I watched the scenery the entire way to the port. The air began to taste of salt, the temperature began to drop. Then the ferry came into view as I slowly succumbed to sleep. I was awoken by the lack of oxygen in the car as I struggled to breathe, as I gathered in my surroundings, I found that the car was already stored away whilst I was still in it. Despite the fact that I was not an item and should not have been in the storage unit of the ferry due to the lack of ventilation, the chances of me surviving the entire trip were slim.
I felt the panic begin to bubble up under the surface as I urged myself to stay calm, panicking would lead to hyperventilation, which would not help my situation.
The doors of the car were locked from the outside, this meant that I was able to unlock it from the inside. This wasn't exactly helpful as there was still a lack of oxygen, and I was still locked in the storage unit.
I roamed the area in search of an exit or another living being, to no avail. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and I was beginning to become lightheaded.
The more lightheaded I got, the harder it was to suppress my panic. A dull pain grew in my chest as my ability to breathe decreased, I was scared.
I continued to roam the area until I found a gap in the ceiling that allowed a small supply of oxygen to flow through it. I could also hear the music that played from above and the muffled chatted that came with it that suggested there was an ongoing gala. The gap was miniature, so much so that it was barely noticeable, but it was there and it was my savior.
I parked myself on the ground below the hole and regulated my breathing to endure that I saved oxygen so that it would last me the journey, knowing that it was going to take longer since we had to take another route to California, in order to avoid going through the Darien gap as father claimed it to be dangerous.
There was a dull pain in the back of my head and my chest that only grew as time went on. It took a while before I had suddenly remembered my phone that I had left in my backpack.
I slowly picked myself up off the ground and found my way back to the car, making sure to note where the spot was at every turn I made. As I got closer to the car, the movement of the waters began to become aggressive, this caused the ground to shake and so it caused me to lose balance.
I was in-between a white Mercedes-Benz SUV and a blue Acura Type S when I lost my footing. As I fell, I hit my head on the side mirror of the bigger car causing me to fall back and hit my elbow through the window of the Acura. The window broke and my arm got lodged in a shard of the broken glass that was still attached to the car.
The pain seared through my body as I involuntarily let out a scream in response to it. The ground was not yet stable, and so I found it difficult to keep myself held in one place, my feet slipped every time I readjusted myself.
It felt like an hour had passed before the floor had stabilized and the waters had calmed. My arm had bled into the car and there was also a messy pool that had gathered below me. Maybe it was the lack of oxygen; the lack of blood; or the intense pain I felt from my arm, but I was beginning to get so lightheaded that I could barely stand. My head and arm hurt and I struggled to breathe to the point that my chest hurt.
I struggled to stay standing, although it was vital that I adjusted myself to avoid the already deep wound from going any deeper, and to do this I had to remain standing. I could have just removed my arm from the shard, but I was afraid, what if I had punctured an artery, no one was around to help me.
My headache grew stronger as time passed and my inability to breathe made it difficult for me to stay conscious.
I heard a soft ping, the sound similar to that of an elevator. Which some difficulty, I opened my eyes to see who had just arrived, only to be temporarily blinded by the light of a torch. It only lasted a couple seconds, but my eyes had been so used to the dim lighting of the storage unit that the sudden light hurt.
The bearer of the light was a staff member of the ferry who was supposed to come at the end of each day to ensure that everything was in order.
I could barely make out their face or exact figure, but their metal name tag shone from the light that they were holding which is how I figured that they were a member of staff. I couldn't make out the name that was on the name tag either, I just knew it was there.
It took a while before the light was shone at my direct location, I didn't have the energy to call out for help, so I simply waited from them to get to me as I knew they would.
The light was shone from behind me and I heard a gasp. I had no interest in who the person was, so I didn't feel the need to check, which was good because I simply couldn't without causing my injury to worsen.
"Hey, hey, what happened? What're you doing here?" Came a hushed voice in a soft, urgent tone. It sounded like a teenage boy, manly but boyish. I liked it...
My body was losing its strength as I began to slump down, slowly, trying to keep myself up.
"Whoa, whoa, hey!" His voice was still hushed, but the urgency in it grew, as he launched forward to help keep me steady with both hands. Once he was sure that I wouldn't slip from the hold, he removed one hand. I heard some radio static before he randomly said, "hey, uh, there's a guy around my age down here. It looks like he got into an accident during the storm, and he's lost a lot of blood... yeah... no, I don't know, I just found him... alright."
His hand returned to my side as he continued to speak. This time it sounded as if he was directing his words to me.
"Right, the crew's gonna come help us with your situation in a minute, it'll all be alright. Okay?" His voice was calming, but I could here the panic in it. My body fell limp against his as he held me up. He seemed taller than me.
"So, what's your name?" He asked, attempting to make small talk. He was caring enough to stop for me so I made an effort to reply, although it was becoming more and more difficult to talk and I was beginning to hyperventilate, the realisation that I may not be able to hold on until the crew got here was finally sinking in.
"Chris...tian." I pushed out through huffs, my voice raspy from disuse. The boy behind replied, the lack of oxygen clearly starting to actually get to him, "that's a nice name, where're you from?"
He hadn't told me his name, I don't know why, but this bothered me. I nodded my head weakly, and choked out a reply as clearly as I could, "Col...mbia," I tried to calm my breathing desperately. "What... your... name..."
"Oh my name?" He asked to clarify if that was what I was meaning to ask. I nodded.
"Its Jason, but you could call me Jace, if you want," just as he finished speaking there were several new rays of light that did not come from his flashlight, obviously. With the new rays of light came several new voices that I was not familiar with, they were laced with urgency and concern.
Jason, or Jace, suddenly yelled out his location to the searching rays. His arms were still supporting me and my back was still against his chest as he did this, this meant that his abrupt yell rang in my ear, as his face was situated right by my ear.
His yell shocked me and caused me to tense up against him, I never did well with sudden loud sounds that weren't familiar to me, because of this, te fact that I didn't jump was pure luck.
It took about two minutes for the bearers of the rays of light found their way to both Jason and I. When they finally did this Jason breathed a somewhat relieved sigh as his hold on men tightened. I was losing more and more strength as the minutes passed to the point where I was no longer standing, rather Jason was holding me up against him. My eyes where now almost completely closed, I could barely keep my eyes open and so could only see the rays of light against the floor or on me and the feet that followed them.
I was barely breathing at this rate, I was technically gasping for air every couple seconds. My head was throbbing with intense pain and my chest felt constricted. The large wound on my arm that still had the glass shard was throbbing as well and so was every other limb on my body. I felt hot tears trickle down my cheeks, I felt as if I was dying.
The strangers that were supposedly my saviours, ran up to me. One of them put their flashlight down on the ground beside them as they kneeled whilst looking up at me. They looked like a female, though I couldn't tell if she was a woman or a girl, but regardless, she seemed as though she was positioning herself as another female voice asked for details from Jason.
His words didn't seem to penetrate as my view faded into darkness. My body that was still being held up by Jason, started to slowly feel lifeless, until it no longer felt as though it was actually mine.
The only information that they had acquired from me was that my name was Christian, I was Columbian and I liked my name...
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