Alicia Millkington awoke. She'd slept through the alarm, blinking she did not recognise her surroundings, not where she ought to be when she'd gone to bed over 8 hours earlier. It was silent in the unfamiliar environment, eerie and still, she sat bolt upright and screamed.
Silence. There was silence and a stillness. The walls seemed to stare back at her cold and unfeeling. With a ringing in her ears and her heart thumping she stumbled out of bed, venturing to where her door, her bedroom door ought to be.
Before she could get to where she thought was her exit, she stared down at herself and froze. Where were her long tresses of hair? What were those bumps on her chest? Who owned the clothes she was wearing?
With her heart thumping, she screamed and flung open the door only to find her familiar surroundings, her kitchen and her book shelves were not there.
Instead before her was a series of openings expanding before her, in murky lighting. Wretched she screamed and ran around the space, which she knew as her living room searching for familiarity, her landline, Samson her cat, the switch to her heater, her TV or PC. Nothing, there was nothing in the unfamiliarity of this existence she had arrived at to reassure her that she was in her home.
She fell onto the hard surface. In a crumpled heap she sobbed uncontrollably and screamed; a shrill ringing pinged in her ears and she realised this strange sound was coming from a place deep within her - a place not known to her until now.
And then there was silence. A deafening nothingness pervaded the space; a stillness which hung in the air like a blanket of haze, enveloping Alicia and causing an outpouring of grief so overwhelming she lost consciousness.
Time was irrelevant for she moved as in a dream-like state, was she awake, or was she sleeping? Grappling with these thoughts, she moved towards the entrance closest to her and walked through its opening, a rounded white-coloured enclave. Her senses heightened, Alicia observed the walls and ceiling, tiny bumps covered its surface and it reminded her of goose bumps; those pimply spots appearing on her skin when she'd experienced strong emotions such as fear.
That was in her other life and time where life was predictable, normal and routine. Not like here.
She continued through the enclave, twisting and turning, with its precise directions; a relentless and endless tunnel of space and time unfolding before her. In the murky light, she began to make out shapes, photos and words on the walls. She stopped in her tracks and moved closer to the static mediums presented before her so as to read their context.
'Ice-Chill - Kai' - June 5 2013 - "I've been walking on the windswept cliffs of County Clare, a solitary afternoon rugged up against the biting arctic winds..."
Her eyes moved across the wall to photos where faces and landscapes of the world as she knew it flickered back at her in the shaded light. Alicia continued along the windy passage stopping to view another static medium; presenting a person's existence through words, photos and stories of family and loved ones. There was no other interaction, no human contact or voice engaging with Alicia, just a ghostly presence someone existed, somewhere in the ether of Alicia's current reality.
She continued along the windy passage not knowing her destination or where she had arrived. The surreality of the moment jolted her into a reality. This now was her reality. She fretted for her old life, her sense of security for this new world she was navigating had nothing of this. It held nothing for her except a void, an emptiness and longing which felt like an eternal weight where time no longer existed.
Suddenly leaping out before her was her own static medium; her old life as she knew it, photos of the person she knew to be herself beaming back at her from where she stood in the windy, soulless enclave of her existence.
Allie-Millie flashed across the wall and appeared under Alicia's profile photo. Alicia recognised herself, yet she was different. Her flowing mane was gone and in its place was a shorter haircut.
She was dressed in a tight-fitting T-Shirt which shaped a buxom chest which in her past life Alicia did not covet, being flat-chested she chose to wear baggy, loose-fitting tops, giving no mind to her sexuality.
Pressed for a desire to be close and connect with her old life she touched the name and within a flash, she felt herself slipping into a labyrinth of darkness, tumbling and twirling through a maze of energetic wilderness which had no start or ending. It was just another fantastic journey to endure without any plot or connection to any semblance of life she knew to be true.
Suddenly she was motionless, sounds of traffic and people talking startled her for all she had recently been subjected to was a deadening silence in a lonely chasm of time. The noises aroused her from her semi-slumbering consciousness and she awoke to the familiarity of her surrounds.
A sliver of light from the outside world cast a soft and warm glow on her blankets and the gentle hum of the heater igniting on its timing soothed her ravaged mind.
Samson's quiet meow and gentle nuzzling on her cheek felt like a nourishing bowl of soup on a mid-winter's night. She snuggled down under the blankets, revelling in normalcy, routines and the comforts afforded from a regular life.
Image courtesy of foto76 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Silence. There was silence and a stillness. The walls seemed to stare back at her cold and unfeeling. With a ringing in her ears and her heart thumping she stumbled out of bed, venturing to where her door, her bedroom door ought to be.
Before she could get to where she thought was her exit, she stared down at herself and froze. Where were her long tresses of hair? What were those bumps on her chest? Who owned the clothes she was wearing?
With her heart thumping, she screamed and flung open the door only to find her familiar surroundings, her kitchen and her book shelves were not there.
Instead before her was a series of openings expanding before her, in murky lighting. Wretched she screamed and ran around the space, which she knew as her living room searching for familiarity, her landline, Samson her cat, the switch to her heater, her TV or PC. Nothing, there was nothing in the unfamiliarity of this existence she had arrived at to reassure her that she was in her home.
She fell onto the hard surface. In a crumpled heap she sobbed uncontrollably and screamed; a shrill ringing pinged in her ears and she realised this strange sound was coming from a place deep within her - a place not known to her until now.
And then there was silence. A deafening nothingness pervaded the space; a stillness which hung in the air like a blanket of haze, enveloping Alicia and causing an outpouring of grief so overwhelming she lost consciousness.
Time was irrelevant for she moved as in a dream-like state, was she awake, or was she sleeping? Grappling with these thoughts, she moved towards the entrance closest to her and walked through its opening, a rounded white-coloured enclave. Her senses heightened, Alicia observed the walls and ceiling, tiny bumps covered its surface and it reminded her of goose bumps; those pimply spots appearing on her skin when she'd experienced strong emotions such as fear.
That was in her other life and time where life was predictable, normal and routine. Not like here.
She continued through the enclave, twisting and turning, with its precise directions; a relentless and endless tunnel of space and time unfolding before her. In the murky light, she began to make out shapes, photos and words on the walls. She stopped in her tracks and moved closer to the static mediums presented before her so as to read their context.
'Ice-Chill - Kai' - June 5 2013 - "I've been walking on the windswept cliffs of County Clare, a solitary afternoon rugged up against the biting arctic winds..."
Her eyes moved across the wall to photos where faces and landscapes of the world as she knew it flickered back at her in the shaded light. Alicia continued along the windy passage stopping to view another static medium; presenting a person's existence through words, photos and stories of family and loved ones. There was no other interaction, no human contact or voice engaging with Alicia, just a ghostly presence someone existed, somewhere in the ether of Alicia's current reality.
She continued along the windy passage not knowing her destination or where she had arrived. The surreality of the moment jolted her into a reality. This now was her reality. She fretted for her old life, her sense of security for this new world she was navigating had nothing of this. It held nothing for her except a void, an emptiness and longing which felt like an eternal weight where time no longer existed.
Suddenly leaping out before her was her own static medium; her old life as she knew it, photos of the person she knew to be herself beaming back at her from where she stood in the windy, soulless enclave of her existence.
Allie-Millie flashed across the wall and appeared under Alicia's profile photo. Alicia recognised herself, yet she was different. Her flowing mane was gone and in its place was a shorter haircut.
She was dressed in a tight-fitting T-Shirt which shaped a buxom chest which in her past life Alicia did not covet, being flat-chested she chose to wear baggy, loose-fitting tops, giving no mind to her sexuality.
Pressed for a desire to be close and connect with her old life she touched the name and within a flash, she felt herself slipping into a labyrinth of darkness, tumbling and twirling through a maze of energetic wilderness which had no start or ending. It was just another fantastic journey to endure without any plot or connection to any semblance of life she knew to be true.
Suddenly she was motionless, sounds of traffic and people talking startled her for all she had recently been subjected to was a deadening silence in a lonely chasm of time. The noises aroused her from her semi-slumbering consciousness and she awoke to the familiarity of her surrounds.
A sliver of light from the outside world cast a soft and warm glow on her blankets and the gentle hum of the heater igniting on its timing soothed her ravaged mind.
Samson's quiet meow and gentle nuzzling on her cheek felt like a nourishing bowl of soup on a mid-winter's night. She snuggled down under the blankets, revelling in normalcy, routines and the comforts afforded from a regular life.
Image courtesy of foto76 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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