~~~~~*~~~~~

Libby lay frozen in the hospital bed.

Despite her efforts to communicate her wishes, her body refused to cooperate to her commands, and she found—to her horror—that she was unable to open her eyes, or move any of her limbs at all. She could hear the muffled voices of her friends in the distance, but when she tried to move her lips to speak nothing happened. Even her breathing felt strange to her—as though she had no control over it.

As she struggled to fight the terror that threatened to overwhelm her, Libby tried to remember back to her last known movements in an attempt to make some sort of sense out of the situation. All she could remember was that she'd been upset and that she'd decided to go climbing...

+ + +

She'd been doing well, despite having a few slips at the start before her body was limber enough to attempt the slightly harder footholds higher up. She'd decided to ignore her tutor's warning that only experienced climbers go out alone without a spotter, as she'd decided to return to an old haunt, where she'd had her first lesson in the skill of rock climbing. She rarely ignored her tutor’s instructions, but figured that as she was climbing in an area that she knew well and had climbed before, she wasn't technically breaking any rules. It could be argued that she was simply practicing, which she'd been told to do.

She'd only been climbing for around a month, but she had made lots of improvements in that time; even though she hadn't initially been convinced by her tutor's praise. She'd only taken up rock climbing as her guidance counsellor at college had suggested that she try a new hobby that would get her outside and give her a break from studying.

At first she'd been hesitant, but after discussing it with Justin—the only person she'd told—she'd thrown herself into it and become something of an addict. She'd soon discovered that she couldn't worry about her problems while she was climbing, and the buzz she received when she reached one of her targets gave her such a thrill that she was buzzing for days afterwards. It was knackering, of course, but worthwhile, she thought.

She'd been stretching to connect herself to the next hook when she missed making contact with the rock, and consequently over stretched, losing her footing. As the shock and adrenaline sent her heart racing, she found herself shaken to the core by the sensation of incredible speed. Her brain barely had time to process the fact that she'd made a mistake before she'd fallen a considerable distance down the rock face.

As her mind struggled to keep up with her external velocity, she found herself reasoning that she must be falling due to the hook that she'd attached herself to having become dislodged. Telling herself to stop thinking about why she was falling and do something to stop herself getting hurt, she glanced down as she neared the bottom of the rock formation.

The wind howled in her ears as she reached her hands out, at first unsuccessfully and then again in an attempt to snatch at the cables that were swinging around her. She managed to catch one of the wires only momentarily before it was whipped out of her hand, ripping through her fingers as she tried to keep hold of it. The searing pain assured her that she had at least one, if not two, broken fingers.

As she realised the true horror of her situation—that she was about to implant into the rocks below her—she tried to remember the tips that her tutor had taught her should such a rare occasion occur. She tried to twist her body into a better position for landing, protecting her head over her limbs, but her body couldn't resist the force of the wind that her fall was creating; making her unable to twist her body away from the rocks.

As she attempted to turn again, she suddenly felt an incredible force jolting her around the waist. Immediately, the breath was sucked out of her lungs as she absorbed the blow. For a moment she was no longer falling, and she felt a feeling of euphoric relief wash over her as she realised that she wasn't going to hit the rock face after all. She was hanging upside down and still couldn't reach any of the cables to be able to right herself, but at least she wasn't splattered against the rocks below.

Turning her body so that her head was parallel with the rock face, she reached out her arm letting the rope swing her slightly to the side as she tried to grasp the cables. Missing the first time, she used her stomach muscles to swing her away from the rock and then back towards the cables, where she reached out her good hand stretching her fingers as far as she could. This was her chance, she knew. If she could just grab the cables then there was a chance that she could walk away from this.

It wasn't to be. As she swung her body for the second time, she felt a twang in the rope and looked up just in time to see a second hook become dislodged. This is the reason you aren't meant to climb alone, she told herself ruefully. It had nothing to do with the climbing and everything to do with placing the safety hooks.

This time, as she began to fall and the beach below rushed up to meet her, she did manage to snatch one of the cables; but it was already too late. She was jolted again, this time much more sharply, and she found herself spinning around and bouncing against the hold of the rope. Realising that her spin was going to send her crashing towards the rock wall with incredible force, Libby sucked in a breath, hoping that it would help her with the no doubt searing pain that she would feel when her soft body came in contact with the unyielding rock face.

She tried to raise her arms out in front of her, hoping that she might somehow be able to push away from the wall as the rope sent her towards it, but the two jolts on her spine had affected her central nervous system, and she was having trouble communicating with the nerves in her arm. She was able to raise her arms but too slow for it to do any good. As she spun, one minute facing the wall and the other the ocean, she began to feel the effects of the motion on her brain, and she squeezed her eyes shut to clear her head. Opening them again she realised for the first time that the spin could send her crashing into the wall with the back of her skull, which was far more dangerous than face forward.

Unable to react or do anything to stop herself, Libby hit the uneven surface hard with her right side, and felt an immediate pain shoot throughout her whole body. Her arm took the brunt of the impact. As she bounced back from the collision and continued to spin, her head snapped back and she hit the wall again; the right side of her head suffering a substantial blow.

The pure agony that swept through her body at that moment was unbearable, but she had no choice but to go through it. She had shattered her arm—that she was certain. Bone went into nerve and set her blood to burning. She'd already screamed intentionally hoping to draw attention to her plight, but there was no one within ear shot to hear her.

Tears poured down her cheeks as she pleaded and swore at God to release her from the pain and let her slip into unconsciousness. Anything would be better than what she'd already suffered.

She hung there—writhing—for maybe five minutes of torture before she started to get a hold of herself. She realised that she had to remain calm, no matter what. She was badly hurt, that was for sure. She had broken her arm and most likely had a serious concussion; she could even feel the blood dripping down the side of her face, but she was conscious, and more importantly, alive. If she could just hold on until someone found her... She'd survived the fall and already the rope was beginning to settle and stop spinning. If she could just hold on long enough...

And then, all of a sudden, she realised that she could no longer hear the sound of the waves, or feel the pain in her arm or head. An uneasy feeling of numbness overwhelmed her, and not too long after her eyesight began to fail. She let go of the feeling of holding on and allowed the sweet darkness to take her.

+ + +

The ECG monitor started to beep frantically, and Justin shot to his feet from where he'd been sitting in the hard plastic chair beside Libby's bed. Ten minutes had passed since Justin's mother, Lynn, had arrived, and after managing to comfort her son enough for him to stop crying, she'd suggested that he take a seat and try to calm down. Watching him standing there trembling was too much for everyone to bear.

"What's happening? What's beeping?" He asked in a panic as he turned to JC with wide eyes. He, too, looked just as concerned as he was. "I didn't touch anything, I swear!"

JC jogged across the room and hit the red button that was pegged onto the side of Libby's bed. They'd been told that it was there for them to use if they needed the attention of any of the doctor or nurses, but, by the time he'd pressed it, an alarm had already triggered at the nurses' station outside. The head nurse for the department burst into the room and both he and Justin stared at her in fear as she rushed to Libby's side.

"It just started beeping," Justin heard JC tell the nurse as she bent over Libby and stared intensely at the monitor. She pressed several buttons on the ECG machine—silencing the beeping straight away—and studied the peaks and dips that the monitor had recorded. There was an awful silence in the room for several minutes before she straightened up and turned around to face them.

"It's nothing worry about, boys," she said gently as she offered them a kind smile. "It's just a little brain activity that's affected her heart rate. That's a good sign."

"Phew," JC muttered in relief as he exchanged a look with Justin. He'd encouraged Clare to step outside for a moment with Lynn to get some fresh air, and as soon as the machine had begun to make a noise he'd panicked that he might have made a mistake. He didn't know very much about hospitals, but he realised that Libby was in a very serious condition. He knew that Clare would never forgive herself—or him—if she wasn't there for Libby if she took a turn for the worse.

~~~~~*~~~~~