Prologue
Darkness
Darkness… All I have ever seen is darkness… All I've ever known is silence… Occasionally I will hear a scratching or a small shuffling… And it scared me. It makes me know that I'm not alone in this place… But, what's with me?
I've always wondered… Is this all there is? I've never known anything else, like I said but… If I know there is darkness there must be light… Right?
Something else I've always wondered… Who am I? What's my name? What do I look like? I can't remember… Did I ever have one? I don't think I did, so I've decided one. Ariel. Don't ask how I decided on that, because I don't really know…
This is how my life has always been. I have always spent my time in the Darkness, pondering about everything. But one day something happened. Something burning and bright fell on me. Light. I tried to open my eyes and look around and see where I had always been, but as soon as I tried to open them, I snapped them shut again.
This was my first experience of pain.
I felt something on my shoulder. A hand maybe? And then for the first time, I heard something other than a small shuffling. A voice. It was deep and soft. "What's your name, little one?"
I had been waiting for this. "Ariel..." I croaked, my voice almost breaking. More pain. Why was everything hurting now.
"Ariel, do you want to stay here?" he, as I had determined from the voice, asked.
Did I? I wasn't really sure… Here life was safe. Out there, I didn't know what would happen. But… "No…" I was willing to try it.
"Would you like to come with me, Ariel?" he asked in that same soft voice.
This is what I believed to be my first glimpse of kindness.
Slowly, I nodded. I felt a hand slip around my head and something settle over my eyes. "What's this?" I asked.
"This is to stop the pain."
I didn't stop him when he tied the silk thing around my head. I would do anything to stop that unbearable pain from before…
As he led me toward the light, pushing his hand into the small of my back, I realized something. I was leaving everything I knew and… I didn't care. This man was going to make my life better.
…Wasn't he?