The bright white light died down, leaving my eyes blinking at the sudden change. I felt strange, different, I didn't know why. Was this what being free felt like? It was different to what I imagined. I glanced at my skin. Something was wrong, it looked wrong; it felt wrong, it emwas/em wrong. It was soft, yet it had a quality about it that I hadn't seen in so long.

I noticed white moths landing on me.

Entranced, I lifted one up to look at it, but instead of flying away, the moth spread its wings flat against my hand and sunk into my skin, like a strange tattoo before fading to a pale ivory. I looked to the rest of my body; the skin had that same strange quality, as if it was too defined. Suddenly, I noticed the flesh on my leg and arm had returned. I grabbed my leg in wonder, and as my hair spilled forward, I saw that it was a warm chestnut brown. The same colour it had been before I died. I felt my ribs; the gaping hole had disappeared, as had the gash on my left cheek. Only then did I look at my surroundings- forest, forest and more forest, starlight leaking through the dark branches like molten silver. I pulled myself to my feet wobbly, before falling to my hands. And then I felt something. Pain. I stared in wonder at the crimson liquid seeping from my palm. No, it couldn't be. Quivering, I pressed my hand to my chest. And then I felt it. A heartbeat. I was alive.

Clutching a tree trunk, I screamed. This wasn't meant to happen. I was meant to pass on, to be at peace. My nails clawed grooves into the bark, I couldn't think, this was all too much. Sobbing, I ran through the trees, not caring when branches sliced my skin, stopping only when I tripped over. The smell of damp earth and rotting leaves filled my nose. I was tired, so tired. And cold. My thoughts were blurring, along with my vision. Icy drops of rain slid down the curve of my wrist before returning to the damp earth. Why did they send me back? Hadn't I been hurt enough in this life?

As I began to lose consciousness, the last thing I saw before the darkness took me was a bright light streaming through the undergrowth and two thin arms pulling me close...