I'm in a plain room with wooden floorboards. I can see walls with faded wallpaper on all sides, but there is no sign of a door. I turn right, then left, stumbling over a bedpost on the bed at the side. There is no way out. I am trapped.
I stumble towards one of the walls, running my fingers over the paper, scratching my skin on a loose nail. There is no ridge, no covered door.
I back away and spin around suddenly to a loud bang. The scene is different from before. Now there is a beaten-up old sofa in front of a pokey TV which is playing old action movies. On the sofa stretches a woman, her dark hair matted and tangled. She has a bottle slipping from her fingers, dangling from the side of the chair.
I approach her wearily, fearing the worse. I am standing over here now, watching for any sign on life. There is no rise and fall of her chest, no intake of breath through her cracked lips.
I lean down to check the pulse in her neck, closing my eyes so that I can concentrate more. One, two, three, four, five. There is nothing. I take my hand away and open my eyes. Her eyes are open, staring into mine.
I awake with a gasp, much like I did when I opened my eyes for the first time. Everywhere is dark, and I can't hear a thing. The only noise is my own harsh breathing and the occasional snore from the other side of the cave.
I have no idea what that vision was. It felt so real, that I thought it must be whilst I was in its clutches. I don't know where that place is. I don't know who that woman is. I don't know how it feels so familiar. All I know is that it does, and that it feels important for some reason.
I'm currently curled in a corner of one of the other valley people's caves. He offered to share his space with me seen as we the two newest people in the valley. His name is Rock and he has been here for a full twenty-two-thousand star sightings. I can see now why Ambrose finds my name odd. They all have names here that are inspired by something they have seen.
When he told me this, I started to wonder how long Ambrose has been here. He is obviously the first person to Wake. It's plain to see that from the way everyone turns to him and the power he has over everything.
After we 'worked out' a name for me, Ambrose led me outside and introduced me to the people properly. Everyone was even more welcoming than before, each greeting me by my name and giving me a different welcome of their own, some saying words that I don't even understand.
One person, a pretty brunette, picked up six items and laid them in front of me. There was one of the baskets, a spade made completely from a light type of rock that they used to dig through the soil, a bowl of that cool liquid that I drank earlier - water - a carrot, a thin piece of stone sharpened to a point threaded through a tightly weaved cloth made from grass, and last but not least, a long bowed piece of wood with something attached from one end to the other.
"Look at each of these objects and see which one calls to you. Each signifies one of the jobs that are done here in the valley. Look long and hard."
I stared at the six objects, waiting for something to trigger in my mind. Anything. Nothing triggered in my mind though, not one thing. As the long moments slipped by, I began to panic.
"The basket signifies the job of a weaver, creating baskets and material for every need of the valleyers from the grass that grows here," Ambrose explained to me when he noticed my worried expression. "The spade signifies a digger, someone who digs the soil and looks after the land that we grow out food.
"The bowl or water signifies a water fetcher, those who travel down to the valley river every day to reimburse our water supplies.
"The carrot symbolises a land keeper, one who cares for and picks the plants and food that we grow.
