FICTION: “5 Marks”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: “5 MARKS” IS A FICTIONAL SERIES ABOUT A TEENAGE GIRL NAMED AMANDA MCCONNELL WHO IS EXPERIENCING SOME COMPLICATED AND UNEXPLAINED SITUATIONS. SHE IS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY SHE KEEPS “DYING” AND WAKING UP REPEATEDLY. THIS IS THE LAST INSTALLMENT OF THE SERIES.

PART 3

It was very windy and I could hear the different sounds the wind made. It was like it was trying to tell me something important. It swirled in many directions, whistling into my ear. It started to get louder, and faster.

“Wishh, woosh, washhh,” it whirled.

 “Ahhhh….maaaann….daaa,” called a strange ghost-like voice made by the wind.

I immediately turned around, nervous. There was no one. My body all frozen, I was breathing unsteadily and my hands were all sweaty, I couldn’t move a muscle. I could hear my heart beat rapidly and couldn’t concentrate on my surroundings. The mumbles of the voice got clearer. 

“Nnnowww, lissstenn caarrefullyyy, youuu arrentt hereee in thiss worldd. Evveryything you seeee is jusst illusionssss, those fourrrr markkks youu havee onnn yourr armm, willl get a fifthh and final mark. Afterr, thatttt……” 

“After what?!?” I exclaimed as I came back to my senses. “This makes no absolute sense! Is this another dream?!?”

I was afraid and tense. I couldn’t feel anything. 

“WHOOSH,” the wind roared with power. It was speeding up and was going in circular motions. 

The mysterious windy voice ended off with

 “Youuu….. willl wakee…uppp, and evverthingg… will…. Beee.. back.. to..n..ooormm…aa….lll”

Wake up? I’m up right now? What does that even supposed mean? The wind got stronger to the point where I had to grab onto the edge of the wall. The sky was becoming dark, and danger was coming up this way. The ashen clouds growled with thunder, the flashes of lights were blinding. Leaves, dirt, and other debris were swirling up into the air. The wind was very sharp, that it left multiple cuts on my face. Something was coming, and then, it did. The winds began to rage, screaming like madmen in pain. Everything felt its fury; the trees bent to the ground as the people scurried to their hideouts. But me, I was in no shape or form safe, and wasn’t able to move one bit.

I started to lose sight of what was going on because of all that dirt that got on my eyes from the storm. It got more aggressive and I start to lose grip. It was a tornado. It cleared the whole city, the buildings fell apart, and people were got sucked in, it was chaotic.

Suddenly, a massive branch came my way and hit my two hands that were slowly losing grip to the wall. I let go. As I was getting consumed by the tornado, I couldn’t feel, hear, or sense anything, everything became in slow motion, and all I could hear was my heart beating “ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump”. As I was going further up in the sky, the city became smaller, and darker, it was spreading like a disease.

I reached the final point and my eyes couldn’t see anything, all I saw was black space. Empty again, all alone, no one and nothing was in my presence. This was the stage before I wake up, just like all my other past “dreams”. Will this be the last time I’ll wake up? Will everything go back to normal just like the voice said? I asked these questions as I slowly closed my eyes “Teet…Teet…Teet” the steady rhythm of something beeping pierced the silence.

I woke up, disoriented. This time, I wasn’t in my room. There were a few chairs on my right side, and there were many pipes attached to my body. I had a ventilator on my mouth. I could hear the gentle beeping of the heart rate monitor beside me. ‘My own heart,‘ I thought. I could also hear the voices on the other side of my room. I couldn’t see who they were, but I could hear them complaining about something. I scanned around the blue and white colour schemed hospital bedroom. How long have I been here? I shut my eyes, trying to remember what had exactly happened. I couldn’t remember anything. Suddenly, the door opened and a few people come in.

“S-she’s awake! Call the d-doctor!” the woman sputtered in surprise. She was wearing a navy-blue uniform and a hat with a plus sign. What was she talking about? Right, I was at the hospital! How though, what happened? I felt something scratched my arm, there were five marks on my arm, why does it feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before? They slowly started to disappear. A tall man wearing a white coat holding a clipboard walked inside the room.

“You’re finally awake from your long sleep, Miss Amanda,” he said smiling. “I know everything looks new to you, and you probably are even confused about why you are here. Let me first introduce myself first. My name is Dr. Paul, and I am your doctor for the time being. You were in a car accident and your injury was fatal. We then did some treatments on you, and it turned out that you were in a coma. How long? Well, to be honest, it’s been five years…”

Five years?!?! I jumped out of my bed, Ouch! My head started hurting. I couldn’t speak properly and felt like I was losing energy.

The doctor came quickly and grabbed onto my arm and said, “It’s all right now, you are safe…and are still recovering.”

Great. I let go and fell back on the hospital bed. After all this time, my answer was finally answered. Those marks that I’ve been getting… Every time I “died” I’d get one. In total, I have five marks. Those five marks represented the number of years I was asleep.

 “Finally, I’m awake,” I whispered to myself as I look at my right forearm. My life starts now, my real life. 

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