Chapter 1: Lost in a Dream

Eva’s soul had been enveloped in darkness. There was nothing, and thus, she had turned into nothing. Death was endless, but she couldn’t feel it. No heaven or hell, pain or pleasure. Just the sound of the universe. Peace that nobody was around to describe.

Eva’s non-existence was interrupted by the sprinkle of warm liquid on her lips. She instinctively opened her mouth and tasted the substance.She recognized the taste of rust and sugar, it was blood. It was disgusting, but it felt refreshing. It was as if Eva spend her entire life without a single drink.

Eva found herself able to move, her body was heavy, and it was too dark to see the figure in front of her. Her brain was engulfed by fog, and it felt as if she was lost in a dream.

Even in this state, she was able to reach up and grab the lean arm in front of her. Eva placed the wrist to her mouth and sucked the blood into her mouth. As she drank, the strength inside of her that had laid dormant for god knows how long started to blossom. The life that had been taken away from her was gifted back.

Eva regained her senses enough to wonder who this wrist she was currently sucking blood out of belonged to. The night around her was pitch black and she could barely make out the arm right in front of her eyes. Whoever it was seemed to be wearing a black suit and smelled of dust, and that was only information Eva could understand.

The person in front of her pulled their arm away roughly and pushed Eva back. She hit against a thick surface in the back of her. Eva reached and felt two walls to the sides of her body.

That’s when Eva realized that she was laying in a wooden coffin. The memories of the night she was stabbed ran through her head. She didn’t remember going to a hospital, or getting treated by a doctor. All she remembered was the darkness of death, although her brain couldn’t comprehend the fact that previously she was dead, but now was alive.

She saw the figure grabbing something large and come towards the coffin with it. Eva yelled out, “Wait-“

Her plea was cut off by the sound of coffin lid being slid into place. All Eva could do was freeze and wonder what the hell was happening.

Why was she in this coffin? Why was she drinking blood seconds before? Who was that? Why is this happening?

Those same rounds of questions rang through her head again and again and again. She thought about them so much that words meant nothing.

Eva started screaming and pounding her fists against the coffin lid laying over top of her. The lid didn’t move, not even the smallest bit. She felt tears of frustration and fear run down her face. Eva couldn’t believe she was stuck in this situation, a situation she could never even imagine.

After Eva punched and hit the lid for what seemed like eternity, she couldn’t move anymore. Her knuckles were covered in blood. She silently cried and brought her hands to her mouth, licking her own blood. She didn’t understand why she instinctively did this and stopped herself out of disgust. She wondered what was happening to her.

Even being stuck in this surreal ordeal, she fell asleep. The deepest sleep she experienced in her life.

This sleep wasn’t without dreams, as most sleep is. Eva saw visions of her family. The last time she saw her brother, the last time she saw her parents, as she was wishing them goodnight the day she died. She dreamed of the arm that shoved her into a wooden prison. She dreamed of the man who plunged the knife into her stomach and made her bleed out onto the floor of her father’s study.

Eva felt many things as she dreamed. Fear, anger, shame. Fear for what will become of her, anger for the man who left her to rot, and shame for being helplessly stuck in a box with nothing to do but dream.

Eventually she fell into a state where she couldn’t think anymore, she was stuck in her memories.

A part of Eva wondered if she would be stuck in dreams forever.