Very slowly, I gained awareness of my situation.
I was floating. Literally, nothingness surrounded me. I was not supported by anything. Nothing touched me. I could feel neither air nor water, so it did not make sense that I was floating. Without any wings, how could I maintain myself aloft? It was confusing.
I was aware of my lengthy hair essentially standing on end. Somehow, it seemed to be floating outward from my head - not in any particular direction, but in all directions, drifting, each strand pointing out directly from its anchor in my scalp.
Eventually, I realized that I was naked. Normally, that would have scared me, for no one other than a trusted doctor had seen me naked since I was a baby. But somehow, this time, it did not scare me.
Lethargic, I floated. In time, I slowly opened my eyes to see nothing at all, only a complete absence of light.
Logic defied the situation. I raised my arm, moving my hand in front of my face. The act of moving my hand was like trying to pull a large boulder through a vast pit filled with molasses. When my hand finally was positioned before my eyes, I could not see it.
I could not understand what was happening to me. I was not certain that I even wanted to understand what was happening to me.
I felt it: a hand, nudging my left leg aside. My right leg received a similar treatment. Yet both touches were barely felt, both movements barely registering with my brain.
A warm sense of moving air flowed between my legs. Then I felt it again. Then again. Again. Again. Yet again.
That was when I realized that I was definitely not alone.