At first, there is nothing.
No sound.
No wind.
No heartbeat.
Then: breath. One, then another. She takes steady breaths, as if to orient herself to the dry space.
Nadia opens her eyes to darkness; a deep, swallowing black, until it begins to shift and pull apart like parting fog. She sits up, disoriented, her limbs heavy and slow like she’s submerged in water. She looks around and realizes she is not in bed. She’s not even in the world she knows.
This is ‘somewhere else’. This is an alternate plane; one she’s never been before. Not like this.
