Awakening
Page 45
*
“Again.”
I am in the pod. I am peaceful. I am whole. There is nothing to disturb me, nothing to frighten me. As I watch, a female figure emerges from the void. She is wearing a plain, ankle-length white dress which complements her billowing ivory hair. She lifts up her head, two shining violet eyes peering out from under a platinum curtain.
As she takes a step towards the pod, uncontrolled fear blooms in my mind. Every cell in my body wants me to escape, to flee from this… thing, but the glass still holds me prisoner. She raises an ivory arm, a small, intertwined bangle the only adornment. Suddenly, the glass that has been both a prison and a shield shatters, sending hundreds of sparkling shards into the void.
I feel my body start to rise into the air, against my will. I want to scream but the overpowering fear renders me speechless. I float in the air, a slave to her will. She is looking at me, crimson tears pouring down her porcelain face. A sense of déjà vu overwhelms me as I look at her tear-streaked face. Has this happened before? If I could just remember… maybe I could find a way to escape…
Finally, I find my voice, and begin calling out to the stranger standing beneath me. She looks at me with apathy, and lifts me higher. My fear worsens as I ascend into the darkness. She has become a distant speck, far below. Somehow, I can still see her face clearly… her burning eyes locked on to mine. How far have I risen? A mile? More?
A fear of heights I never knew I had kicks in and my legs begin to tremble, wishing that they had solid ground beneath them once more. I look down in time to see her eyes abruptly stop shining, her upraised arm falling to its side. Somehow, in my mind, I know that whatever held me up is gone. Without her interference, gravity quickly regains its dominance, and I feel my body bend knee to its will.
With no air left in my lungs to form a scream of terror, I fall in silence, the rushing air my only companion. The force of the gale batters my eyes and sends a bolt of pain throughout my helpless frame. The ground is getting closer by the second, and I’m still accelerating… faster and faster, until darkness begins to creep into my vision.
She’s still there, waiting for me beside my broken pod. The hard floor is right below me, calling out to me like the mother I never had. There’s no use fighting it…
She is a God, and I am her sacrifice…
A hundred feet from the ground, I close my eyes. My body has reached its terminal velocity, just as I have reached my termination. The fear, the hopelessness, the terror… everything is gone now. Only death remains, and I welcome it with open eyes.
The moment before I hit the floor, I hear her voice inside my mind.
“Again.”