Comatose

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

                Angelica felt her skull connect with the hard-unforgiving ground as the pavement ripped at the tender skin of her face.  She tried to push herself up only to be slammed back into the ground by her attacker.  Fear flooded her system as all the possibilities that could happen to her raced through her mind.  Top of that list was rape and the thought of being violated caused a scream to wrench from the throat as she tried desperately to get away.  Her voice was cut short as a heavy fist connected with her jaw sending her head to smack back into the pavement.  The world spun around her as thoughts of concussion drifted to her.  Her world darkened for a moment making her panic that she would pass out as she was assaulted by this stranger.  She refused to allow that to happen.  The man flipped her to her back causing her vision to swim more violently than it had before.  She tried to focus on something, anything as she struck out blindly with her hands trying to cause some damage of her own.  If only she hadn’t dropped her keys to the ground during her initial fall. 

                Her attacker took hold of her arms forcing them to her sides as he straddled her holding her upper half still with the force of his thighs.  He laughed in glee as she struggled fruitlessly trying to free herself from his hold.  Hot tears painted tracks as they ran from her eyes mixing with the blood that painted her face.  Her one eye was swelling shut and her face throbbed where it had been damaged.  Her chest heaved with her efforts to move.  Her shoulder joints screamed as she yanked and pulled on her arms with no use.  The assailant leaned over her coming face to face with Angelica his evil laden gaze meeting her frightened one.  He reached out a hand tenderly brushing the strands of her greying brown locks that had matted in the blood away from her face.  He shooshed her as a mother would a small child that was in distress and in need of calming down.  The motions creeping her out rather than relaxing her.  Smiling sinisterly, he leaned back reaching behind him to retrieve something from his belt.  Her eyes widened as they fell on the blade of the knife that he now wielded.  The metal of the blade glinted in the streetlights as little droplets of still falling rain littered the cold surface. 

                With renewed vigor Angelica pushed up with her legs trying to force him from her body.  The heel of the one shoe she still wore broke under the force she used.  Her other heel dug into the ground forcing sharp pieces of gravel to cut into the skin of her foot.  She barely felt it through the adrenaline pouring through her body as she fought to get away.  Her efforts proved futile however as he brought the blade down burrowing it deep into her left shoulder.  Her scream pierced the still night air awarding her another hard punch to the face.  Blood pooled in her mouth as molars he had knocked out floated around causing her to turn her head to spit them out before she chocked on them.  She had barely turned her focus back to the man on top of her before he was bringing the knife down once again.  By the tenth stab Angelica started losing consciousness from the blood loss her body was experiencing.  Unable to stay awake any longer she let the world fade away to black as she realized she would probably never wake up again.  These were her final moments in life alone in a near empty parking lot after being stood up by her husband for their date night.  It seemed like such a silly thing for her to have been angry about now.  Her last thoughts were those of her family.  Who was going to care for them all now?

                Sometime later noise broke through the darkness pulling Angelica up briefly.  She could see a bright light shining in her eyes before it was gone only to be replaced by a determined young woman who seemed to be speaking gibberish.  Angelica’s gaze drifted around her surroundings, being unable to concentrate on anything.  It seemed she was in an ambulance and she was being worked on vigorously by this young paramedic as she shouted out words Angelica couldn’t make out to someone just out of her sight.  She wanted to tell this young woman ‘thank you for trying, but don’t waist your time on me’.  Angelica already knew she had suffered to much damage to survive and that was only what she had been conscience for.  Who knows what else was done to her body after she had passed out?  The shrill of the siren cut through the air as the darkness consumed her once again.

                The next time she became aware of her surroundings she was watching lights flash over her as people to either side of her were running down what must have been a hall.  One of the figures noticed her eyes were open and leaned into her view trying to get her attention.  His lips were moving but Angelica heard not a sound.  She was so cold, but she was unable to tell him this as her lips seemed unwilling to obey her.  Darkness took hold of her for a third time that night pulling her away from the unpleasantness of the night.  She was just glad that she wasn’t in any pain anymore.  With that last thought she was gone once again.

                When Angelica finally came around, she found herself sitting in an utterly white world surrounded by a heavy fog that swirled as she moved her arms through it.  Getting up she looked around calling out to anyone out there only to hear her voice echo back at her.  Just where exactly was she and how did she end up there.  She tried to recall what had happened to her but the more she tried the worse her head hurt her.  Had she been taken somewhere?  Had something bad befallen her?  The questions remained unanswered as she just didn’t seem to have the answers.  She started to panic as she ran blinding in any direction hoping to find herself somewhere familiar enough to know her location.  Or at least find someone who could help her get home.  The longer she ran the more worried she became as the landscape never changed once.  She felt like she wasn’t going anywhere at all.  She didn’t know how long she had been going for, but she found she wasn’t a bit winded at all.  Angelica knew she kept herself in shape, but she wasn’t that fit.  Something wasn’t right.

                Falling to her knees she cried out in anguish and frustration.  Why couldn’t she remember anything?  She curled up into a ball trying to comfort herself as she cried.  She just wanted to go home.  She just wanted to see the people she loved and curl up with her dog feeling safe in her little world.  Right now, she felt nothing but completely alone.  She stared unblinkingly at the fog that danced around her curled body offering her little as it drifted lazily over her.  She seemed to have all the time in the world to process and think through things.  Her breath puffed out from her nose pushing the little heavy clouds away from her face with each exhale.  She entertained herself with this task for a bit though she couldn’t tell for how long she lay there.  There seemed to be no way to tell time for her anymore.  Thinking about it the only thing that made any sense to her at the moment was that she was dead.  Though she couldn’t remember actually dying or just how she died, but nothing else made sense.  Loneliness creeped into her mind as she lay there trying to process her new state of being. 

                If she was dead, she wasn’t in heaven or hell as this place resembled neither of those.  Could she somehow be in some form of limbo?  Perhaps she was in some kind of holding, waiting to be judged before she was allowed to move on.  Now what though, and how long would she have to wait for exactly?  Her current situation would be a lot more bearable if there were others here with her.  She didn’t like the solitude she found herself in.  Was she in purgatory perhaps?  Angelica hoped not, if she had to stay here indefinitely, she would go mad.  Wasn’t purgatory for souls that weren’t inherently bad but had made bad choices?  A way for them to work off the debt of the sin they had committed before they could move on.  If that was the case this couldn’t be purgatory.  She didn’t recall committing any moral crime big enough to warrant being sent there.  Besides there would be no way for her to set things right in a world void of everything but herself and clouds.   She wished she could just go back to sleep as she had been before.  Doing nothing but staring at a vast white landscape was completely boring.  If something was going to happen to her she wished it would be soon.  You know what they say about being careful what you wish for.

                The thought had no sooner crossed her mind that she began freefalling through the air.  A high-pitched keening tore from her mouth being carried away by the gale force wind that whipped past her.  The white world had faded to black as her body rushed through space to somewhere else.  The only consolation was she was finally going to be somewhere else.  Her body picked up speed as it careened through the air.  The wind bit at her skin like thousands of needles punishing her body as it flew past her.  Her impromptu trip seemed to take forever as she whirled crazily through nothingness.  As quickly as it had started it ended just as abruptly.  Angelica’s body finally hit down on solid ground before sinking down into its depths.