Coming Down

[Jazzfat]

((Kathleen finally found an exit to the facility))

Somehow Kathleen found herself walking down from the research facility. Her head was still in the clouds, but Kathleen knew how to come down. She took in the forest surrounding the road. Just her, the trees, and the road. Nobody else.

She breathed in and out a few times. And her mind immediately went back to what she saw back at the research facility. All those lost. She didn't even know her names. Who they were. She began to feel her fingertips again - they were digging into her palms, her nails nearly piercing and breaking the skin. Even a sensation such as pain would help bring her back to the world of the living.

Her legs started to get less and less numb, and her stride slowly became normal - rather than as if it was buttery. Kathleen became aware of how exerted her legs really were, walking and running all across that facility to find an exit. But she couldn't stay here. The feeling of vulnerability came next, when her brain started getting a lot less hazy, just as she was thinking of stopping. Now, she can't stop walking until she's satisfied.

Her chest came back next, and then Kathleen truly felt how tired she was. She wasn't realizing how out of breath she was. As if she ran a cross country. This was not helped by the fact that Kathleen also felt the cottonmouth - the dryness that was her mouth - smoking all that weed. It was a disaster.

As Kathleen slowly got a handle on things, she realized her situation.

She was alone. Cold. Tired. Thirsty. And vulnerable.

Guess she deserves that.

((And Kathleen just kept on walking.))