Like a poorly powered bulb, my hazy mind flickers. Slowly, I drift into consciousness, the gentle sway of my intelligence bobbing above the neverending blackness that overpowers my vision with a vendetta. I feel nothing, the empty sea I drift through numbing all sensations and smothering my nerves. The feeling of movement is foreign to me, as if I’m simply a bag of meat washed away infinitely in the expansive void. A new feeling burrows its way into my mind -- the sensation of thought. Where am I? Who am I? What is the point of me being here?

I’m completely calm, this I understand about myself. Like an empty husk waiting to be filled with the substance called “Life”, I merely feel what it is I’m supposed to think. Thought... Is this a thought? I know what I’m experiencing is abnormal, yet I remain incapable of understanding what “normal” really is. Like a storm cloud crafted from an elixir of confusion, my memories, my experiences, the essence of my being, remains blocked, overshadowed by the towering wall erected within the confines of my subconscious. Still, from this unending hollowness, I understand that what I’m supposed to feel -- is fear.

Why is there a need to be afraid when I seemingly have nothing to fear? The question, the thought, springs from the well of tar unprompted to the forefront of my mind. More questions, more thoughts, bubble to the surface, popping with a stomach-churning harshness. Is there something watching me from the edges of this abyss? Is it listening to my thoughts? Mocking my conclusions? Is it hungry for the flesh of another? Does it wish to feast on the heart of a shivering lost lamb? I see… This is why I need to be afraid. This unknown, this fog of confusion that rests above my mind, this uneasiness is my enemy in this place that’s been materialized from forgotten dreams.

Still, there’s absolutely nothing I can do. No matter what fate befalls me, I am powerless to prevent it. It’s a lesson I've imbued into my very being, the quintessence of my creation. That’s right, I’m powerless in this situation. I hold no meaningful value. I’m worth less than trash in this home of exile devoid of thought. As the single being capable of animalistic thinking, I can recognise my uselessness, I can quantify my current value, even if it’s only with the rudimentary feelers of awareness.

Even so, if that is the case, if what my consciousness says is true, what am I waiting for? Like a leaf swept away in a tornado, the sensations begin to flood my mind, harsh and cold, jagged and piercing. The thoughts endlessly fill my empty shell, washing away the subhuman value I attempted to place upon myself. What a fool I am. To think I would be so stupid as to consider myself “lowly”. Why? The base question of the universe now overflows my being, forming into a neverending list of “why’s”. Why do I sense suspense? Why do I perceive urgency? Why do I feel a pressure on my neck pushing me closer and closer to my sudden cognisance?

The questioning expands, branching outwards like a spiderweb, entwining into a glimmering silver called understanding. Is there something I can’t see? Something I’m blind to? Someone I’m supposed to remember? The feeling, the horror and terror, grows stronger, increasingly obvious.

There’s something I’m missing… I can’t form without that missing piece! Like an unfinished puzzle being placed on display, I can’t allow myself to awaken without being complete! Desperately I search, banging and clawing at the searing hot wall constructed within my core! My formless nails tear and throb as the wall remains unopposed. Still, I dig, desperate to reach some kind of understanding. Closer… Closer…! One final push and I’ll reach it, I’ll be complete, I’ll remember…! My nonexistent hand pierces through the thick barrier, small enough for me to get a spiraling glimpse of the luminescent majesty seeping into the abyss where I reside.

I persist, trying to widen the hole, trying to comprehend what it is I’ve unleashed into the lightless embrace engulfing me. Closer… Closer… Swinging wildly, my vision is overwhelmed by a sudden mind-shattering light, one which threatens to overturn my world, threatens to alter my very identity, threatens to erase my incomplete soul. Ah, that’s right! I’m-