Enter: the Soap

And just like that, the light overtook the senses and suddenly she fell into an unforgiving chasm of restlessness.

The light had blossomed more and more until it broke through, much like an incandescent bulb reaching its full potential. As increasing amounts of energy was pumped in, it strengthened until with a loud, splintering pop followed by a crash sounded, expanding into darkness.

She lay in this darkness, the warmth ebbing away from her then still form as did the stillness for as she attempted to remain stationary, muscles shortened and lengthened at inconsistent intervals, pulling her body this way and that. She jerked into motion, limbs paying no heed to her command as she tried to still them mentally. They gave no notice to her call and continued in their frantic motion.

She shuddered to a halt, exhaustion seizing every square inch of her body and tumbled into a deep, dreamless sleep, easily accentuated by the dark, dank, emptiness and areas devoid of light.

What seemed like a moment was indeed hours but with the new and rising sun, she opened her eyes, raising herself on her cot of straw. She had been placed there in the night, she realized but now she swung her legs over the side… or rather, she tried to move her legs.

She shook her head and attempted the motion again, her brain telling her muscles to shift sideways. She was at it for hours, begging the bits of her body to cooperate as she would not be a slave to uselessness, following in its path as it ambled down a path of boredom.

Like they were deaf to her demand the previous evening, her limbs were also unresponsive now. She stared in horror at the two slight twigs that jutted out from her torso. She flung herself to the pillow as her eyes glazed over in despair.

She suddenly jerked again, this time awake in the sense of reality. It was a dream, a sequence of visions. Only a dream. Only a captured memory of being trapped in the darkness, alone, segregated and with little hope. No more would she be a hostage to the kidnappers who distorted her thoughts and actions, to those who forced her against her will to disobey. No longer would she be haunted by memories and experiences that had the potential to taint her freedom and faith for the future.

She was now and forever clean of them, washed with that soap and water… now she was relinquished into a new being. Whole once more.