The Rebirth

Chapter 3

There was nothing, though there must have been something for her to know there was nothing. There was only black, as if everything had been drowned in a starless night sky.

A flicker.

It started out a tiny light, a piece of hope, in the distance, frozen in time. She willed for it to come closer. Even if she couldn’t touch it, she wanted to see it. She had forgotten what it was like to see.

Frustrated she tried to scream, but wherever she was, she couldn’t. There wasn’t any sound here. There was nothing.

She pushed her will out one more time, and it was greeted with a power she couldn’t understand. The light was rushing towards her.

It was so close she could have touched it.

Darkness.

She pushed out, reaching for the power that she had been waiting for in her timeless conscience. She found what she was looking for, and gripped it as hard as she could. The light surged faster this time, unlike anything she knew possible. She could feel it electrifying her every fibre.

She touched it, and everything exploded.

There were eyes. Then further, she went past the eyes, searching for something.

Then everything seemed to slow down. There was a tiny white glow amongst red. She wanted to touch it, but every time the light flickered, as if her touch would extinguish it forever. 

Then she felt everything slipping away from her. The whisper got further and further away, and darkness closed in on its tiny light.

I know this, I do, but what? She thought to herself.

Then she felt a pang of recognition and she let go. Darkness swallowed up the light, and she felt her being become wrapped in black.

It was life, she thought. What she could see was life, and it triggered an emotion in her that she couldn’t understand.

                                                                                   * 

At first the faint humming had been an annoyance but now it was a comforting familiar sound. If the low buzz disappeared she would know there was something wrong. It seemed a long time ago that something had stirred inside her- something that made her feel real- and that had given her hope.

She could picture the spark, she could build up the image slowly in her absolute nothingness but it never stayed. She decided she would try to explore the darkness. She compelled herself to move but she never knew if she was really going anywhere. All she could do was hope.

It had taken her a long time to understand the emotion she had felt was hope and she didn’t even know how it had happened. It had just clicked. That’s what happens when you’re in limbo. 

Suddenly the low hum, her only companion in her world of darkness, was interrupted by a rhythmic beat. She recognised that sound, there was more than one beat. She picked out three individual sets of footsteps edging closer towards her. Then they just stopped. She felt panic rush in, why had they stopped? Then there were voices, three of them.

“Is there something wrong with her?” asked a small female voice, it was almost a whisper. There was definitely a hint of sadness to that voice. She heard a little sniff and the sound of a tear hitting the floor was deafening in the silence. “Will she be okay?” the woman asked, she sniffed again.

“Hannah if you give the doctor a chance I’m sure he’ll be able to tell us what’s going on with her,” said a male voice. It was deep but soft.