23rd Feb 2018: An entry for FoxTales #14 Fiction Contest

VIA

VIA
Via awoke with ease, she was stunned. For years now, waking up has been the hardest thing for her to do. But today, she stood up like an athletic. Standing on gallant feet, she inhaled. Her lungs responded swiftly. Via took in deep breaths until she felt her chest was about to burst open. The air smelled of picoline. An anticeptic, where was she? Via took a quick glance around. She was at a river bank. Thick trees bothered the walk way. The river had a silvery-blue waters that looked imaginable inviting. Via could swear she had never been to this place, yet something about it looked strangely familiar. This river bank, it appears bears a little semblance to the painting that hung in her living room. A painting that Via always reasoned was a picture of her ideal paradise. Is this paradise? Via pinched herself and got a sensation she perceived to be that of an injection administered. The pain not withstanding, Via felt relieved to be alive. She looked at the river again, quiet, eerily. It's been long she took a dive, and being well again nourished her the desire to swim in the steady waters. Via took a step forward, dipping her finger in the waters and watched her reflection rippled with the waves created. So inviting, Via steadied herself for a dive. She longed for soothing peace the water had to offer. As she prepared to dive, a heat of searing pain tore through her chest. She felt like she'd been hit by a defibrillator . In an instant, she heard distinct voices behind her and a beep that musically and rythmically sounded like her heartbeat. Via glanced back, but saw no one; only the calm rustling of the leaves above. She looked at the river again, "how bad can a dive be?" She reasoned. She plunged, crashing into the waters and letting herself free. The pains she felt yesterday gone, as an unexpected peace settled on her.

Via had never felt more alive as this steady water took her to a place she knew not. She was willing to follow it to where it ended.
In the building of the Compton County Hospital, group of four specialist are trying, against all odds to bring one Miss Via Penson back to life.