Were her eyes open, or closed?
“Am I alive, or dead?” were the words that softly flowed from her lips.
It took a while for her to recall the events that had brought her here, and for a long time after that she was certain that it must all be some horrible nightmare from which she could not awaken. There was only dark, but at least there was sound again. There was water dripping somewhere and it echoed throughout the cavern. There was no way to tell how long she had been unconscious; but there didn’t seem to be as much pain as earlier. Luckily, the sand had kept her warm while she slept. But now she was covered in sand and the thought of washing it off in the frigid waters did not appeal to her in the least. so she continued to lay thinking of all that had transpired. Nothing made sense to her, and the fact that she couldn’t remember her name had her  disturbed. She couldn’t even remember what she was running from that made her seek refuge in this awful place.
“Awful place” she whispered.
When she first saw the entrance she was almost overcome with emotion, thinking she had finally found safety.She had not  hesitated to enter the cave; and never once thought about the consequences of doing so, yet now she had such regrets about her decision. The feeling soon passed; and after a while, even her fears subsided... she was just so grateful to be out of the water. Thinking it a good idea to search for the clothes she had discarded as she emerged from the water, she got up on and hands and knees and started feeling around for them. They were still damp and so she felt it best not to put them on ; but she didn’t want to leave them out of fear of being unable to find them again tin the dark.  She began to cautiously walk forward, holding a damp pair of jeans and a shirt in one hand with the other arm outstretched so as not to bump into anything. Alone and naked in the dark she began to think of her life up until this point. She knew she used to work in a large building with many people. She used to worry about things like getting there on time, and what she would wear. She used to suffer through sleepless nights worrying about the debts she had accumulated in acquiring material positions which never seemed to give hr fulfillment, and left her with feelings of emptiness and inadequacy. There had been some one special for a time in her life, but he eventually he went away, and she couldn’t remember why. In fact,she couldn’t even remember his name, or how he looked. She was even having a difficult time remembering how she looked, but she could recall she used to concern herself greatly with how her appeareance looked to others. None of that seemed very important now, and she almost felt disappointed with herself for wasting so much time and energy on these things, and wished only be able to find a way out of this place. Walking along the sandy surface, in a place so totally surreal and disoriented had her thinking of so many different things, almost as if it was her brain's way of trying to deal with her situation, which was almost beyond comprehension. After a while her eyes began to play tricks on her and she started seeing patterns of light dancing all around her. She knew there was nothing there, just the darkness.... total absolute darkness.
“I think my name was Karin” she said abruptly, almost startling herself with the words that seemed to make themselves heard completely on their own.
She thought it appropriate to think that this might have been the name given to the person she used to be; because that person was nothing like the she had now become. This place was changing her; for better or worse, she was not quite sure yet.. Her thoughts were now of food and drink as she walked over to where the dripping sound had been coming from. Cautiously, she felt her way forward as the sand turned to uneven rock. Then she felt the water dripping onto her arm. She touched her finger to her arm where the water made contact and gently rubbed it on her lips. I tasted like fresh water, and so, dropping her clothes, cupped her hands to try and gather some to drops. It took excruciatingly long to fill up but the reward was worth the wait and she drank. Some hours must have passed with her simply waiting to fill her cupped hands to drink. In the past she had been so very impatient, sometimes yelling at the toaster because to took too long to toast the bread in the morning, but now she was content to wait as long as necessary until her thirst was quenched. She crawled back to the sand where she once again lay in wait; but what was she waiting for? No one would ever find her here. She ran her fingers over her eyes to see if they were closed or open ....they were open. She then ran her finger through her hair and down the back of her neck. She felt her shoulders and arms, legs and feet in a attempt to figure out what she looked like. Other then finding a lot of sore spots she was able to gather that she had a slim build with short hair and she thought her name might be Karen, but now if felt more like it could have been Kim. It made no difference, though. The fact that she had no shoes was more of a concern now; she would have to walk over the rocks again soon. She used to love shoes; she had a large collection of them and once a week she would add a new pair that she just had to have. She thought how nice it would be to have just a single pair right now to save her feet from getting cut up again. She got up  and started to make her way over the rocks in hopes of finding a wall to guide her. She repeatedly stubbed her toes and soon the soles of her feet were raw and sore, as she tried to make her way over the course terrain when she abruptly stopped. Her heart began to race and a wave of anxiety passed though her.
“My clothes, I left my clothes behind!” she exclaimed.
She stood in silence to try and hear the drips to guide her back but she heard nothing. She could have used her shirt to wrap around her feet to save them from steadily being bumped and scraped and cut. Yet she did not feel the disappointment she usually felt when she forgot things. She merely pushed on; she was not about to go back, she didn’t even know where 'back' was. She was hoping that some progress was being made and not just going around in circles in the dark. Her greatest fear was falling back into the frigid waters again. She was thinking how odd it was that the memories of her life would keep coming in disjointed waves when she smacked her head on something. Feeling around in a stupor she determined that this must be the wall of the cavern. Still seeing stars, she leaned up against the wall, feeling like she had accomplished something when she heard something that sounded like a voice.
“Sara... Sara, it’s mother” was the sound she heard. The name Sara was familiar, and she was certain she had heard the voice before. Her heart was racing and she stumbled and staggered forward.
“Sara, can you hear me?”
“I hear you, I coming, please wait!” she yelled as she tripped and fell to the ground.
The voice disappeared, as her body lay on the rock completely motionless.