9
“Akira?”
“Is she still breathing?”
“What can we do?”
“Check her pulse again.”
“Do we need help?”
“Who would help us?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop it.”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“Be quiet.”
“You be quiet.”
“Akira?”
“Hang on.”
“What?”
“Wait.”
“She’s waking up.”
“Akira?”
“Can you hear me?”
“Akira?”
“Give her some space.”
“Let me see.”
“Akira.”
The tangled voices and sentences uncurled from the unintelligible mumble they were. Painstakingly slow, the world came back to me. Sound by sound, smell by smell. The dance of colours brought shapes and curves to my vision and drew images I recognised. People I knew.
“A-Ashleigh?” I groaned, my tongue shrieking dry. A soft pulsating hammered through my skull, but it wasn’t as bad as the pounding from before. Warm hands caressed my a
