clara was as strong as a bull and amazing at anything that required athletic skills. So when it came to skipping rocks she, of course, was better than me at it. I was furious when she managed to get eight skips out of a stone thinner than my little finger, but larger than my head. I couldn’t even get three skips out of a perfect stone! I stupidly dared her to get the rock so that I could give it one more try. But she refused, saying it was against the rules to swim or even get in the water. And she was right, both my mom and her parents reminded us to be careful when near open water.

But I didn’t care; I wanted to show her I could do something just as well as any other kid my age. So I foolishly jumped into the warm coastal waters and went to fetch the rock. I couldn’t find the rock where I currently was, so I walked in deeper. I could hear Clara yelling at me to get out, that I was going to be in deep, deep trouble. But I stubbornly refused to come back until I had found the giant rock.

Then suddenly, I could no longer feel the bottom. I started to panic, but then I remembered the lessons all children were required to take when they were four years of age. I began to kick and move my arms and found myself going towards the beach again. It was a rush to be gliding through the water the way that a bird soars in the air. After that, I was in the water every day, as often as my parents would allow. They supposed that it couldn’t hurt, as long as I didn’t go too far.

************

I was so excited to be finally going home again, my grandparents’ house was fun, but they freaked out when we did anything they didn’t like. Which meant that I couldn’t swim at all while we were there. I couldn’t contain my excitement, I had never been on a plane before, but the roads were blocked due to a tube train collapse a week previous. Grandpa said we would take a plane home and that he would take care of our tickets. He knew a pilot who got us first class but warned us that if it got too full, we would be moved to coach. Mom readily agreed and faster than we could blink all the seats were full, and we were in coach. But I didn’t care. It was the most amazing thing in the whole world.

I stood and quietly told mom I was going to the bathroom. When I got there, the line was seven people long, and I really had to go. Just then the speaker crackled, “Folks, please return to your seats and buckle up, we will be experiencing some minor turbulence. Thank you” we were waiting for almost a full ten minutes, and then the speaker screeched, “You may now return to your business.” I sighed and rushed to the bathroom; it was empty. I had just grabbed the handle to exit when the floor fell out from beneath me, and I was plummeting through the air.

Pain, everywhere, I couldn't think straight, it radiated through my whole body making me violently ill. Then it faded, and I drifted out of consciousness.

I woke up, and there was numbness from my hips down, but everything else hurt like a million little pieces of glass were being ground into my skin. This time, when darkness swallowed me in its murky depths, I welcomed it warmly.

After that I had a strange dream, there was an old man, and he did something to my arm; it felt sort of like a pinching, but more, numbing somehow.

The next time I woke, I thought I heard voices, calling to each other. “This is a bad one; I don’t think anybody is alive.”

“No kidding, I've never seen such a violent attack.”

Then a pause, a quick intake of breath and the words, “Hey, are you awake? Can you hear me?”

I tried to say “yes over here!” but it came out a garbled moan.

“I think we found someone!”

“Yeah, and they might be alive.”

Then a female voice saying, “It’s going to be alright honey; we’ll get you out of there.”

“Bring the stretcher, the hard one; I think she’s broken.”

Broken? That didn't make sense. How could I be broken? I was obviously all here. All I remember after that is a gentle rocking, and someone crooning gently to me that everything was going to be okay. But after that day, nothing was ever the same.