Bright light illuminates past a clear, open window over on to my aching body, lightly caressing me. Slowly, I press my hands into the cold, wooden floor, and arise on to my knees. My fingers curl around the windowsill as my eyes peer over the edge, observing.

Snow bears down onto the thin, weak branches of a barren tree. Hills draping over and on to each other break the perfect white with their black shadows. Only the tree itself can match such darkness.

"What are you doing here?" A voice, deeper than one I ever have heard before, breaks down on my weak body. Collapsing, my entire figure turns in order to see what I have failed to notice before.

Shadows cover the farther half of the small, empty room that, except for a dark mahogany chair and table, contains no door…no escape. At the edge of the light, two bare feet barely stick out past the darkness. "Really," the voice cracks, "why?" Pain layers through the stranger's words.

Pounding beats of my racing heart surround me. "I don’t know," I whisper. My body coils into a ball, hugging myself. "I don't remember…anything." Vibrating echoes of my voice hang out in the air, holding on to nothing but my own fear. All before me lies the unknown, but nothing within me can comfort me.


"Don't you remember?" A hand seizes the end of the chair, and as the floor is scrapped, the chair is pulled from the table. While his form bends down to the formation of the chair, light sweeps over him, revealing who he is.

Pale skin, an obvious contradiction to his black clothes and hair, overbearingly shines into my eyes. I crouch away. "I know you," I blurt out. "You're Daniel…Daniel Coy." In the instant my words carry over to him, his entire body goes rigid except for his bright, blue eyes that widen. Slowly strings of memories begin to pull together. "You were just in a car accident…you lost control of your car on ice…it was winter…you died."

Daniel raises an eyebrow as my heart begins to slow. Flashes of memories that were once connected by strings are loosely flying everywhere within my mind. My stomach gurgles as it begins to churn while my body feels gravity shifting. Horns blaring, brakes screaming, my body turns back around to that bright window. Echoing crashes and twigs breaking, I lift my emaciated body up to the light. Daniel's voice screaming my name as my body feels the resistance of an arm holding me back from flying forward. Dead silence consumes me, except for the last beat of my heart as I look out the window.

Two trees stand together, their bases stretch out into blood stained shadows etched in the snow. Broken, shattered, taking on the vast empty space of light and cold, but always together, are those two trees.

I sink down once more. As I turn to face Daniel, I find a second chair calling out to me. Crawling over, I brace myself against the table and pull myself into the seat. Half of my body collapses on to the flat, stable surface. My black clothes hang down on me like the deepest gravity of space. Daniel's cold, cut up hand surrounds my wrist.
"Don't you remember?"