PROLOGUE

For a moment, the world stopped.

I’d never experienced anything like it before—the ear-splitting sound of blood pulsing through my brain made it just like a scene from a movie. All I could feel was pressure, ice-cold pin needle-like pressure. The tingle felt like some premature ominous way of telling myself something was really physically wrong here.

The entire hood of my car disappeared in milliseconds, I didn't even get the chance to blink before my strained neck flung forward, sending me straight into the steering wheel. This would be the time I ridiculed myself for never getting my airbags fixed, but I was instantly knocked out cold like my 6-month-old cat when I gave her CBD.

The second hit came from behind, glass imploded all around, sending tiny shards of the crystal clear material across my exposed skin like needles. I flew inches off of my seat, the top of my head just barely grazed the velvet-lined roof of my car, before I slammed right back into the position I was originally left in. My head hung limply over the wheel as I felt the air clear from my lungs, leaving my chest hollow and aching in the deafening silence that followed.

I was completely numb.

My mind was the only thing I could manage so I drifted away until all I heard were the muffled sounds of distant voices echoing around me. It might've been a hallucination but I could've sworn I was underwater.I guess technically I was surrounded by Lake Michigan so it wasn’t that unlikely. But when I looked around and saw my deceased mother's head just barely floating above water I knew I had to have fainted.

She looked beautiful, the sun shined amber rays across her pale skin, almost like a lost pearl drifting at sea. The water moved slowly, there were no foamy white clouds of waves, only dark blue streams of silk.

She looked at peace, which was eerie compared to my last memory of her.

I hesitated, measuring her for a moment, before finally gaining the courage to slowly extend my arm out towards her. But as soon as my shaky hand came inches away from touching her cream-colored skin, I watched her fade away until all that was left was a bright white light of nothingness.

“We’re going to pull you out, okay !?”

A calm but authoritative voice broke through my faded visions, and my head twitched—a failed attempt at moving closer to the sound. Their tone was purposefully crisp and clear, it was obvious whoever was speaking to me knew what they were doing.

My eyelids began to flutter as I struggled to make sense of my surroundings, but all I could make out were blurry flashes of red and blue. They were so piercingly bright a suffocating wave of dizziness overtook me.

The same comforting voice cut in and out like a staticky old radio, “It’s going to be alright just focus on my voi—”

And for the second time tonight, I blacked out.