Raven ©

Prologue

Copyright © 2018 by Zoë Rose.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, addressed "Attention: Permissions Coordinator," at the email address below, or via the provided website contact form:

Zoerose15@yahoo.com
www.zoerosewrites.com

Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author's imagination.

First digital edition 2018.

Zoë Rose. 

March 7th, 2009

"Keep running, and whatever you do, don't look back!" A man's voice screams through the darkness. The black hole is empty and devoid of life, only carrying sounds and a feeling of unease.

Wait, where am I and how long have I been here?

"Do you understand me..." he demands, his voice trailing off and filling the ever expanding room once again. I want to answer, to tell him that I most certainly do not understand what he's telling me to do, but as I try to speak nothing comes out of my mouth.

No words. No sounds. Nothing.

At this point, I don't even know if I actually exist. I could be nothing more than a collective consciousness. There are no observable others through the thick veil of nothingness, so maybe I'm no longer alive. Maybe I'm dead.

If I am dead, who was I before I died?

I fire off electrical impulses in my perceived brain, focusing all concentration on trying to feel something...anything. But nothing happens. It's as if my own body doesn't exist.

I'm stuck in a place that has no beginning or end, and I don't even know who I am. Every thought I have only adds another question to the mystery that is myself. Days, months, or years pass in this place where time doesn't apply. Everything blends together when all I see is the color black.

The man's voice plays on an endless loop, his commands drifting off into the vast unknown. At this point, I'm convinced I'll be stuck in this Groundhog Day scenario for all of eternity. Finally, I stop trying to fight for life and I let it be. I relinquish control over my existence, and suddenly, the darkness begins to lift. A tiny pinprick of light materializes far off in the distance and I swim towards it like my life depends on it. I guess maybe it might, but I'll never know if I don't float through that beacon of hope.

I have to reach that light.

I need to reach that light.

•••  

A low pitched, steadily beeping machine is the first thing that welcomes me to reality. My eyes shoot open and I glance around a sterile, white walled room that appears to be some sort of hospital. The only splashes of life added to this bleak establishment consists of a blue vase of sunflowers by my bedside, a burning orange glow from the setting sun behind beige curtains...and a blonde girl curled up on a pastel green couch?

She's wearing a white tank top with black shorts and her bright red nose sticks out against her slightly pale skin. I can tell she's been crying based on the bags underneath her lashes and the sheen coming off her eyelids as they've been rubbed almost raw. I cautiously prop myself up in the bed and the heart rate monitor attached by little wires on my body begins chiming quicker. This causes the girl to wake up and she rapidly sits up on the couch. Her bright blue gaze locks onto me and her mouth falls open, her attention fixed on nothing else.