Nothing

Nothing wasn't quite what I expected it to be. I think I expected emptiness; nothing is a little different that empty. In order for there to be nothing there can't even be me. When I thought about emptiness I was really thinking of emptiness except for me. All that nothing — or is it, none of that nothing? — I expected a vast darkness, like I was floating around in space. Instead, I was alive one moment, then nothing.

Awake

My back is cold and a little damp, there's a light above me that I can't quite make out, and the noises are both deafening and hardly audible. I raise my hand to shield my eyes from the light, feeling something soft release my arm as I pick it up. The noises are now neither defeaning nor hard to hear. There's a slight ringing in my ears that sounds like it's going away.