Insight

Prologue

Slipping Away

Laying on my hospital bed, I closed my eyes. My body was telling me it was time to go, but my heart, beating ever so slowly, was begging me to stay. I forced my eyelids open and turned stiffly to my grandson. His black hair contrasted with his pale skin, which was even paler than usual, and his ice blue eyes stayed trained on my face.

"You alright, grandma? Should I call the nurse?" he asked, voice laced with concern.

"No dear, I'm fine. Just a little tired." I lied. In truth, I was hurting. My heart was just about to give, but I was forcing it on for his sake.

"Then I'll be on my way. Bye Nana. See you tomorrow." I smiled sadly as he leaned down and hugged me, not telling him that there wouldn't be a tomorrow.

"Bye dear." I said, trying to keep the tears out of my voice. He glanced back as if hearing the hidden meaning, the deeper feelings, the final goodbye and smiled softly. He knew.

As he left the room, I drew in one last breath, filled with the smell of the antiseptics and disinfectants. I looked around the white room, the beeping machines that monitored my weak vital life functions, and strained my ears to hear the birds outside, but I only heard the traffic. I then let my breath out slowly, letting my eyelids slide shut, and faded into black as the machine beside me let loose an assaulting noise alerting anyone around that I was flatlining.

~

Bright neon lights flashed frantically as I fell at an alarming pace. Faces and memories rushed past me, but I could hear nothing through the piercing scream that seemed to wrap itself around me. A noticeable darkness began to show up just beyond the chaotic lights, and began encroaching on me, approaching faster as the volume and pitch of the scream rose and became painful to my ears. The dark became tangible, rising as a jet black fog, curling around me. I watched it, intrigued, as it wove its way around the lights, following me as I fell freely. Suddenly, four tendrils of it shot out and grabbed my wrists and ankles, jerking me back as if it were a bungee cord. It seared my skin, excruciating pain jolting through my body, radiating from the spots the darkness touched. I began to scream, almost matching the volume of the other, but a thin strip of the black darted down my throat and ripped out my larynx. The horrid shrieking abruptly stopped as my scream was cut short and a silence fell. The lights dimmed and dropped out of existence, leaving a muted, feeble light pollution behind. Where? I thought, barely coherent. The darkness began to shift, arranging itself, it's final form a snake. I stared at it, and it stared back briefly, then unhooked it's jaws and swallowed me.

The Awakening

I blinked open my eyes and for a moment I thought I was back in the hospital bed, still living. A high pitched noise emitted from my left before fading away; a face appeared in my line of vision and smiled. Heaven? I wondered briefly. No. I realized upon instinct. I hadn't believed in heaven or hell in the first place anyways.

"Subject A3975.207731X is awake." the female figure over me called out. A hurried clicking noise drew close and another female face appeared.

"Subject A3975.207731X. Welcome back." I blinked at her, confused. Memories were flooding in, but not from my life. A life seen from a younger person's point of view, a life in a world that was not my own.

"You have a name now, no?" the first face said.

"My name is Syany." I responded. One of the females detached me from an IV while the first person took my vitals quickly, scribbling away on a clipboard while talking.

"Full name?"

"Syany Arwen Iary."

"Jake!" the second face called. " Subject A3975.207731X's name is now Syany."