The first thing Dolly registered was not sight, nor sound, but the profound, crushing weight of stillness.
Consciousness returned to her in slow, viscous waves, like oil rising through water. It was not a sudden waking, but a gradual realization of existence. She was not a person waking up in a bed; she was an object returning to online status within a void.
Darkness. Absolute, heavy, and silent. It pressed against her eyes, not just from the lack of light, but from the thick, padded blindfold that was secured tightly...