When I wake up I'm floating in a sea of nothing. Darkness surrounds me and I cannot see. There is a constant rhythm, a flowing rush of water against my ears. This melody calms me; reassures me that, if indeed I am dead, then I have been graced with a peaceful afterlife. I am still falling, although not as rapidly as before, more drifting than falling actually. 'Mad Mad murdered me.' I had thought an epiphany such as this would've shocked me more, but we don't call her "Mad Mab" for nothing. A bubble of laughter escapes my lips, floating to the top of the nothingness that surrounds me.
Finally, I hit the bottom whatever it is I am drifting through. The grainy texture reminds me of wet sand. I let me arms fall down beside me, my fingers tracing circles in this substance. Fitting that my afterlife would be molded out of the thing I love most. Wanting to immerse myself more thoroughly, I go to dig my feet deep into the sand. But something feels off; not how I'm used to. Before I can figure out what's wrong something large rushes past me. Frightened, I try to swim through the sea my afterlife has created. Usually I am a fine swimmer, renowned throughout the kingdom, but now I fumble through the water like a newborn stumbles through their first steps. I am going nowhere fast. Suddenly, the creature is back again, this time its jaws snapping so close to me I can nearly feel them grazing the flesh of my arm. The creature felt this too because he's back. Not playing this time, I feel his massive jaws bite down on the arm he had just grazed. Pain bursts through my arm and I cry out. 'Pain!? I feel pain!' But, if I feel pain, this means that I'm not dead. Which means that I am actually under water? Then how in the world am I breathing? How have I not drowned? Finally, Mab's words come to me as if from a dream. . .
"Like those before you and me,
From one to another.
Bend bones and Gods design,
So mote it be."
"Those before me? What does that even mean?" I say. As if the sound of my voice reanimates the creature, he abruptly starts shaking his head; sending a renewed burst of pain through my body. The pain is almost too much to bear, and as he clamps his jaws down tighter over my arm. But before the rest of my strength leaves me, one last thought crosses my mind. 'Shark. . .' And, for the second time that day, I am left drifting in my subconscious once again.
