"Finally! The school life's over! From tomorrow I won't have to wake up early to rush to school…" exclaimed Lily excitedly as she collected all the sport's equipment scattered on the Auditorium floor.
Since her class had the last period for Games and sports, Lily was assigned the task to collect all the equipment and keep them in the Gym room on the next floor above the auditorium.
She was so excited about not having to come to school anymore that she couldn't stop smiling. She carried the boxes full of heavy instruments and walked towards the stairs going up to the next floor, all the while humming a pleasant melody. She was so happy that today even these rock heavy boxes felt as light as feathers to her.
As she carefully climbed up the stairs, suddenly she heard a call from behind, "Regina….", the voice was subtle, as if coming from a distance.
"Did somebody call?" she thought as she turned to look back. Unable to see anyone she continued walking her way up. Just as she was about step on the stair, she heard that distant call again!
"Regina…Regina…Regina" The voice kept getting closer and clearer with each call.
"Who the hell is calling? Are you trying to scare me?...huh…Nice try!" screamed Lily with a flinch, and just at the moment she lost her footing and slipped from the stairs, hitting her heard on the floor with a loud 'thud' as she fell.
Still confused at what just happened, she tried getting up, but found herself unable to move, as if her limbs have lost all the strength.
"What? Am I going to die? Today was supposed to be the last day of my high school! Not the last day of my life!" thought Lily, as she lay on the cold hard floor of the school corridor, pool of blood slowly creeping out from underneath her.
Motionless she stared at the very same stairs she slipped from, while carrying the sport's equipment to the school gym. She thought "So is this the end? I would die just like this?"
A once cheerful girl, 16-year-old high-schooler Lily; smart, intelligent, a class topper and liked by everyone, now on the brink of death….
"I have so many dreams I'm yet to fulfill! My dream of going to college, living in the city, going on vacation to Venice!" "I haven't even had a boyfriend yet! Why must I die like this? That's not fair!"
All kinds of thoughts started rushing through her mind as her vision got darker and darker until it was pitch black, just like her once bright future. Soon she lost consciousness and drifted into darkness.
When she slowly regained consciousness, her mind was hazy, she was lying on a hard surface but it wasn't the same floor she remembers falling on. Rather the ground was rough and stony. Lying on it, she was feeling the bumpy surface with her hands which seemed rather unfamiliar. At once she jolted up and opened her eyes only to be blinded by the strong rays of sun directly falling upon her face, forcing her to close them again.
While she was still adjusting to the sun, a heavenly voice reverberated, softly calling what seemed like a name "Regina!" "Regina" "Regina"
Bewildered, Lily looked towards the voice, what she saw shocked her even more.
Right in front of her was a girl floating some five feet above the floor, dress in the most beautiful attire she has ever seen. The girl had her eyes closed as if sleeping calmly, and nothing in this world could wake her up from this eternal slumber of peace.
As lily looked closely, she realized that the light what she thought earlier as the sunlight blinding her eye, was actually coming from that girl. It seemed as if this strong blazing aura had entirely engulfed the girl inside it, protecting her from everything around. The heavenly voice once again spoke "Regina, its time…".
Lily noticed that although the girl is speaking but her lips didn't even move for once, it seemed like the girl could speak without opening her mouth, something like 'Telepathy'.
Unable to comprehend the situation, Lily spoke confused "Hello?!", what she got in return was silence.
Not giving up she once again shouted "Who is Regina? Why are you calling her? And What am I doing here?"
The voice replied "You"
"Me? But my name's Lily, not Regina! You must have got the wrong person!" Lily rebutted.
"NO" replied the heavenly voice.
Frustrated with the stubbornness, Lily confronted "Just who are you? Why do you keep insisting on calling me by that name?"
"I am You" replied the Voice ever so calmly.
"You are me?" asked lily, just then her attention went to the figure standing in front of her.
"Now that I look carefully, you do look like….Me!!!" she cried out in horror.
"What is going on? What is this situation? Am I dreaming? Or Am I dead? Did I go insane after hitting my head?" All these thoughts were rapidly flashing in her mind.
As she was trying to make sense of everything that's happening, The Heavenly voice, or rather the sleeping girl said :
"Regina, I know you are confused and don't know what's happening to you. But don't worry, when the time comes you will understand everything"
After saying this the aura around her got even stronger, and the scorching light spread all over the valley. Soon, the mysterious girl rose even higher and slowly disintegrated into countless glowing crystal butterflies and dispersed into the sky.
However, one of the butterflies, fluttered its way to Lily and entered her heart, as if melting in her body. Lily felt a warm and soothing sensation inside her heart, many strange emotions emerged along with it. She couldn't define what were these melancholic feelings she was suddenly experiencing. She felt as if they were someone else's emotions yet they were her own at the same time.
She could feel the suffering, but whose? "Could it be the mysterious girl she just met? Who is she? And why does she look like her?" The more she thought about it the more questions she had, but no answers to them.
After the commotion had died down, only then did she notice the place she was in.
From what she could see, she was standing on a huge round floor of jet-black rock in the middle of a vast blue lake, so calm and clear that it looked more like glass than water. The lake was covered by thick mist, surrounded by grass-covered emerald mountains in the shape of a crescent moon.
Admiring this heavenly view, she was in awe. She strolled mindlessly around and without realizing she came at the very edge of the stone platform, peering into the water, she slightly bent to take a look at her reflection. While inspect the mirror like reflection she noticed, she had no wound and nor any trace of blood on her clothes.
"No injury?...so does that mean I really died and.... is this Heaven?" Lily spoke to herself.
Unbeknownst to Lily the water had certain movement, it started having ripples. Lily peaked closer when she was suddenly pulled into the water by an intense invisible force.
'Plop' she disappeared into the lake.
After a while the ripples subsided and the previously disturbed water came to a still. Everything returned back to normal as if nothing happened.
However, as calm as the surface looked, it was an entirely different scene underwater...