Welcome to Paradise
The sounds of medical equipment begin to fade and give way to the gentle lullaby of waves on a beach. White sand stretches for miles in both directions along the coastline, and the azure water sparkles under the hot summer sun.
Despite the beautiful sunny day, the beach is empty.
No umbrellas dot the coast, nor sunbathers enjoy the heat. No children are splashing in the water or building sandcastles that threaten to crumble apart at a mere touch.
The only thing that interrupts the serenity of the empty landscape is a white door standing in the middle of the sands.
It stands almost embarrassingly plain despite its mystical and mysterious existence. Like any door, it should require a frame but rather impossibly it stands up on its own. Almost like it’s teasing any person that should come across it. I cannot exist, it insists, and yet here I am, blocking your perfect view of the ocean.
Besides the sound of waves rolling across the sand, it is completely silent. There are no seagulls calling for food or bugs bothering the air.
Rather, it’s like a sound machine. If one was to close their eyes they could imagine being in their bed listening to the sounds of a beach through their phone or computer, drifting slowly off to sleep.
Then the doorknob begins to turn.
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Vivi opened her eyes only to find darkness.
She was no longer hooked up to an IV machine and wasn’t lying down in her scratchy hospital bed.
Instead she was standing barefoot, seemingly in a dark room with a marble floor cool to the touch.
As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness she noticed a tiny sliver of light far ahead of her causing her eyes to drift downwards. It appeared to be a crack, with a thin light of white light sneaking through. She walked forward and found the light was quite a bit further away then she realized.
When she finally arrived after a few minutes of walking she knelt down to inspect it. Trying to see if she could sneak a peek through the crack, the light was simply too blinding so she stood up again.
She reached her hand forward only to be stopped by a solid surface. Wood? She traced the subtle grains down with her sense of touch and was surprised to find a metal object.
But not just any object.
A doorknob.
Instinctively, she began to turn it only to find it was in fact, locked.
Starting to feel panic rising in her chest at the fact she was alone, in a strange dark place with seemingly no way out, she rattled the doorknob harder. The door still wouldn’t budge.
Abandoning the doorknob, she started to feel around the door and follow the wall next to it. She stumbled and when she hit a corner she started down the next wall. But to no avail, after a few minutes of walking and feeling her way along she found herself to be right back to the sliver of light.
A chill ran through her seeming to make her bones shudder. She was still wearing her hospital gown and its light fabric fluttered in a small draft. With her options quickly running out she ran her hands over the gown trying to feel anything that could help her pick the lock on the door. The side pockets normally used for drips or catheters were hopelessly empty but she suddenly noticed a small weight around her neck resting against her chest. Quickly reaching up she found that she was wearing a necklace.
Feeling the chain she followed it down to realize a cold, metallic key was weighing it down.
Fumbling, she managed to get the necklace off after an embarrassing amount of time and tried to put the key into the lock. With barely any light to illuminate it, it was difficult to get the key in smoothly.
Finally the key made a clicking sound as it engaged the lock and Vivi was able to turn the doorknob open.
Blinding light caused her to quickly close the door as it burned her retinas. She had been in the darkness for around an hour now so her eyes weren’t ready for an explosion of bright light. She closed her eyes only to find red spots dancing around her eyelids.
Her eyes still closed, she slowly cracked open the door. The light still burned, but she hesitatingly took a step out.
Sand.
The warm sand felt miraculous on her feet still frigid from the frozen marble floor. She basked in the feeling of the sun warming her skin. Since she’d been in the hospital for who knows how long she hadn’t felt the sun without a window pane and curtains blocking the way.
Her eyes slowly began to adjust to the sun. They fluttered open to see a breath-taking sight of an ocean that seemed to stretch for miles and miles.
It all felt so… real.
She had no idea where she was. But her heart was still beating, she could feel the sun on her skin, and her breathing had evened out from her earlier panicked state.
A sense of calm washed over her.
One she hadn’t felt in so long. It filled her with the overwhelming desire to sit on the sand and watch the waves to soothe her soul.
So she sat.
Her reverie was interrupted by a rather large wave which seemed to grow on the horizon.
Like one a surfer would be ecstatic to spot and would paddle quickly in its direction.
But something about this wave began to feel off.
It began to grow larger and larger, so much so that Vivi found herself scrambling to get to her feet and back away. As it came towards the beach at an alarming speed growing ever higher with each passing second, all Vivi could think was one word
他妈的.
Vivi turned around on her heels and began to run as fast as her short legs could possibly take her. She could hear the wave now, roaring filling her ears and echoing in her head. It matched in intensity with her heartbeat that was beating wildly and echoed in her brain.
She was going to die.
Or was she already dead.
With this thought the wave over took her and she was swept away, water threatening to choke her.
And
She
fell
down
Down
Down
Down.
Back into darkness.