Air flooded my lungs and I sat up gasping. My vision was fuzzy and all I could see was a blur of green. I rolled over on my side as I continued to gasp. My vision cleared and my breathing started to slow. I blinked a few times and looked around. I was in a field. The grass so green it hurt my eyes. I pulled myself up slowly, head pounding. The tops of the grass brushed my fingertips and my bare legs. I glanced down. I wore nothing. I was completely naked. Strange, I thought. I looked up and examined my surroundings. The field was surrounded by walls. They were tall and the color of stone and trees. The tops were pointed and jagged. They looked like the tops of mountains. But they weren't mountains. They were walls.
I took a deep breath through my nose, trying to smell something. Nothing. I leaned down and sniffed the grass. Nothing. I leaned even farther down, practically shoving my nose into the dirt. (It definitely felt like dirt.) I breathed. Nothing.
My brow furrowed and I stood up. Then I spun around in slow circles. I was boxed in. I closed my eyes and rubbed them with the heels of my hands. When I opened them there was a staircase in front of me. It was made of wood. Deep brown and polished, it shone in the sun. But it didn't lead anywhere. It went up, then stopped. Just empty air beneath it. I frowned and walked to the stairs. I made a slow circle around it, then I walked under it and ran my hands along the bottom of the steps. Even this part was smooth and perfect. Nothing seemed to be supporting it, I wondered how it could stand.
I had made a full circle, and now I stood at the base of the stairs. I made either the stupidest or the smartest decision of my life. I walked up the stairs. When I reached the very top, I stopped. I looked over the edge, the ground seemed impossibly far down. I took a surprised step back and almost fell down the stairs. I righted myself and took a shaky breath. Then I lowered myself to my hands and knees and looked over the edge again. The grass below was maybe miles away, which shouldn't have been possible. There were only thirteen steps, I counted. I could touch the top step when I was underneath it.
"Impossible." I breathed.
"No." A voice said. I jumped and scrambled down a few steps. The voice was right in front of me, but right in front of me was nothing. I rubbed my eyes again, hoping this was all a dream and that I'd wake up... somewhere. I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember anything from before I woke up here. Not even my name.
"Then how do I know how to speak? How to walk?" I asked myself.
"Come home." The voice said, and I felt I had to listen to it. I stood up, and walked to the top step again. I hesitated for only a moment, then stepped out into the open air. My bare foot landed on something. Something I couldn't see. Something cold. I continued to walk. The air rippled around me, and suddenly, I wasn't in the field anymore. I was... I wasn't sure exactly.
There were staircases everywhere, leading who knows where. The air was a hazy gray, and seemed to partially consume everything it touched, even me. The stairs were white and disappeared into each other and the gray air. Some of them were even upside down.
"Come home." The voice said again. It sounded like it was on top of the stairs in front of me. I followed it. When I reached the top step, it spoke again but from somewhere to my right. I followed it once more. I continued to follow the voice up and down stairs, even some of the upside down ones.
After some time, The voice stopped. It stopped leading me. Then I realized why. There was a large, red door. It was resting on the top of the stairs in front of me. I walked up to it, and placed my hand on the doorknob. It swung open slowly and white light spilled out of it. I held my hand up to shield my eyes from the brightness. The door didn't seem to lead anywhere, but I had learned that that didn't mean much. I walked slowly into the white light. It consumed me and I was momentarily blinded.
