A Brand New Ending

Chapter 3

Phoenix



I feel nothing. The pain is gone from my body. My anger with the world and those that caused me that pain is no longer there. Nothing but peace. And then, instantly, the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life. Needles. Thousands of them hitting all over my body, my heavy, wet jacket pulling me further underneath the cold blackness.

Every time I gasp, my lungs fill with water instead of air they so painfully need. That's when the panic sinks in. I try to cry, my body not able to ignore the pain. I thrash around, trying everything I can to reach the surface but it feels miles away. I don't know how long it has been since I jumped. Each second seems like an eternity. As I struggle to keep myself upright, I start to feel something swirl around my feet. I didn't die from the fall but now I am going to be eaten by sharks.

I then realize that whatever is swimming in circles around my feet is not harming me, but helping me stay afloat. However, the frigid water is making me become numb, my arms and legs not wanting to move anymore. Soon the darkness overtakes me, my mind numb.

~

Light. Lots of light.

My eyelids are being pried open, the light waving in front of me. I can make out an outline of a figure leaning over me but no sharp details come through. Their mouth is moving, but I can't make out any of the words. After an unknown amount of time I begin to pick up on things. I can hear a constant beep and the sound of a siren and then a faint male voice.

"Can you hear me?" the figure standing above me asks.

I swallow, trying to talk but I can't. Instead, I just nod. Looking down at me, I notice I am strapped to a gurney, with oxygen tubes stuck in my nose. My chest begins to tighten and tears want to fall. I have failed.

"Do you know where you are?" he asks me.

I nod again.

"Can you tell me your name?"

I swallow hard.

"Phoenix," I choke out.

"Last name…" he says, as he continues to write down stuff on a piece of paper.

"Harper," I continue.

He doesn't ask any more questions. I try to sit up but I notice that I am tightly bound, and I can feel my clothes no longer on.

"Where am I going?" I ask nervously.

"The hospital," he says dryly.

My heart quickens as my infinite fear of hospitals rises up. I can only imagine how they'll treat suicide victims. They'll call my family. She'll be there. He'll be there. As my heart begins to race, the beeping of the monitor increases. I try to get out of the restraints and the guy in the back of the ambulance notices.

"Phoenix, just calm down," he tells me, as he holds onto either side of my shoulders.

I start to cry again but I don't stop thrashing my body around. I hate the fear that he has created inside me and the inevitable pain that always followed. I have no way out. What I thought was my only option has failed miserably. Life now clings to me like a disease.

The EMT rummages in a drawer beside him, pulling out a syringe. My heart races even more as I watch him place it into my IV drip and, within seconds, I am lost in the darkness. The darkness is what I'm beginning to crave more and more.