Spoiler! :
There was ice everywhere. As soon as she peeked around the doorway into the dark corridor beyond, all she was greeted with was ice. There was no floor anymore. The hall was so quiet, so peaceful. It always was. Her heartbeat echoed in it's massive, empty expanse. Then, she did the unthinkable. She stepped into the hall. For some reason she couldn't remember, she'd been confined to that room for her entire life. She was never brave enough to leave. Stepping into the hall--leaving the room--could mean death. Yet, she revelled in the knowledge that she had finally escaped. "From what?" She wondered...nevermind...it didn't matter anymore. She was free. Stepping gingerly onto the ice, she realized she knew how to skate. She skated circles in the blackened corridor; the only sound heard was that of the blades on her ice skates slicing the frozen floor. She skated around and around until she was so impossibly dizzy that she couldn't do anything but collapse on the cool ice and close her eyes. It was snowing now. Soft blue snowflakes alighted on her pale skin, tickling her hypersensitive nerves. They were so blue, those snowflakes. They reminded her of the Sea, and something in her past. A quiet little laugh escaped her lips, then it grew louder, then louder, until the sound escaping her lungs was a full-bellied howl that completely embodied the release she felt her spirit experiencing. Her world spun beautifully; the gothic architecture in the corridor dancing with the falling snowflakes in a kaleidescope of gray and blue. It was like being a child again. She just laughed. Freedom was...well, it just was. It hadn't ever been anything tangible before, but now, it was. And she loved it.
Something soft brushed over her ankles, and for the first time she realized that she was dangerously cold. The tea-length dress she was wearing was too thin to be traipsing around in the winter. She felt the soft, sweeping sensation again and it occured to her that she should probably open her eyes now and find out what it was. Peeking outside the safety of her closed hazel eyes, she realized that she was no longer covered by a three-story ceiling. Instead, a canopy of snow-laden pines shielded her. She glanced down to her bare ankles. The creature looked at her inquisitively, tilting its gray head ever so slightly to the left, obviously expecting some kind of reaction from her. A kitten. How peculiar all the way out here. She bent towards the little animal and pet its fluffly ears. It had the most lovely blue eyes. She remembered the Sea and her childhood when she peered into them. But, their message disturbed her. Something bad was happening. A fear unlike any other then filled her soul. Then, realizing what was around her, she abandoned the kitten and tried desperately to get to somewhere safe. All around her lay flaming wreckage. She became acutely aware of the smell of diesel fuel. A crash? She looked back to where the kitten was, frantically trying to grasp the scenes in her memory that were so frighteningly lacking. The kitten was gone.
"Help...Please..." Someone was behind her. She recognized the soft, female voice but didn't see a face until she rolled over in the snow. There, lying in a drift of reddened snow was someone she knew must be important to her. The injured girl called her by name and reached out as if to take her hand. "I'm sorry this had to happen to you. I tried to make it stop, but I can't fly." The girl was apologizing? For what? She pieced together the girl's apology with the inflamed scraps of metal lying around them. The girl was a pilot. The wreckage was a plane. But the kitten? She didn't own a kitten...Did she? The pilot girl screamed and pointed to the top of a nearby snow drift. A wolf had been standing there, watching them intently. The wolf was alone, though. It didn't look hungry, either. The pilot girl was whimpering now, either out of pain or fright, maybe both. She leaned over and reached out for the pilot girl's hand. It was surprisingly cold. Then, the wolf bolted. It headed straight for them. She felt the pilot girl's fingernails dig into her palm. The last thing she saw before clamping her own eyes shut were the wolf's eyes. They were blue, like the Sea. They faintly reminded her of her childhood...
The dress was blue too. A woman was standing behind her, their reflections in the enormous mirror contrasting one another. The woman's long, snow-white hair and olive complexion opposed the girl's own dark hair and fair skin. But the dress. It's curves and drapes rose and fell like the ocean waves, the tiny diamond embellishments reminiscent of twinkling stars. The woman's eyes matched the Sea blue tone of the girl's dress. However, her eyes were the only source of color that graced her appearance. She was robed in a fur coat, what looked to be a wolf pelt. For some reason, the woman's fur coat troubled her. It somewhat reminded her of something bad that had almost happened so long ago. It seemed like a dream. "Are you ready?" The woman's voice was like tea and honey on a sore throat. She looked up at the woman. Her smile was warm and reassuring. Together, they left the huge mirror and walked into a beautifully ornate hallway. The woman's gray fur coat brushed the floor softly as they walked, and the way the fur swished around the woman's ankles reminded the girl of a kitten. The woman turned her head to look at the girl. "They will love you. They've all been waiting, you know. They've been waiting for so long." Another warm honey smile reached all the way into her Sea blue eyes. The girl felt comforted by her words. They had come to a garden now, and in the middle of the garden was a glittering fountain. The woman motioned for her to wait as she approached the giggling fountain. The woman then did something very odd.
There was a box. Water still clung to the woman's slender fingers in sparkling diamond droplets from the fountain. She took the box from the woman and looked up questioningly. "Go on," the woman's honey voice reassured her. "Open it." It was a small, square package, wrapped in shining silver paper. There was a bow on it, too. Blue, like the Sea. Slowly, she opened the pretty box. "Who are you?" She asked the woman. "Pandora" she answered calmly. A soft blue snow began to fall in the garden, causing the fountain to cool, then freeze altogether. "And who am I?" the girl asked. "You are my child" she replied. They both then peered into the box that the woman had given her--Pandora's box. The girl recognized the hazel eyes of the baby lying in the box as her own, and was somewhat disturbed by this. "My child?" She asked Pandora. "No. The child is you. I'm giving you your life back, my girl. I should never have kept you away from it, but you were brave and escaped. I had to find you and bring you back so I could return to you what is rightfully yours. I've found you now, and I'm letting you choose this time" The girl watched the baby and tried to comprehend this strange new information. The tiny child she was holding had begun to laugh as the blue snowflakes tickled her hypersensitive skin. "Where are we?" The girl asked. "Look around," Pandora answered. The flowers under their feet had been replaced by sand, silver with a dusting of snow. There was water in the distance, too--as blue as Pandora's eyes. "The Sea, my child. We have reached the Sea. They've all been waiting so long for you to return." The girl looked around, cradling the baby--her life--in her arms. There were people appearing all around her, coming up out of the Sea. They were smiling at her, some moved close enough to softly touch the baby's feet or fingers. They all looked so happy to see the three of them. The feeling the girl felt was...well, it just was. She couldn't describe it because it wasn't something tangible. Yet, here it was before her very eyes. Pandora spoke gently to the girl and the baby. "Choose, my love. Will you go back?"
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