Gretel’s POV
I was being caressed by darkness, everywhere. Heavy gentle pressure absorbed and cradled my feet when I tried to move. I looked above and a steady red glow seeped into blackness. On my inhale I smelled cloves, strikingly familiar, but no answers. Whispers droned separate from the heavy silence stuffed in my ears, as if inside my mind. They grew louder, insistent, then something grabbed me from behind and wrenched me backwards in a downward fall. Shocked, I gasped and then... a flash of scorching fire!
Underneath me I felt a sagging mattress and above, warmth. It radiated along the length of my numb and freezing body. I tried to stretch upwards, wanting to luxuriate in the feel of it, but unable to. An uncomfortable rushing sensation of heat tumbled and sped through my body,
