The first thing I remember feeling was warm. It was all-encompassing, surrounding and pressing in on me. I was completely weightless, floating around in some infinite black void. Nothing existed but myself and the warmth, gently cradling me, lulling me to sleep. I let it take hold, and sank into the emptiness.

—

I opened my eyes for the first time, and discovered that the universe was Green. Like the warmth, it was all around me, clinging to my skin, suspending me in itself. There were shadows, flickering about somewhere deeper in, moving back and forth, tempting me. I wanted to go to them, but movement eluded me, and all I could do was reach out, uselessly grasping at the Green. It was then, with my arm stretched out in front of me, that I saw myself for the first time.

My bones were small, and my skin was translucent.

That didn’t seem right.

Something inside of me started thumping quickly. I heard my very first sound; a shrill, high-pitched beep, piercing through the Green in time with the thumping. The shadows began moving quickly. Something was wrong. Something was wrong! I needed to escape! Get out! Get out get out get out get out getoutgetoutgetoutgetout get out get… out…

Calmness washed over me. My eyelids grew heavy. I closed them, shutting out the Green and returning to the dark.

—

COLD.

The Green was gone, replaced by blinding White. The warmth was a distant memory, torn apart by an all-encompassing cold biting my skin, now opaque as it always should’ve been. My whole body shivered and a terrible pain lit up inside of me, my limbs flailing limply against the hard surface I was pressed up against. I convulsed, and Green spilled out of my mouth, making way in my lungs for my very first breath.

Air rushed in through my throat and filled my chest. It still wasn’t quite enough, though. Another few coughs and it seemed like most of the Green had been expelled, leaving me panting and gasping for more precious oxygen, now that room had been made. It made me feel Awake. It made me feel Alive. It gave me the strength to lift myself to a seated position, curiously interacting with the way this new Universe worked outside of the Green. I was no longer suspended; I had to use my body to move, and to do that, I needed to learn how things worked.

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The blurriness in my eyes cleared, and I discovered that the Universe was not entirely White, either. Yes, the White was abundant, but there were exceptions to it, like the things standing around me, observing. They had bodies of a similar shape to mine, with two legs and two arms and a torso and a head, but where my skin was bare and visible, most of theirs was obscured by more White, soft-looking wrappings and covers. They held things in their hands, and were making noises with their mouths, but none of it meant anything to me, so I moved on.

Something unexpectedly touched my shoulder and I spun, sweeping my arm out in alarm. There was a flash of Black and a splattering of Red and suddenly all of the things around me were screaming. I scrambled backwards as best I could, pushing and kicking my limbs off of the slippery floor to move myself away. The things moved away from me as well. That was good. I decided I didn’t like them.

My back hit a wall and I curled up, ready to lash out at any more of the White things with the Black that came out of my arm. It was still there, staining my usually tan skin from my hand to my elbow, with a tendril hanging from my wrist. I focused, and the tendril disappeared into smoke along with the remaining Black. Curious.

Enraptured as I was by my own strange ability to cover my hands in Black, I failed to notice the new figure approaching until they were right in front of me. My first instinct was to fight, to get the strange thing away from me, but when I looked upon them my body was filled with a strange sense of calm. I didn’t know how I knew it, but I knew that above all else, the thing in front of me was safe.

Their pale body was hidden by a blocky, navy blue covering, and their face was covered in wrinkles and divots. They reached out, cradling my cheek with a warm, calloused hand. I leaned into it, filled with an overwhelming feeling of safety. This was where the warmth I was missing was, ever since I left the Green.

The thing was making noises at me. I couldn’t understand them, but they didn’t seem to mind. They put a hand to their chest and repeated a specific noise, over and over. They sounded it slowly, making exaggerated movements with their mouth. Their teeth on their bottom lip; an open exclamation; their tongue between their teeth; and another, slightly less open exclamation. Compelled by my curiosity, I attempted to repeat it.

“Fffff…” I tried. “Fah…” My voice was raspy and weak in its first use. My tongue was thick and unresponsive. The movements of the thing were difficult to replicate, but they were patient as I practised, getting the hang of it. “Fah…ther. Father. Father!”

The thing smiled, and it was the greatest sight of my short existence. At that point I knew that I would do absolutely anything if it meant getting to see that smile directed at me again.