I do not see him at first. I do not see anything but the world fading in and out. Black into indiscernible images of water, sky, trees, or I think...something like that. The hit from the tree had left me gasping for air, and getting more than I bargained for with some of the rather...dirty tasting water. I try my hardest to try to swim, to try to keep myself up and alive, but...I cannot stop the sensation to sleep. It overtakes me like a storm, unavoidable. My eyes eventually close, and I would say that I am certain I will drown but...my mind, it is completely gone.

I was unaware at the time that he had grabbed my scruff. He had held my head above the water, my own body able to breathe without my mind being there to be aware. I do not know how much effort and bravery it takes for him to make sure that I do not die in this moment.

I do not feel the stable earth under my almost adult frame of flaming sun and gentle cream, touched on the top with the color of fertile dirt. No, my mind was taken away from me during this time. I do not know where my mind went. It simply disappeared into something I am honestly rather unfamiliar with - darkness. My mind is almost always touched with color. The color of sounds all around me, even when my eyes are closed. It is a comforting thing. A thing that I didn't even really consider too much in my life. But once the color was gone I...I simply was not there. There was no beauty. There was nothing.

I do not like this nothing, this darkness. It is a lonely place. A place without thoughts. A place without feeling. A place most terrible, and I never want to go back to. I want to be out of here...I want...

I then see a seeping of color in my mind again. Something that is akin to smoke poking its way into this dark world. I feel my mind coming back. I feel the world of color processing in my soul once again. It is the color of Achilles' voice. I wonder, if I had died, and he had sung me to where my mother my linger, but I know soon enough that I was wrong, as the feeling of my own labored breath strings sharply. A painful reminder that I am still in my body, yet, a welcome one. It was better than being...void.

I feel my limbs tensing up, my movements very slight as my soul grasps a hold of this world once again. I am drawn to his song, so drawn that my blue eyes suddenly shoot open near the end of his song. They hurt, my own eyes do, but I manage, seeing the golden white form of Achilles...well, as white as he can be after the muddy water, but, I can see past that. I am just simply happy to see him, to feel his form warm against my own. I almost feel like he is aglow with rainbows, a sight from the water in my eyes as I will find out in the future.

I suddenly feel the urge to cough. It is a violent feeling. A feeling of my body cleaning itself of the tainted water that threw itself down my throat. The cough is more than just unpleasant. It is insanely painful. My side is beaten and battered from the tree, and I feel the pain with every desperate attempt to expel the water from myself. I must admit, I do not know where the water from inside of me went, and I do think that I might have got some on Achilles, but I simply cannot think about that right now. My body does not allow it as a sharp whine calls out in between the painful coughs.

Eventually the coughing stops, and my bright, worried eyes finally get a chance to glance up at Achilles' face. I wish to speak but it is...much too painful. I can only whine slightly, my soaked form attempting to burrow in closer to him and yet, it hurts so much to move. I...do not even know if I can walk right now. I cannot even fathom it. I can only look at Achilles with sad eyes, yet, within that sadness is the sparkle of something else, something much stronger than any sadness. One day, I might be able to put a proper name to it. One day.

Image by Meryl