Retriever

“You break me down more harshly and completely than any other… And yet, or perhaps that is just what makes that possible, I love you with all that I have and all that I am…..”

And I say this because…. At the root of this is a love story. I mean, isn’t there always?

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The detective climbed the stairs at a quickened pace, other officers and paramedics already on scene, parted like the Red Sea to let him pass.

He headed towards the only illuminated door, which his partner stood outside of. She looked over at him with a look of sadness they usually wouldn’t let slip while on the job.

As he reached her he greeted her quickly with a nod and then peered into the small, surprisingly well lit bathroom.

He took in the bright greenish blue tiles, the scatterings of shells on the window sill, the fluffy navy colored towels embroidered with ocean themed pictures, all so normal and peaceful looking…

Turning towards the tub brought him an eerily just as peaceful image, a young girl, eleven or so floating lifeless in the water.

You could think she had just dozed off during a bath. But the call had been made by her mother not even ten minutes before that she had found her there not breathing. Shaken her, could not wake her.

Distraught, had dialed 911 immediately.

He watched the unnatural stillness of the water where it met her skin, undisturbed from the lack of the rise and fall of a living, breathing person.

Her lips were only slightly blue.

Her tangled, wet hair an indistinguishable dark color.

He sighed, and just as he went to turn to ask his partner what the initial analysis was, he heard a gasp.

A strangled wheeze followed by a violent splash.

He spun, along with several other people in or just outside of the room to see the girl, very much alive and franticly flailing around in the water.

“Woah. Woah. Woah!”

The detective didn’t think twice before lunging forward to scoop her out of the water into his arms and try to get her calm. He reached over and grabbed one of the fluffy blue towels he had noted upon entering the room and draped it over her shivering body.

“Medic,” he called out forcefully, “Somebody get me a medic now!”

It took only minutes for the medics to get in the room and to take the girl from the detective and carry her out and down to the ambulance waiting outside.

The detective was glued to the spot he had been standing. First, he glanced down at the once again still water, still devoid of life, but now at least it was because it was empty.

Next, he glanced at his partner, whose eyes were wide and her face pale.

“Well that was wild,” he said attempting to push a lighthearted tone into his voice.

“That was impossible,” she whispered back, he almost couldn’t hear her.

He just looked at her, she continued, “She was gone at least ten minutes, Logan. She wasn’t even resuscitated… she just…came back?? How?? That doesn’t just happen.”

“Oh, calm down, Kara, she is alive. That’s all that matters right?? Plus, can’t say there won’t be severe brain damage…,” he trailed off.

“Not natural,” she mumbled, he could see her hands shaking.

He didn’t respond.

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It was warm. But not to warm. The air was that perfect temperature that seemingly only mornings and evenings in summer can achieve. Balmy and smooth to the skin. The kind of air that you just want to stay forever in.

My eyes are closed. Why? I can’t remember…

What had I been doing?

I opened my eyelids. It felt like an enormous effort. The light around me felt unnatural. To dim, yet to bright at the same time.

I sat up and looked around. I was in… the woods? The ground beneath me was soft dirt, unusually clear of debris for what appeared to be the middle of the forest. I glanced about slowly, the still air stirring with a gentle breeze. The sound of leaves rustling was distinct and pleasing.

No bugs, no birds… no other signs of life.

I pulled myself up to a standing position, looking around for any indication of the direction I needed to go.

Not seeing or hearing anything of promise, I just started walking towards what appeared to be an over grown path.

I called out, “Hello! Is anybody there?”

Silence was the response. Heavy silence. There were still no sounds, even of wildlife. And yet, I felt as if I were being watched.

I walked for what felt like hours before coming to a cliff, the woods now behind me, an expanse of open air before me.

My stomach tightened at the sight, the sky was lavender, I couldn’t see a cloud or oddly even the sun, the light, the strange soft but to bright light was coming from….nowhere? It seemed to just, be.

The drop off the cliff was to a water like substance that stretched as far as the eye could see, an inviting blue, with practically imperceptible waves gently rippling the surface.

I swallowed hard, where was I? What was happening?

I looked to my left and then to my right to see if there were any tell tale signs of which direction may get me somewhere. They both looked the same, like a cliff lined with trees, but the left appeared to have a slightly wider pathway to traverse, so I went left.

I proceeded onward, the light changed as I walked… darkened. There was a wall of rock ahead. The ground was growing sandier beneath my feet, my breathing quickened as a pit of self preserving fear hit my gut. This was wrong.

My hairs stood up, I looked behind, the feeling of being watched stronger than ever.

I picked up my pace.

As I approached, I realized there would be nowhere really to go once I got to the wall of stone.

There was a slightly shimmery look to the rock, I figured perhaps I should fear it, but I did not.

I stretched my hand towards it and as I did the light brightened a bit and everything became so intense…

Memories that could not be, looking in a mirror at me, different ages and names.

I couldn’t breathe.

I looked down to see my feet had sunk to my ankles.

No, no, no.

Glancing around frantically, I tried to cry out but there was… was no sound??

But then… wait, no it was there muffled, muted.

And the farther I sank the clearer the sound was mingling with something else, something not as consistent, not as unwavering, cacophonic reverberations.

Splashing. As if a person under water screaming and splashing about…

It was to my neck now…

How?

When?

I didn’t even notice, as my arms had gone under and rendered me useless.

That sound, those flashes had consumed me.

Chin.

I was going to die.

The sky… was it the sky, had become insanely bright again.

I wondered what my mom was going to do? How she would feel?

I wondered if it would hurt.

It was happening so fast.

And then I was under.

Darkness.

Coughing, I remember coughing next. Warm water rushing up my throat and out of my mouth.

I opened my eyes and gasping for deep ragged breaths. Water splashing up around me as I flailed my arms out. I was in my bathroom. A man with thin brown hair was scooping me up and wrapping me in my mom’s towel. Yelling something I couldn’t really make out through the ringing in my ears that I hadn’t even realized was there.

Other people came running, grabbing me, putting me on a stretcher, rushing me out to an ambulance, taking my pulse and listening to my lungs and hooking me up to the things.

And I faded out to unconsciousness once more.

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She got back. To life. Out of the Ibew, or The In-between.

How?

The Reaper touched the stone she had stood in front of when she somehow managed to ultimately elude him. He spun on his heel in the sand and stepped through dimensions to the hospital room she now lay in.

He walked up and leaned down studying her small face.

“How did you bring yourself back from the dead?” he whispered, though she, nor anyone else for that matter, could hear him.

He lingered a bit longer than slipped quietly out to reap another poor soul a floor below who wasn’t so fortunate as she.