When had the darkness turned into something so blinding?
It stung. The pain in her head was getting worse. She squeezed her eyelids tightly shut but was stunned to realise that her eyes had been closed the entire time. She tried to open her eyes, but it felt like her body was fighting against her.
What was happening? Where was she? Why did her body feel so strange; and why was this light being so persistent?
The throbbing in her head was making her nauseous. The light was uncomfortably warm. What did she need to do to make it stop? If this kept going—
A sudden, calming breeze blew by. She blinked in surprise. In that instant, she could suddenly see again. The pressure in her head evaporated like it was never there. All around her… there was nothing but white.
A strange sort of landscape formed. There was nothing but white, yet she could see shapes in the distance. It was all hazy, as though hidden by a mist. She squinted at the nearest silhouette. A… tree?
Confused and disorientated, she looked around for something familiar. When she turned back to the tree, she nearly jumped. Her head tipped back as she stared up the trunk into the branches. How had she gotten so close? She looked down at her feet. Had her body moved on its own?
She cast her eyes upwards again, curious. How was it so clearly a tree when it was entirely white? It was the same shade of white as everything else here. There were no shadows that she could discern. This felt like a different realm.
Without warning, her eyes changed directions once again. Her body had definitely moved of its own accord that time. A figure stood nearby, hand on the tree trunk, watching her. She blinked. As her eyes opened after the act, the figure was suddenly within arm’s reach. Alarm bells were going off in her head, but Eliza was rooted to the spot. Even her fingers were uncooperative as she struggled to raise her hands defensively.
To call it a person was a stretch. There was an outline of a human… and nothing else. The head that was leaning towards her conveyed curiosity, though she couldn’t understand why she thought that when it clearly didn’t have any features. A white hand reached forward and Eliza felt her heart begin to palpitate. Her body was stubbornly refusing all her commands to run away.
When the hand made contact with her temple, she froze.
It was like being hit by a tidal wave. Thoughts and memories showed up in a sensory explosion. Eliza tipped forward, grabbing her head with both hands in agony.
Nothing made sense since everything was overlapping as the flood swept her away. And yet, the bits and pieces that she caught were familiar… like a pair of shoes she had once loved and forgotten about.
It took her a while to realise that the strange sounds she kept hearing were her own groans. At some point, she had ended up sprawled on the ground, staring unseeingly up at the canopy of leaves. Her breathing was ragged, and there was cold sweat on her.
The hand that had stayed attached to her temple retracted slowly. Unable to muster the energy to move her head, she could only search for the faceless figure with her eyes. There was a friendly air to it as it seemed to meet her gaze.
She didn’t know how long she stared at the blank space that should have had a face, a stream of questions fighting to be voiced. But it was a struggle to even open her mouth.
At last, she managed a croaked, “Why…?”
The head tipped to the side as though it was surprised that she didn’t know the answer. The hand reached forward again. This time, she closed her eyes in anticipation. It was a good thing that she was already on the ground, because the next thing that entered her mind made her eyes fly open in shock.
“Your Grace!” Beth shouted. An unfamiliar ceiling swam in her vision. Distantly aware of a flurry of activity, she struggled to roll onto her side. Something was rising in her throat and she didn’t even have time to warn them. Partly turned, she heaved uncontrollably. Someone had managed to shove a bin under her just in time.
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