Tossed

A combination of fluff on top of hardness told Emma she had passed out on the floor when she started to become aware of her surroundings. Wet, sticky warmth slid down her neck and a void of ringing filled her ears. “I must have hit the back of my head,” she thought. These details were all she could manage. How she got there was so far away and exhausting to remember.

Her body in the present would be easier to check in on. From top to bottom, just like when she would fall off her bike as a kid. Head, pounding, arms, moving fine, legs, moving fine, back, soar but manageable. It felt like her back and head hit something hard, but what?

As she was about to try to stand, a deep voice trailed in, muffled and distant. “Did someone break into the apartment?” The thought made her freeze. Better to play dead until she knew what she was in for. But she needed to be able to fight as much as possible if she was going to get away. She pushed up on the rug and realized her pounding head was worse than she imagined. The world began to spin, and she fell back down the two inches she managed to lift herself. 

A second male voice, not as deep though, trailed in and with the knowledge that two men might have broken in and she had no hope of standing up straight yet, playing dead seemed like the best option.

Emma dug her fingers into the plush carpet, trying to calm herself and get her head on straight. As she enjoyed the feel of it, she finally had a memory that made everything so much worse. 

She didn't own any plush carpets. Her heart raced and she passed out again.

Emma had no idea how much time had gone by when she woke up. The only thing she remembered was a dream of a house of cards collapsing continuously, with no end to the cards. 

A loud creak jarred her to want to run, but she seemed to have a cement brick for a head now and couldn't lift it. Her ears were ringing still and the voices she heard earlier were still muffled. 

She had no idea what they had planned for her or why they might have taken her. She just knew that she needed to prepare to fight. She couldn’t move yet, but her memories. She could work on getting a hold of them. 

Lord of the Rings movies and popcorn were the plan for her evening. A good plan too, she would love to be doing that right now. A glimpse of the rug, the swirls of blue and white were finally registering, and Emma remembered her downstairs neighbor. That's right, there was a visit with Maggie first. They had dinner together and Emma spilled some pesto at the corner of her rug, just like... 

Emma viewed a spot just like the glob of pesto she cleaned up. The rug, this was Maggie's rug. 

"Oh my," Emma thought as she hoped, "am I in Maggie's place? How? I went to bed after Helms Deep."

Emma heard the ringing start to taper off like she was coming out of water. She heard a moan nearby.

Maggie's place...maybe..."Maggie?" she called out, her voice strained.

The voice seemed to moan again in recognition. Not alone, Maggie was here. 

Emma crawled towards the moaning and tried to push back the pain in her head, "Maggie," she whispered, "Maggie, you're here. You're here." 

"You knew I was here," Maggie moaned, "You cried it out when you landed."

"Landed?"

"Yeah, your bed on my leg and you on my floor."

Emma looked up from Maggie's leg and witnessed her bed in Maggie's apartment. "What happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I do remember a huge crashing noise and a motor roaring by, like almost near my head with how loud it was. I woke up to it. I tried to get safe but my leg," Maggie lamented.

Emma remembered a bit. She was asleep too. Here bed crashed through the floor, and she bounced out onto Maggie's rug.

Emma was still in pain but her concern for Maggie helped her move around. She could see the bone sticking out of Maggie's leg, but she was more concerned with the amount of blood. Maggie needed help.

"I remember hearing men talking. Do you think they were here to help? Why haven't they helped yet?" Emma asked.

"Not sure."

Emma tried to look around. A whirling noise went by above them and she saw a helicopter going by, through her ceiling, that did not exist anymore.

Maggie's wall was missing too, and she went near the edge to find out more. She saw the blades of another helicopter and fire on the ground. Being five stories up, she couldn't see much more. There were flashing lights, probably police, hopefully an ambulance. As she peaked down, a group of people panicked, "Go back! Go back!" as they waved the direction.

She went to Maggie and explained, "I think they want us to stay here and wait."

Maggie looked at the sky and Emma's nonexistent apartment, "I wonder how much of the building is missing."

Emma grabbed her sheets and blankets off of her bed. "I'm going to try and stop the bleeding until they can get to us."

"You don't know how to do that," Maggie uttered.

"I will have you know that I took a first aid and CPR class at work. Got a certified card and everything."

"Don't make me laugh," Maggie whimpered.

"I promise to set my hurt feelings aside and get you fixed up," Emma worked at brevity but the leg and their situation looked bad. One side of the building looked like their home and the other side looked like it was in a war zone. Could anyone get to them?

The leg, work on the leg. "I'm going to try to get the bed off of you."

"I'm all for that," Maggie agreed.

Emma remembered wishing she could afford the fancy, wooden frame when she was decorating. Now she was grateful that she could only afford the basic metal frame. The combination of the box spring and mattress would be her biggest problem. The mattress had handles which she dragged it off the bed, next to Maggie easily. "How's that? Less weight, yes?"

"Actually Em, I'm afraid I can hardly feel anything with this leg."

"Oh no, they taught me something about shock. Don't go into shock," Emma demanded, "Here," she grabbed the extra blankets and piled them around Maggie, "Stay warm, okay?"

Maggie started to chuckle, "You act like I have any control over this."

"Just try," Emma pleaded and became aware of her pounding head again, "We both need to try."

Emma looked at the box spring, knowing it was leaning on the metal that was digging into Maggie's leg. She didn't want to drag that. 

She tried to push up. She heard a creak and thought, "Okay, it's moving."

She rested a moment, but the creak continued, even when she wasn't moving the frame.

She let out an "oooohhhh," that dragged out like she was trying to stop time.

"What's wrong?" Maggie asked.

"I think we're going down," Emma pointed out.

The creak turned into a crack and Emma went down and held Maggie, "Hold onto me, Mags."

Wood and boards snapped, and the floor angled forward. Emma dug her fingers into the rug that was stapled in place. The box spring wanted to slide downward, and Emma yelled out, "Hold me tight, Mags!"

Emma felt Maggie clench around her shoulders. The frame broke free of Maggie's leg, causing her to wail in pain. Emma wondered if she even had a leg anymore, but at least she was still with her. 

She felt the rug begin to give with their weight. More wood and boards snapped and for a moment, the floor was flat again.

"Oh God, let's be done," Maggie whimpered, "No more of that."

"I wish that was true but..." a deep, huge noise of metal moving up the frame of the building surrounded them as they heard panicked voices yell out, "It's coming down!"

"Oh no Mags, no, no, no, no, no." Emma looked around for an out, some protection. The best she could think of was a terrible idea, but she had nothing else. "Get on top of the mattress," she ordered while she dragged Maggie on top of it. She grabbed the blankets and comforter and surrounded them with them.

"I don't think this is going to work," Maggie confessed.

"At least we're trying," Emma whispered while she braced herself.

The cracking and creaking grew louder and became smashing and crashing as floors gave way. Each time, they went through another ceiling and down. Debris was flying over them and showering them as they went down. Emma prayed that nothing big would land on them, but she could feel some heavy stuff hit them.

Emma felt every moment of the fall even though she knew it happened in seconds. She tried to get up, but she was pinned to the mattress. "Mags? Mags? Please tell me you're alive."

A moan came from next to her, which was enough for now.

 They needed to get out. Would they find them in time?

Emma saw a flashing light peak through the debris. People were still outside. There was hope.

Emma tried to reach for the light. If they could see her hand, maybe, maybe.

Emma waited...and waited...and then she heard such a beautiful noise. The sniff sniff noise of a dog followed by the most wonderful slobbering around her fingers.

There was hope.