I open my eyes to find a pretty woman leaning over me. She sees me wake and smiles at me sadly. “How are you feeling?” she asks.
Her voice is quiet. Everything is quiet, this room I’m in, this house, this world. For some reason I think it’s never been this quiet before, but I don’t know because I don’t remember ever being here before. I didn’t exist until just this second, when I opened my eyes. I was nothing before. There was nothing but—
Nothing but Tobin. I’m not sure what that means but it brings a smile to my face. I remember Tobin.
The woman asks, “Joah?”
“Is that my name?” I guess it is—when I look around there’s no one else in the room. “How should I be feeling?”
She shrugs. “A little woozy, maybe,” she offers, and I think about it. Yes, I’m a little woozy. “Any pain?”
