02. Pieces

She came to. But there was only a numbness. it made even less sense than before. the time was endless... no sound, no light, no taste, no smell, and no touch.

Just the buzzing hum that somehow didnt register as a sensation of any kind, almost like static.

It seemed a god answered her prayer, but for what purpose, she couldnt fathom. She had only clarity of thought. What she could remember was a blur. Who was she? What happened to her? Where was she now?

It seemed no god was in the mood to answer...

She thought endlessly, for how long, she could only guess. Thinking critically, maybe this was hell. There was more pain in what little memory she had than what she assumed anyone could possibly experience in a thousand normal lifetimes... but now she was bereft of any senses at all... even panic. She now thought, perhaps I'm insane, a normal person would be driven to paranoia by all this nothingness.

She thought harder.

"I can think..."

...

"Well, thats a start."

...

"I seem to know about life. A life span... i didnt used to be alone, but i have memories of how the world works. Thats better than being completely senseless."

...

"Perhaps I'm in purgatory? This seems a bit empty to be considered the promise of heaven..."

...

"I can understand the existence of religion... i know others who followed the teachings of those before them..."

...

... and so it went on. She spent her time analyzing her thoughts, trying to piece together what she was, and what she still had.

"I refer to myself in the feminine tense... I can understand the gender roles. Why do I know that part of me but not my name? ... on that note, I have a concept of a name... but I cant recall any names."

Try as she might, she could not think of any names. why would someone name a concept without a purpose?"

Her thoughts coalesced around previous thoughts... "I know of things I cannot recall... I know of a world I cannot remember... it seems to make the most sense that i was made to forget them. Was it an accident or on purpose?"

Her thoughts seemed to settle and focus on this question.

A nagging stinging sensation began to grow on her... she didnt know how to describe what she was feeling other than a scratching pulling sensation on her brain.

it disturbed her thoughts...

"... what the hell is that?!"

It grew in intensity and pain.

"Wait, I can feel that."

The realisation that something was happening to her, that she had senses of something excited her.

A smell suddenly registered to her... a disgusting smell but a smell nonetheless. a tangy metalic scent, with ammonia and rotten eggs... she struggled to make sense of it all.

Another jolt, this time from her arm.

Wait, she had an arm?

She had perfect mental clarity but the body she was now aware of seemed completely inert, randomly sending the faintest signals to her, but completely unintelligible. It was the most disturbing out of body experience, knowing her body was right there, but that it wouldnt obey her thoughts...

Another jolt, and she could hear a sporadic humming. She was in a panic now... it sounded like muffled speech, like a man trying to talk through a wall. The words unrecognisable, but identifiable as speech by its cadence and tone. The sporadic humming cut short mere moments later

It truly baffled her why she felt worry now after everything else she experienced. Perhaps it was the promise of a new freedom that fate could deny that scared her more than the absolute certainty and acceptance of her predicaments before. Now she was struggling to gain her bearings.

Another jolt, and this time her brain went blank with shock.

A cloudy image suddenly came into focus out of the blackness. A bloodied disembodied eye stared back into hers...