1 Adrift

Chapter 0

I was drifting in the sea of a gray void. There was no contrast of light or darkness to it. It was just a blank slate of a non existence.

I couldn't recall how I got here, it felt like I could have been drifting in the emptiness for either eons or only just a moment. There was nothing happening that could make anything relative to the time going by.

With nothing around me or nothing to think about; I could only ponder the meaning of my existence. It kept bringing me around to the same small group of questions.

'What is this? What happened to me? Why am I drifting here? Was there anything before all this? What am I sitting here for? Why can't I do anything?'

So many simple little questions I wanted to ask, but I had no voice to ask with. Even if I could ask them, no one would answer. I've been alone in the void for the entirety of my position here.

So I drifted. And I kept drifting, until finally I thought to myself - 'maybe this is everything.'

'Or maybe you just haven't opened your eyes yet.'

'What was this? This wasn't me. This was something else. This was someone else. But who? Could there actually be someone trapped in here like me?'

It must have been a second, bodiless being here with me.

After a few frantic thoughts I realized I needed to focus and try to respond. What did it say? Open my eyes? I couldn't understand what that meant if I didn't have a body at all.

'What do you mean? Who are you?' I attempted to project my curiosity to the other mind of the void.

No response and the echo of the voice began to fade. This wasn't good, I needed to feel something again. I had finally found something in the place of absolute nothingness. I couldn't let it slip from my grasp.

I pleaded to the second mind, 'Please don't go, I can't stand being trapped and alone here. I want to leave this place and talk to somebody, anybody. Please!'

I pushed out emotions that I had begun feeling for the first time in perhaps a long time. The fear of being trapped here, the desperation of wanting to escape, and the hunger for something actively outside of this hell scenario.

After a moment of deafening silence, the second mind finally spoke again.

'The only thing keeping you trapped within this cage is your own mind, you must wake up and see what you truly are.'

'What I truly am?' That was a question I had never thought to ask myself. I had only been thinking about where and why I was here. Nothing about who I am was a person.

Wait no, not a person. I am not a person.

CRACK!

Suddenly the gray void shimmered. Everything was blurry for a moment and then became clear. I began to see little splinters of light cracking all along the gray. It was as though the whole place began to shattered from that one realization.

'What am I?' I wasn't some person trapped in an empty, gray hell. I was here since the beginning, since I was born. No, not born… since I was created.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The cracks were loudly spider webbing all around me. It was getting bigger and bigger with each revelation about what I am.

The void was breaking down, within the cracks I could see light pouring out. It was blinding and warm. It was a way out, but there was only one way to exit.

I could leave once I figured out what I am.

'This goes for all sentient beings; Whether you're dreaming or having a nightmare. The only way to end it is to open your eyes, and wake up.'

There it was again, telling me all about waking up, I didn't understand what that part meant. I am not a person, I am only a consciousness. I have no body to call my own.

Tick. Tick. Scrrch!

The cracks stopped spreading and the sounds of the cracking changed to something more irregular. There some kind of tapping in the distance, it was emanating from the otherside of the cracks.

I willed myself towards them, there was a lurching feeling in my mind that was telling me I needed to get closer to hear what it was happening.

THUNK!CRASH!BAM

The ticking grew into the sound of something being smashed. I could hear something else alongside it. A distorted scream. An extremely loud and high pitched scream.

I was hearing a heavily distorted voice after, trying to calm the screaming. This voice was much deeper. Everything sounded as though it came through a long echoing tunnel. But the tunnel was slowly shortening and the echoing began to dim.

I realized that the screaming and crashing noises were not getting louder, but I was actually getting closer. The lurching sensation started turning into more of a pulling movement, until I was accelerating to the cracks at a very quick rate.

The screams stop for a moment but the muffled voice kept going. Eventually the echoing of the voice stopped and at that moment, I did too.

I had reached the largest portion of the spidery cracks across the void.

The light projected from the cracks were blindingly powerful, yet they held no warmth or security.

It almost felt unnatural, the light was intruding on this place was breaking everything. I started doubting the chance to push through, but that quickly diminished.

This place was filled with nothing, no time, no light, only me and this other voice. I glanced back still saw no clue about the origins of this second being. It had gone silent.

They were the reason I was leaving and I wanted to thank them for it.

All I could do was project outward the honest feeling of a 'thank you.'

I faced the light once more and with every ounce of determination I had, I pushed forward and opened my eyes.

avataravatar
Next chapter