Senses

She woke up dazed and without opening her eyes. Her head hung heavy. The taste of salty sea air made her sick. When she opened her eyes, every thing had turned into a darker, waterlogged pixellated hue of grey. The salty sea air stung her eyes, made them water worsening her sight. At the pace of a decrepit, she sat upright and saw nothing except heavy fog. The dew-rain wet her face and dampened her hair so that water was now dripping onto her already moist back. It crept through the fabric very slowly, irritating every inch of skin it covered.  She turned her head and saw still heavier layers of fog in the distance. The scent of cut grass took her by surprise for some incomprehensible reason; she knew that she had been laying in grass despite her mind’s fragile state.

A belly deep wail clenched her stomach and tightened its gripped as the nanoseconds translated into suspended hours. Her heartbeat quickened and she took deep breaths in an attempt to be very quiet. Her mind raced as her animal instinct reared to take flight yet her body remained perfectly still. The lack of visibility meant that she had to rely on her other senses and she couldn’t place another physical presence anywhere within close proximity. Hesitantly but gradually, she accepted that she was alone – in the middle of somewhere she walked to, in a drunken state. Everything was blurry in her mind and nothing took an absolute form.

The faint overhead laser of light assaulted her senses. She hadn’t registered it before but knew that it was there the entire time. It rocked gently from side to side, almost like a pendulum – hypnotic. As the laser light came into sight and then out of sight with perfect timing, the fog in her mind lifted, slightly. The taste of salty sea water. The belly deep wail. The laser light. She smiled sweetly as drunks have been known to. She lay back on the wet grass watching the laser light and in her mind’s eyes she followed the light from the lighthouse through the fog right up until sleep overcame her.

For the Scriptic prompt exchange this week, Kameko Murakami gave me this prompt: She followed the light from the lighthouse through the fog… I gave SAM this prompt: ”Something major happens in your life and your perspective changes.” Tell us a story where you detail the person’s thought process and emotional response. 52 words

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