AlyGadElmoula

  I woke to a cold that seemed to gnaw at my bones, as if I had fallen into a well of blue ice. It was not ordinary cold, but the kind that makes you wonder whether the blood is still moving through your veins. My head felt heavy, my thoughts trapped somewhere between sleep and waking. I tried to move, but my body would not respond. I was still wearing my jeans and cotton shirt, yet I felt exposed in a way I couldn’t explain. The cold seemed to reach beyond my skin, numbing even the effort to think. Something was holding me down, but I couldn’t tell whether the force came from outside me or whether fear had begun to paralyze me from within. I looked at my hands and saw chains. They weren’t metal, however, but transparent bands of light wrapped around my wrists and ankles. They didn’t hurt or constrict. Yet I couldn’t move. I raised my head and looked around. The walls were smooth, without a single corner. Blue light pulsed through the room, as though something alive were ...