Starting Line

Starting line: As she slowly and painfully opened her eyes she saw a bright light overhead.



As she slowly and painfully opened her eyes she saw a bright light overhead. This was exactly what she'd hoped wouldn't happen. She squinted against the glare of florescent lights and tried to sit up on the cold table.

She couldn't.

Panic instantly choked her. If she'd had muscle control she would have tensed her body. Thoughts zoomed through her mind, passing behind her eyes as if they were seared on her irises indefinitely. The smell that wafted through her nostrils was even more desparaging than her lack of bodily control. She wanted to stop breathing. To inhale through her mouth and close off the passages to her nose so that rotten smell would disappear.

"Claire," I heard Carly's voice screech beside me. If it wasn't for the visual of the blankets falling down my chest I wouldn't have known she'd grabbed my hand.

"She can't hear you. You're so dumb to come here everyday." Natalie whined from across the room. Her flame red hair was styled to perfection but her makeup was on the verge of clownish.

"She can too hear me. Can't you, Claire? Oh Claire, pleas just blink or something. Please?" Carly pleaded. It was only when she bent to kiss my cheek that I could see her face.

I want to blink. I want to tell you that I can hear everything. I want to tell you that I'm alive. I thought to myself. So frustrated I couldn't voice the thoughts.

How many more years do I have to live in this prison of a body? How many more times must I hear the doctors discussing my hopeless condition? No brainwaves. No reaction to stimuli. No concept of pain. This is what I was reduced to?

"We should just let them pull the plug." Natalie whined.

Usually I despised Natalie. Usually I would rather scratch her eyes out than try to be civil with her over dinner. And she wasn't trying to be humane about the situation. I knew that. But it was the first time in my life I hoped Natalie would get her way.



ETA....I just realized I changed POV mid story. Sorry about that.