SEVENTY-ONE

A part of me knew I was asleep when my heart started to race. The incident was three weeks past but still my body froze and a familiar pain seemed to slam into me. I was hyperventilating and trying to get myself to wake up but the more I tried, the more I slipped deeper into the nightmare.

"Wake up, Sagira," I heard a voice that sounded around me as if it was coming from a room lined with speakers. "I am here," the voice continued. "I've got you." The last words were spoken in a quiet voice that seemed choked with emotions.

I felt a hand gently combing through my hair as I started to regain consciousness. My head was in someone's thighs. The room was dark and then cold lips pressed against my cheeks, my forehead, my eyelids.

My eyes snapped open and I bolted upright with a gasp, my hands flying to my chest and then every other part of my body as if taking inventory.

"You're fine." Firm hands gently pried my fingers from my hair when I gripped them hard. "I am here." I turned to Val