Hidden Truths - Season One

Prologue: The Simplest of Questions

The girl floated in darkness. For the first time in a long time, she felt at peace. The troubles of the world fell away, until she only remembered those events as though in a dream. She knew she was dead. She knew she should be feeling nothing.

And yet... though all around her was dark, she could see herself quite clearly. She was able to move her hand in front of her face, look down, see the soles of her shoes, her gray pants, and equally gray sweater, unmarred save for two jagged lines down her forearms.

The lines did not bleed red, instead they glowed silver, and the silver dropped out in small sparks that fell into the darkness and faded, her life essence ebbing away. Yet, she did not feel weak. She felt stronger than she had been before. And with the absence of pain, the memories returned. She found herself reliving every moment leading up to her decision. The picture, the stalker, the dark room, the store, the diner, the party... and the pool. Each moment in perfect terrifying clarity.

She wanted to scream, "Why am I STILL HERE?!" but found that she could not. The words refused to form. She looked around the darkness, and through the infinite black surrounding her, suddenly she saw... a blue light. She felt a compulsion to head toward it, though part of her feared that unknown. Still, she found herself moving toward it, one foot in front of the other, moving as though in a trance. The blue light edged ever closer. Soon, she was in front of it, only to discover that the blue light was not in fact light.

It was shimmering blue water. It was not connected to anything that she could see, and her first thought was to wonder whether or not her dying mind was playing some kind of final joke on her. Her second thought was that this water seemed... familiar, though she had never seen it before in her life. She saw herself reflected in it. Her once long brown hair cut short, her teenaged face filled with pain and innocence lost. Her scarred forearms. Yet she did not fear the reflection, or the blue water. She felt calmed by it. She wanted to touch it... she even wondered if she could walk through it.

Before she could do so, she saw a flicker of movement in her peripheral vision. She turned. Nothing. She turned around the other way. Still nothing. She turned back to face the water, only to find that it was no longer there, though the light it had projected remained. She saw a boy standing in front of her, dressed in clothes one his age would wear to a school dance. In fact, the teen realized she had seen him in these clothes only a few months prior. He nodded at her, and held out his hand, invitingly. She stepped up, took it, and allowed him to lead her in a dance, the song they had danced to previously playing all around them. She was at peace... but only for a moment.

"Who are you?"

The question, spoken without malice, only a genuine curiosity, nevertheless caught her off guard.

"What do you mean?" she asked, smiling at him, thinking he was playing a prank.

"Who are you?"

She stopped dancing, the music faded to nothing. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She stepped back from the boy she loved, and turned away to run. She had to get away, she had to-

"What do you want?"

She stopped short. Standing in front of her, was a little girl in a linen white dress, staring up at her, quizzically. Like the boy, her question was asked without resentment, accusation or malice. And yet, this question seemed to frighten the teen more than the boy's did. The blue glow was all around them now, shimmering as though they were in a vast infinite ocean.

Then, they stood side by side. The boy she loved, her possible future, and the girl, the her that was, a time of innocence and bliss.

"Who are you?" the boy asked.

"What do you want?" the girl asked.

Hannah Baker looked from one to the other, unable to respond.