Soaring

All I saw was white; a veil mist across my eyes, obscuring my vision. I was awake, I was sure of it, but I felt nothing-not the weight of my body, not the air all around me. I was weight-less. I was Lost. Was I dreaming? Was I floating? Was I dead?
Although I had no frame of reference I was moving. Up and down. Side to side. Bobbing like a ship. Or at least that's what my consciousness was telling me.
As the mist dissolved it revealed shapes behind it. They were hazy at first, diluted by the white, then gradually becoming sharper and clearer and crisper in colour. Houses, roads, trees, bushes and a river like a silver ribbon, all below me, all glinting in the pocket of sunlight. I was soaring in the clouds, like a bird, like an angel. Was I an angel?
I looked down at the ant-sized people scurrying about their daily lives and felt not a jot of regret. The freedom of flight was exhilarating. Although I didn't know why I was there or how long it would last I enjoyed the moment for not a care, nor worry nor bad thought entered my head. I was peaceful.
I flew over the town I knew so well, over the tall spire of St Mary's Church, over the patchwork tennis courts, over the candy coloured botanic gardens, gliding with the north wind. Ahead of me I saw flashing blue lights at Gorton crossroads. Police cars and ambulances parked at all angles. Queues of traffic built up. Crowds of people gathered: watching, whispering. Luminous-jacketed paramedics carried stretchers and medical packs. Police chatted to bemused drivers. Across the junction were two cars, one with its bonnet concertinaed, the other with its boot crushed. On the pavement lay a twisted pink bike, with a yellow basket on the front and a red flag on the back. It was mine.
Blank and emotionless I struggled to recall what had happened but either way it didn't matter; it was over and that was that. As I looked to the heavens, smiling with my eyes I waited to drift upwards. But instead of soaring on to the next plane I was pulled downwards, like an out of control kite, toward the earth and into a void of velvet darkness from which I was ejected with a gasp. Around me now I could clearly hear the sound of sirens, beeping noises and worried voices. Once again I opened my eyes and made out the blurry outlines of people leaning over me. I felt them prodding below. I felt their cold hands and their warm breath.
"She's back. She's back," a frantic voice called out. "You're alright sweetheart. You're in good hands."
I was alive.