By the time I came to my senses, it was all dark and I could feel a thick viscous fluid around me. The darkness enveloped me, and I could barely move, feeling as though I was trapped in an endless void. My mind raced, trying to make sense of this surreal situation, but it was all silence that was echoing in my ears. Struggling to escape, I pushed against the dense liquid, but it seemed to hold me captive as if the very substance of the world had transformed into a relentless captor. Fear washed over me, and for a moment, I felt as though I was losing myself in the depths of the darkness.

I took a moment to recollect myself and figure out what was happening. After concentrating for a while, bits and pieces of events seemed to recollect within my mind.

Ah! I remember working in the lab last time… Then what happened?...

Crash!

Shatter! Whoosh!

Drip! Drip! Shatter!

Thud!

Slip! Splish! Thud! Burst!

Crash! Drip!

A cacophony of noises came to my mind all at once. Ahhhh! That nonsensical accident. I guess this means… I’ve died?

Is this what a soul experiences after death?

Death, it seemed, was not an ending but a transition. The darkness enveloped me like a shroud, obliterating any remnants of light or warmth. The feel of the viscous liquid was icky and uncomfortable.

The silence and the darkness, the feeling of being trapped in one place felt like an eternity. It was almost maddening.

Was it a day? A year? Or was it just a moment passed? I couldn’t guess. It felt like time had lost its meaning; it hung in the air like an eternal question mark, refusing to move forward. I tried taking a step forward, but my body wouldn’t budge an inch. Or was my body even there?

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If this continued I might lose it and go crazy.

Suspended in the darkness, I closed my eyes.

But then, in the distance, I saw a faint glimmer of light. It was a pinprick of hope, a beacon of possibility in this abyss. Fixated on that distant glow, I gathered every ounce of strength and determination to swim towards it. The thick liquid resisted as if trying to pull me back into its suffocating embrace, but I pressed on, driven by an inexplicable longing for that distant light.

As I moved closer to the light, the darkness around me began to thin, and I could make out shapes and shadows, like fleeting glimpses of a world beyond. With each stroke, the light grew brighter, and a sense of serenity washed over me, almost as if I were being guided by an unseen force.

As I approached the source of the light, muffled sounds accompanied me in the darkness. It was a symphony of struggle and triumph, the raw and primal sound of life itself. I was elated by hearing something after the despair of the darkness and silence.

“Arrgggggghhhh!!” “Hnnngggggg!”

“%#^%#@**$##$!!!”

“Argh!”

The cries of pain and incomprehensible mumbling could be heard. It sounded as if a woman was in deep pain, yet she was hanging on to some sort of hope to persist. It aroused my curiosity and I tried moving as fast as possible toward the light as the soft cries grew clearer and louder.

And then, as I breached the threshold between darkness and light, I found myself in a new world, a world of warmth and brightness. The liquid that had once held me captive was now replaced by an embrace like a gentle caress, and I realized with astonishment that I was no longer struggling to breathe. I tried speaking. “Uwaaahhh!” What’s happening now?

I looked around, and I saw a woman. Her face carried traces of exhaustion and a desperate struggle. Her eyes heavy with fatigue were illuminated with warmth and wonder. Her cheeks were rosy and streaked wet with shed tears as she gazed down upon me with a tender smile, her lips, quivering with a delicate vulnerability. Tears of relief and joy pooled at the corners of her eyes, shimmering with an ethereal glow. There was a softness in her embrace, and she looked as if she was touched by something divine. An Angel. Right then, she felt as if she was the most important person to me in my life.

Then it all became clear. As if I had hit a reset button, I had been reborn, experiencing the miracle of life from a perspective I could never have fathomed. My mother's labored breathing was my first sound in this new existence, the soundtrack of my rebirth. Her serene face was my first sight and her embrace was my first warmth after despairing for an eternity. My symbol of salvation.