#original synth character

She traveled in a fog.

A stranger in her own body, a passenger on some strange voyage. Like waking up from a nightmare, everything coming back slowly yet explaining nothing.

Tasting salt water and mist.

She found herself alone at sea. The waters choppy around her and sky an endless grey that blended perfectly into the water. Flanked on all sides by that imposing, sterile color.

Claustrophobic but familiar.

It set her on edge.

In the distance, gulls cried out into that bleak grey sky. She wanted to cry, but her body refused. Chapped, raw lips bleeding as she grimaced.

The boat rocked underneath her, like a cradle, like that ancient lullaby. The sea desperately wanted to soothe her as if sensing her growing discomfort, her panic.

Its too alien, too strange.

She’s hyperventilating, as if she’s just gained the ability to breath on her own. And she’s struggling. Nails gripping into the rotten wood of the small boat she awoke on.

The water sloshes around her, splashing her with freezing waves that chills her skin and make her gasp for more air.

But it’s not enough. She smells wood rot, fish, and algae. It burns the back of her throat as she gags.

It’s foreign, unfamiliar, and frightening.

In her panic, she tries to stand and her head reels. Dehydrated and protesting her sudden movements, her awaken state. So much easier to ignore when she was comatose.

Her vision spots black in the endless grey, spirals appear in her sight. Whirlpools. Trapped between Scylla and Charybdis. The sea is swallowing her whole.

The sea succeeds, claims her as its own. She chokes on sea water, tasting the salt in her gullet as she frantically tries to resurface. The boat rocking above, an imposing shadow to keep her below.

Her eyes burn but she can’t close them. The spirals follow her down, gripping tight to her arms and legs. Tangling in her hair as she gurgles.

The boat, that damn boat, bashes against her skull as she struggles to resurface. She inhales more sea water, bubbles taunting as they leave her gaping maw.

Between her blonde strands she can see figures swimming towards her. The sea simulates her tears. Waves crashing around her, pushing and prodding away from the grabbing hands of spirals and swells.

It’s getting dark down here too. Black hazy against the edge of her vision.

She hits something solid, gazing down to see the bones of some massive creature, picked clean and shining. It mocks her with its toothy grin, coaxing her deeper into the depths.

Her body is on autopilot, some reflex she didn’t know she possessed, kicking her whole weight off the bones, and shooting back to the surface.

A stranger once more as she swims, the muscles in her back screaming in protest as she cut through the waves like a knife. No more treading water like a newborn, the sea would not claim her as it has done countless others.

She followed the cries of gulls, booted feet finally meeting sand and silt. She crawled as the water got shallower, retching salt water as she did. Fingers sinking into the sand, trying to ground herself as met shrub grass and rocks.

Shore greeted her with the scent of decay, dead fish and rotting algae. The smooth, soft sand turned to shells and driftwood under her palms. Rocks and sea glass smoothed down to docile trinkets crunch under her aching knees.

Chapped lips stinging from the water, she struggles not to lick the moisture from them. But it smells like rain on the horizon, air tickling her nose and lips with access radiation.

It’s soothing, in some odd way. The presence of radiation embraces her like a lover would. The encroaching thunder, and green glow slowly overtaking the grey as she catches her breath. The gulls cry out, mocking her as lightening ignites the sky.