Our Last Dance [ONC 2021]

Prologue

I have no memory of the first time it happened, nor do I of the second time, or even the third for that matter. Actually, I only know it happened, because it has happened every single year.

It starts with a wave of fear, your heartbeat speeding up and your pupils dilating. Then the shock when you're unable to grasp the air around you and the light-headedness that comes with oblivion. The painful feeling of fighting for breath. The realisation that it will be of no use. Surrender. Darkness. Light. Air.

And then, life.

It's like you're being pulled back to the surface again, gasping for air, trying to find your heartbeat, just to assure yourself that you're alive. Slowly, your sense of sound returns, your sense of smell. You can open your eyes and see again.

The hardest part is learning how to breathe again. In-Out-In-Out. It seems so easy if you've been doing it for your whole life, but for me, someone who has to die after every year of her life, only to come back from the dead for the next, it seems almost impossible.

~ ~ ~

In-Out-In-Out.

I repeated the words in my head, trying to make my lungs remember what they meant. It took me a while, but finally, I could breathe again.

The ground surrounding me was covered in a thin layer of snow and as I was sitting there, trying to catch my breath, the small flakes settled in my hair or against my bare skin. It felt cold, an unpleasant feeling which reminds me of my death.

Even though I must have been dead for at least a couple of decades, the world still seemed to be the same. The same birds hopped around the pathways, the same clouds drifted through the sky, even the cemetery had barely changed since the last time I'd been here. Glad to know some things always stay the same.

By now, my dress was soaked with snow and a shiver ran down my spine. Perhaps my first stop should be a clothes shop.

After I had hoisted myself on my feet, I made my way to my favourite city, trying not think of how I might look. A girl, covered in snow, wearing a dress that might have been acceptable in the previous century, strolling through one of the most prestigious cities in Europe.

The canals and the bridges didn't seem to suit me as much as they once did, but I didn't know if it was because I had lost my beauty of because the city had gained some. The buildings seemed brighter since the last time I'd been here and even the water, although still polluted, seemed to shine as the sun, peeking through clouds and snow, reflected on it.

Even though the streets were crowded with people, the familiarity of the city calmed my nerves a bit, something I was very happy about post-reincarnation.

Yes, it was good to be back in the floating city, Queen of the Adriatic, my last resting place. Venice.