From the moment she's born, Leilani has no chance to leave the four white walls surrounding her. The scent of antiseptics lingers and the beeping sound of the equipment keeping her alive never ceases. She dreams of many things but her body cannot be...
The freezing cold water enveloped her body. Her clothing clung to her like a second skin. Hues of azures filled her view but the water current, swaying back and forth, made her eyes closed.
A sense of lightheadedness engulfed her mind. She doubted her brain was even working at the moment aside from pumping blood in her heart, thundering in her chest.
It was far stronger than what her heart could handle - the kind of thumping where she would wind up dead.
Then again, wasn't she supposed to be in the hospital?
Her lids fluttered open as her lips gaped upon the realization. Bubbles erupted from her mouth. Her palm flew to her lips in an instant, trying to stop the flow of water going inside her mouth.
She wiggled, forcing her body up to the surface, but how could someone who had never even seen a glimpse of the ocean would know how to swim?
She had always thought she would die inside the hospital but this felt too real to surrender her death in the vast sea. 'Or ocean and wherever this is.'
A burning sensation eventually filled her lungs, making her arms limp on her sides.
Her face had already blanched after she refrained from breathing all this time. Both of her legs stopped defying the pressure of water, sinking further below.
It was as if she was being pulled by a greater force. She took one last glimpse of the golden sun reflecting up above.
There was a sense of familiarity but then again, why would the sun be unfamiliar in her eyes? A memory crossed her brain but it was too fast that she could not make sense out of it.
When her mouth which had been deprived of oxygen finally opened, it was bound to be her last breath.
Or not.
Leilani's eyes could not widen further when the water she had been preventing to pass through her throat flowed into her body.
Like a bottomless vessel, the water went inside her but there was not a single sign of suffocation.
"Ah... Uh..." Her voice resounded in her own ears. She looked around the immense body of water but there was no single shadow of aquatic animals on her perimeter.
'Weird.'
She never had dreams. They said a person always dreamed, only to forget it the next day. However, she was a rare case. It was as if when god rained all sicknesses on the world, everyone took shelter except for her.
If not for that, she would actually believe she was an experiment to see if a person's body can suffer all kinds of illnesses.
She tried to recall how she watched people swam on her phone before but her mind was empty. There was not a single sign of visual cue.
It was to be expected.
Along with her missing dreams was the lack of ability to recall some things.
She could live with it but now, she doubted she could.
Instead, Leilani mimicked the movement of the fish above her. However, when she tried to go to the surface and passed through them, they seemed to scurry away from her.
'Is it just my imagination?'
AFTER AN eternity or so, Leilani arrived on the shore. Men of almost similar muscular stature awaited her. Their tan skin contoured their toned body, appearing more imposing under the dazzling sun. It was not hard to notice all their gazes were directed at her.
"The rani regained her siel!" One of them shouted as they ran in her direction.
Literally ran.
Their nearing figures instantly made her realize drowning in the water was a better idea than facing them.
The sight of those muscular men was already enough to make her retreat but when she caught a glimpse of their irises, her flight response kicked in. Her mind was screaming to escape.
'That is so not normal!'
She could never tell a face from another but the eyes... The slit pupils varying in different shades of bright colors should never belong on a human's face.
"Rani! Wait!"
They yelled behind her but she was not too stupid to follow their words.
"Rani! Rani!"
Their voices grew closer as they scampered along the shore. It had been a few minutes since she dashed off but her legs did not feel any fatigue. Her breathing was stable and even her heart pulsated like normal. It was a far cry from when she was underwater.
And more so from what she had always deemed as 'normal'.
Even walking weakened her before yet she could now experience how it felt when the breeze hit her face as she sped up.
"Rani! Rani!" they shouted louder.
With wrinkled brows, she twisted her neck in their direction.
"I am not 'Rani'! My name is Leilani!"
When the last syllable left her mouth, a bright light emerged from her body. It swallowed all her surrounding until her field of vision became smaller. A strange filter veiled her eyes, creating an illusion of saturated colors and making those men emerge like giants.
Leilani wanted to rub her eyes but her arms did not move, just like how her feet had been bound in place. Glancing down, no form of appendages below or anything resembling a human shape could be seen.
What was left was only a slender body wrapped in pure white scales with a slick luster. It was something she had seen in books. Simply said, it was an animal she feared the most.
If someone ever asked her what was worse than being bedridden her entire life? She finally got her answer.
Turning to a freaking snake!
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