Darkness.
All I see...
Darkness.
No light penetrated my field of view, an endless void in front of me as I reached out to grasp something, anything. Nothing grazed my fingers, not even the air seemed to hit my skin. It was as if my body had lost its senses and couldn't send signals to the captain of the ship, the captain desperately looking for any incoming information from its crew members. None of the crew awoke to report to the captain, seemingly enjoying a peaceful slumber. Nothing came. Not for a long time. How much time had passed, I did not know. It seemed like an eternity had arrived and made itself at home, watching as I struggled to interpret my surroundings. Finally, relief washed over me as I felt a surface underneath me. It was cold, much like the surface of a frozen lake yet with no water underneath the thin layer of solid. The bitter feeling in my fingertips told me that I'd been laying on this cold floor for quite some time; no one felt a numbing and warm feeling unless they were cold.
A smell was the next thing my senses picked up. It was the smell of decaying trash, something that made my nose scrunch up in disgust. I had believed it was only trash, but another peculiar smell filled my head and I knew that it wasn't trash. What it was, no thoughts came to mind. Whether what I knew what the smell was or wasn't, it didn't matter since the odor was revolting. It took me a while before I managed to raise my hand off the icy floor, slowly placing it over my nose and mouth. That was a mistake.
A cough was the result of my actions, my hand having held something that had gone down my throat when I covered my mouth. Sitting up, my eyes still didn't open as I began coughing, raspy noises coming from my esophagus before a few pebbles flew out of my mouth and bounced off the ground, settling a few feet away from me. Only after regaining my breath did I open my eyes, the second mistake. As a result of having my eyes closed for what I presumed a long time, I wasn't prepared for the colors and light to reach my irises. Multiple crew members woke up, reports flooding the captain until the captain was forced to stop them. My eyes closed immediately upon opening, my hands coming up and shielding them from any source of light.
It took another few minutes before I managed to open my eyes and take in the scene around me. Although I was squinting, I could tell I was in an alleyway, worn-down buildings behind and in front of me. I had been laying on the dirt floor, the top of my head against the wall of the building behind me while my whole figure laid sprawled on the ground. The pink dress I had been wearing was torn up, the white, lacy strip around the bottom was hanging loosely, only a few threads connecting it to the pink fabric. My shoes were dirty, my socks were torn, and my hair most likely looked like a birds' nest. What had happened for me to end up in such a state?
A small pounding in my head made me wince, my right hand pressing against my forehead as I stood up and leaned most of my weight against the building. My limbs felt like jelly, wobbly and very fragile as if they would give out any moment and I'd go crashing back down to the cold floor. My stomach was turning, doing flips rapidly, as I steadied my weak body, the act proving to be quite challenging. I was tempted to close my eyes again, to just lay back down and let my captain go back to relaxing, no orders being made and sent to the crew. But of course, I didn't take the easy route and give up. No, I wouldn't give up that easily.
The captain began steering through rough waters, turning sharply to avoid crashing and speeding to avoid getting overtaken by the humongous waves. Similarly, my feet dragged themselves forward, each turn being a staggering step and each wave crashing on the deck of the ship almost making me fall back down. But each crash and turn only made me that much more determined to continue on, to find out where I was, why I was here, and where my parents were.
As I finally reached the entrance of the alleyway, my left hand reached out and grabbed the corner of the building, my head slowly lifting and looking out at the street that wasn't there. I had believed there would be a sidewalk, maybe a black asphalt layer, yet there wasn't anything of the sort. Puzzled, I looked around, my weary eyes landing on a couple of people. What I noticed right away was their clothing, ragged and stained with multicolored, brown and black spots. Even though my dress was in a similar state, where I came from, most people did not wear such clothes. My parents weren't rich, but I knew that they weren't poor either. There was only one explanation for what I was seeing, and as much as I wished I could say I was wrong, I knew there was no way I could be anything other than right.
