Sugar Bomb

Flowers

Gaya’s POV

The only things I felt were cold and numbness. I wanted to wake up but didn't know how. I imagined opening my eyes. I tried to move my fingers, turn around, utter even a single word, but despite my greatest efforts—I couldn't. It hadn't been this tragic before... I had been dreaming and drifting.

I dreamed of Earth and my former life, which I had irretrievably lost. I only remembered shapes, colors, and outlines of figures and events. Distant events. Colorful, flowery meadows, blue oceans, and emerald forests. Something completely indescribable.

A hazy memory.

And a block in my mind that prevented me from delving into these images in any way. That state was, after all, much more pleasant than what I feel now.

Sharp pain; in my nostrils, throat, and lungs, my skin numb from the cold, my limbs stiff as if frozen.

I wanted to scream it out, to get rid of at least part of the suffering. To discharge it. And suddenly, it happened. I opened my eyes, after so many failed attempts. And I immediately regretted it. The stinging was unbearable... after a moment, I felt that I could once again control my own hand.

I yanked it into the air with all my might, in a panic, blindly searching for a point of support. After inhuman effort, I finally managed to get my hand out of the omnipresent thick substance. A paralyzing fear of drowning gripped me.

As soon as I felt something under my fingers, I clutched it tightly, trying to pull myself up to take a breath.

My thoughts were racing wildly, and my body demanded to evacuate as quickly as possible from the place where I was.

I opened my eyes, and blinding white light struck me. I fought with all my strength not to close them again. I was choking on the thick fluid in which I had been drifting so peacefully just a moment ago. At first, I saw blurry shapes, but after a moment of intense blinking, I opened my eyes wide, forcefully, and from the mist emerged the silhouette of a man. The burning pain in my lungs was unbearable.

I stared at the man, then shifted my gaze along my aching, frozen arm.

It was thanks to him that I managed to surface. I felt I was too weak to rise from the fluid by the strength of my own muscles.

Clenching my teeth from the all-encompassing pain, I lifted my head and looked at him. I was disoriented, I remembered nothing, and all I felt was paralyzing fear and cold.

"My God," I heard a male voice on the verge of a whisper.

Standing before me was a tall, slender brunette. He wore a suit unzipped to the waist, and under it, a black suit on which I shamelessly clenched my hand. His light green eyes, wide open in astonishment, slid down my body.

The man had several days' worth of stubble on his face and a strongly defined jaw. A straight, Roman nose undoubtedly added to his charm.

However, these thoughts were somewhere in the back of my mind at that moment. They were ignored as quickly as they appeared. I brushed the sticky, icy hair from my forehead. The cold hit with doubled force, and I pulled myself up higher but felt that I couldn't sit up. That it was time to return to my endless dreams.

And at that moment, still hypnotized by the stranger's green eyes, I felt something warm envelop my shoulders. The man was now standing in just a white shirt, watching me with curiosity and confusion.

"Bring me adrenaline," I heard, but the sound of the man's low voice echoed in my head, muffled, as if I had plunged my head back underwater.

Suddenly, I felt strong arms lift me up, and I curled up, remembering that I was naked. I wrapped my arm around the brunette's, and a second later, he pulled me closer to him. Instinctively, feeling his warm body, I snuggled into his hard chest.

A golden badge with a name flashed before my eyes... "Seth Berkeley." I didn't have time to read the rest of the text underneath. The man sat with me on the bed behind him. I couldn't take my eyes off him, and he couldn't take his eyes off me. His warmth resonated through me, warming my bone-chilled body, and I felt the pain and uncertainty weaken for a second.

"Ah," I gasped quietly, feeling a prick on my chest. My heart raced, making me feel unnaturally excited.

"Seth, get away from her," I heard a voice from behind. And then he laid me on the bed. I reached out to him, craving the warmth that had been so brutally taken from me. Unfortunately, he didn't respond, just stared at me in bewilderment, slowly backing away. I tucked my knees under my chin, trying to retain the remaining warmth. I escaped in my thoughts to a meadow full of flowers, which once brought me solace in endless dreams.