I woke up in agonizing pain, my head feeling like it had been smashed repeatedly. I tried opening my eyes only to see blotches of red and black streaks across my vision.
I decided against any thought of moving and waited. After what seemed like a long time, I felt something moving on my lower abdomen. I ignored it due to the pain I was in. It moved upwards to my chest. I felt irritated, but my pain far outweighed my irritation. I felt something wet and sandy on my face.
Throughout the short time I had been awake, I had never been this irritated before. I sat up straight immediately and opened my eyes to see some sort of dog on my lap. It had a black and brown coat with green eyes and floppy ears.
I picked it up to inspect it, hoping the newfound information my brain was processing would allow me to discern its origin. As I continued to inspect it, I momentarily forgot I was in pain until the mutt decided to bite me when I checked under it.
My whole arm screamed in pain as I flung the dog away. I inspected my arm to check the fang marks it had left on me. The pain the dog had caused in my arm resonated throughout my entire body, reawakening the pain everywhere. I couldn't even shout due to the intensity. The irony of not being able to scream in pain because of the pain.
I closed my eyes, trying to endure the pain, when I felt a familiar wet and sandy sensation where the dog had bitten me. I opened one eye to see the dog licking my wound. I held back the urge to hit it as I realized it was doing this with good intentions.
I held the dog up again, but much more gently this time. I saw blood under its coat on its stomach region, and I instantly regretted it. It wasn't a lot, but it was a significant amount.
On further inspection, I saw it had no wound through which the blood could have possibly come. To my dismay, the answer came when a drop of blood from my nose fell onto the piece of cloth I was wearing.
It all made sense. This was what hit me in the abyss. I touched the under of my nose only to see red on my fingers. As if it sensed my sudden realization, it turned its head away from me, avoiding eye contact. I was too tired from the pain to try to hit it any further.
I set it on my lap and took a look at my surroundings. I was in a spacious, well-illuminated cave with minimal vegetation on its ceiling and floor. It had a little river running by on the ground.
I crawled towards it and attempted to sip a little water, but I was startled by what I assumed was my reflection. A pale boy with dark hair, which was plastered to his face by blood, looked back at me. His grey eyes were what shocked me the most; they were so devoid of life, as if he could not express emotion.
I tried looking angry, that same look. I tried smiling, but his lips curled upwards in an awkward way. I gave up on trying to get his face to express emotions.
I cupped my hands and proceeded to drink some of the water. I did not know what to expect when I put my hands to my mouth. As I drank the water, the relief which I had felt caught me by surprise. The pain in my throat, which I thought was normal, was actually curable, I think.
I greedily guzzled more water from the river, too ecstatic to use my hands again. My only companion in this dark cave – the dog joined me to drink. I took a break after forgetting to breathe as I drank.
I looked around and found a place where the river fell off a small edge. With the dog's help, I crawled there to clean my face. Blood falling from my nose at intervals was not something I enjoyed. I went halfway into the river and dipped my head into it; it was freezing, but I needed to clean the blood that badly.
To add more to my terrible luck, I fell. The river was quite deep; my body was stressed to the extent I couldn't even use my limbs to help myself.
I looked around for the dog, but he was nowhere in sight.
I cursed silently at my predicament. I was going to drown. My head went under the water as soon as I attempted to get out. I tried to hold my breath, but to no avail as the air bubbles leaked from my mouth and nose.
I could hear faint barking. I laughed causing me to swallow more water.
'It's even mocking my death.'
Suddenly, a small but firm hand pulled me out of the river. I fell on the bank, coughing up all the water which had entered my lungs. I looked at what monster could have pulled me with that much force. I looked to my right to see a person who looked older than me sitting by my side, still holding my hand.
My vision was getting blurry as I tried to look at their face well, but I could see the vague outline of a smile on their face just as I passed out, again.