She felt like she was floating. Black roiled and writhed around her. No light. No color. No feeling. She had only a sense of being, of existing, but not understanding why she existed. Then she heard it, a beep, sporadic, but steady. She knew what it was, but naming it was just out of her reach. Then there was another sound. A pump of some type, in, out, it whooshed. In, out. Beep. In, out, beep.
Where was she? Who was she? What was she? In—out—beep.
She heard a click, sounding like a door had opened or closed.
"They will have to make the decision soon," a deep male voice said. "Her body is wearing out."
A lady answered, "Her mother will be devastated, poor thing. She has been so optimistic that she would pull through. Said she was a fighter, but I guess it would be best. I would not want to wake up and face what she would have to face."
And it all rushed back—the horrific memory. She screamed in her mind, "No! It cannot be!" She ran, retreated, withdrew, welcoming the abyss as it consumed her and carried her away into its thick impenetrable sea of merciful oblivion.