Darkness. Endless darkness.  It was a darkness that was so vast, it stretched out as far as Wendy could see, beyond space, beyond time, beyond the small minded comprehensions of what mere mortals define as ‘the universe’. Beyond everything.<br/>Then she blinked and realized that she was blindfolded.<br/>With her one, only (and favorite!) arm, she reached up to pull the thick piece of black cloth from around her face and was struck by the bright light of the sun. She flinched out of instinct and then relaxed into a smile as the warm rays touched her face.<br/>“What a lovely day!” she said to no one in particular as she sat up and examined the geography around her.<br/>The first thing Wendy noticed was that she was in a field. That was for certain. The ground was bumpy and uneven, still recovering from the harvest of last year. She recognised the field too. It belonged to her neighbour John Peters (you know, the farmer) and it was where he grew his wonderful imaginary corn! Wendy smiled as she recalled pleasant memories of buying imaginary corn from the market. She always made sure she went down to the market to buy some whenever she could!<br/>Wendy could taste blood in her mouth. It was strange because it didn’t taste like her blood. But there was a more important issue at hand: where was her bucket?<br/>Wendy frowned and pushed herself to her feet. She brushed the worst of the sand off her blue dress. If she couldn’t find her bucket, how was she going to clean windows? It was her job after all (apart from the<span style="font-style: italic">other thing</span>). She shook her head. Where had that bucket got to?<br/><span style="font-style: italic">And how had she ended up here?</span><br/>As soon as she thought the question, a painful pulse spread through her brain. “Owie!” she flinched again and shook her head.<br/>Something didn't want her thinking too much about<span style="font-style: italic">that </span>that's for sure.<br/>As she pushed herself to her feet and started to make her way to the gate of the field, trying hard not to step on anything that might drag her underground. She also tried not to think about the thing she wasn’t meant to think about, but she didn't do a very good job. After all, she didn't have<span style="font-style: italic">that</span>much to think about right now.<br/>She had been cleaning John's windows. Yes, that was right, she could see his farm house from where she was standing. Then she finished that and... she saw something in the field! Yes! Something dark. A figure, maybe. Something she couldn't quite make out. She had walked towards it, greeting it. “Hello, my name's...”<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 200%; line-height: 116%;">PAIN.</span></div><br/><br/>She flinched. Right. Don't think about it.<br/>Strange.<br/>“Oh well!” She said out loud again, opening the gate to the field.<br/>And wouldn’t you know it, her bucket was right there on the other side of the gate!<br/>“There you are!” she grinned picking it up. The bucket looked at her and asked a question. “Where have I been? Where have<span style="font-style: italic">you</span>been? Silly bucket. And where's all the water you were supposed to be holding?”<br/>With a shake of her head, she began to walk towards the road.<br/>Wendy was hungry.