The Stone Queen

I can feel my heart starting to move again, the muscles waking up. I feel the blood in my veins warm and start to flow. My skin comes alive and is strong, soft, and warm once more. My lungs slowly fill with air, it is so painful and so wonderful at the same time. The shock of life coursing through me again is more than I can bear. My mind is overwhelmed with the feeling of my pulse returning to my hands and feet. The strangeness of the air against my bare skin leads me to feel as if I am living in one of my fantasies. Surely, this cannot be real. After all the prayers I have prayed that have remained unanswered. I had accepted my fate, and yet, it is true. I am waking. I can feel the stone fall from my skin like silk, I rise slowly from the stone left behind and finally I breathe.