A Cold Memories
A little gasp escaping Daniel’s lips as the throbbing pain worsened in his head, making him snap his eyes open for just a moment. Feeling his breathing become a little heavier than normal, Daniel took in a deep breath, encouraging his body to relax. Daniel exhaled quietly, as the throbbing in his head subsided for the moment. Now that the pain was gone, Daniel was confident he could try to scope out the confines of his mind yet again, no matter how many times it too. It meant answers, one way or another.
Closing his eyes, Daniel let his mind drift, hoping to reach out to those lost memories to drag one back - it didn’t take as long as earlier before he was launched back into another memory. This one was clear as day much like the other, with the feeling of self-awareness in a dream. Except, dreams weren’t real - and surprisingly, this was. He remembered, oddly enough, swimming - his head bobbing above the shimmering blue water before diving straight down into the darkening ocean. The further he swam, the darker it became as light was forced to remain near the surface, unseen by the ocean creatures who knew nothing of its existence. The deeper he went, the less life he saw; the fishes near the surface were now out of sight. Daniel could never remember going that deep into water, let alone with what seemed to be no professional gear until now - but the question still remained; why…? Daniel viewed it all in his own first person perspective just like before, swimming deeper and deeper into the darkness below. Tiny bubbles rose from his mouth and scuttled their way up through the darkness, towards the surface, which would be bright and welcome them, unlike the unsettling darkness that enveloped Daniel. As far as he could tell within the confines of this memory, it seemed as though Daniel didn’t even need to breath underwater; he was so far down that he should’ve been long dead by now, or at the very least already from the halfway point of his descent into watery darkness. But no; not a single gulp of air was needed - hell, he didn’t even feel a sense of panic, let alone a frantic desire to reach the surface. Daniel seemed content right where he was, at least within this memory; till he began to feel the cold of a place that hadn’t known light. He had reached the bottom of the sea in this memory, and only his eyes, which seemed adapted to the pitch black darkness, could see the tiny bubbles from his mouth now and again, the flicker of movement from a critter in the sand below, or even the appearance of a notable predator in the distance.
As the coldness began to wrap around him in its sickly, freezing embrace, Daniel jolted out of the memory with a shaky gasp, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. A shiver ran down his spine as he sat up and leaned down along the side of the bed, picking up the blanket his friends had given him earlier from its place on the floor. He promptly wrapped it around his shoulders, as if it would offer him some form of security one way or another, and bit his lip nervously as he clutched the blanket close, keeping it securely wrapped around his trembling form. He could still feel the unsettling, icy cold..but just like the memories plaguing his mind, the cold eased away as quickly as it had come, releasing Daniel from it’s freezing grasp. Swallowing nervously, Daniel let the blanket drop from his shoulders, clenching his hands into fists momentarily before he allowed his hands to relax. Taking in a breath, he straightened up and lifted a hand, running it through his locks of hair as he struggled to compose himself. He’d try again, one last time, to see if another memory would sneak it’s way into his head. As unsettling as the previous one was; Daniel was still shaken by the unnatural feeling of the cold; he knew he’d have to try again - otherwise he wouldn’t be satisfied with the lack of information. A few memories were better than none, after all.
Written by monochromecheshire on 10 April 2017