Black was the very first colour that Adriana saw after opening her eyes. Black is "the colour of night," she had once read, "the colour of darkness, the colour that conceals all." And true to it's nature, this colour was taking away her ability to see and feel things. There was a strange numbness everywhere around her.

This feeling was the same when you're alone at night, cozied up on the couch and watching a movie, with the room a well-lit enclosure; your safety is not in question. There is a gust of wind outside. The trees rattle and scrape against the window. You hear a loud fizzle, and the power goes out. She was now, engulfed in pitch darkness, and for her, fear was probably setting in.

In the dark, her visual sense vanished, and she was unable to detect who or what was around her. We rely on our visual system to help protect us from harm. "The unknown" is an inherent association that humans make with the color black, as it prevents them from seeing distinct shapes and veils potential threats. How we see colors in nature has such an important effect on the human psyche. And we know that from the beginning of time, black is the color of night, and it's the color that could hide any nefarious deeds that might be perpetrated under the cover of darkness. Being scared of the dark is a prepared fear. And she was scared too.

Where was she? And why wasn't the darkness fading away... Her mind was just going through these questions when out of nowhere water started flushing everywhere around her. Suddenly, she was somewhere deep within water. She never learnt how to swim. And, that's when she realized she had started drowning. She held her breath the best she could and scraped her fingers trying to find a solid surface to hold onto, but, she just continued to sink deeper and deeper. This water was so deep that it felt it'd never end, the pressure popped her ears, and her ears were paining horribly from the water entering, that made her feel as if she was burning.

When she was drowning, her instincts told her to kick, to jump, she was so desperate to get to that surface, that she started acting as if she was running. She really couldn't help it. It was so frustrating because she knew she was a lost cause, and she was in a constant state of panic. She was being gagged by water and she couldn't scream, she knew nobody could see her, or save her, she was down, way too deep. She could only pray for help to arrive but it wasn't that easy. Her mind was completely blank. But she had to wait. And waiting is the worst part of drowning.

Eventually, her lungs started to burn. She was desperate for that sweet taste of oxygen, she wanted to go home... She kept thinking she could breathe, she was in absolute state of denial - but she just couldn't breathe. That's when desperation kicked in. She started holding her throat (her mind was haywire, she couldn't swim, she wanted to stop herself from inhaling), and the pressure made it feel like she was exploding. Eventually, her lungs gave out, and she took a deep, deep breath.

She was desperate for satisfaction, craving to breathe so desperately, but she just felt the water fill herself and making her heavier. She could feel the weight of it clog all her orifices. It was hard to explain what she was truly feeling but, the weight of water just... hurt so badly in the end. Darkness was a better choice, she thought.

As she inhaled more and more water, she began to feel really dizzy. Then calmness spread over her soul like a blanket. She felt that she had almost left her body, it felt like she was waking up from a deep, long nap, and she was still in the after-effects of it. Now, death didn't worry her, which was weird, because she, just like everyone else, was terrified of dying.

Her vision started to spot and she started to hallucinate - there was no oxygen to her brain, so of course, she was going to hallucinate, she thought. Eventually, she just blacked out... Hoping to live, breathe, and see the light again.
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"You gave me a heart attack there! I thought I'd never see you again." Adriana woke up to witness someone's panicked voice. Someone was hugging her, very gently, too. Her eyes tried to adjust themselves to the newly found light.

She was alive... It was the very first thought that came to her mind. She was grateful for she was alive today. Life was a beautiful journey, and now, she could be a part of it. She had the opportunity to feel every single taste in her life, enjoy every single moment in her life. Not everybody got to live their life. But where was she and who was hugging her?

"Umm... Where am I?" She managed to speak with a little effort, her voice, a little hoarse from that drowning experience. She immediately stopped. Her voice... It didn't feel like hers.

"Where will you be if not your own home?" The girl hugging her, parted and wiped the corner of her eyes to remove the tears.

"Home?" She stopped and looked around. She was in a large, very spacious room. Large pastel curtains were hanging all around her. It felt so... Old yet comfortable.

Old? She stopped and looked at the lady before her. She had waist length light brown hair with bangs covering her forehead and crystal clear blue eyes. She looked oddly familiar but, as far as Adriana's memory served, she never met a girl like her. Then who was she?

"Who are you?" She asked her.

"Me?" The girl looked a little taken aback by her statement. She stumbled a little but composed herself soon.

"Wait... Let me call Alon." And she left.

Alon? She had heard that name before but where? Whatever the case be, it was now, confirmed that she wasn't where she used to be. She looked down to her hands. They were fair, too fair, to be hers. Everything here, screamed that it wasn't the place where she last closed her eyes.

But, whatever was happening here, she wasn't going to ruin this second chance granted to her. The time she had being alive, she was going to get the most of it. She will have fun, smile more, love herself. She knew she could never get back to her former place, the days that are gone. Of course, she'll remember those days are gone, that are gone forever... But appreciating each day you live is important and she understood it.

Whoever's this body was, she was no longer here. Whatever belonged to her, was now, hers. And she was ready to embrace it, if it meant to live again.
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A new world? Obviously she was inside that book but why and how?

Read further to find out. Thank you for reading this far.