AfterFireCameSilence

The world appeared, not in its entirety – not like appears when you draw the curtains back in the morning – it appeared gradually, in little pieces and fragments. First, Ava’s auditory organs began reacting to external stimuli, then her other perceptions followed suit, phasing in and out of activation while sporadically picking up little cues of the real world – a flickering light, a strange smell, a feint prickling on her skin . . . not enough to create a complete picture of her surroundings, nor even process a rational thought. For a while, she lay dreaming, her brain filling the empty gaps between sensory experience