"The silence woke her."

The stone had gotten awfully chilly. The thick, leather sheet had disintegrated thousands of years ago, and she shivered. The movement brought a wave of pain. Oh, how she needed a nap already. Why was she awake? Better to sleep and freeze than deal with whatever this was. She lay still and tried to remember the proper way to move. The last time she woke, it had not been so peaceful.

She finally sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her stomach growled ferociously. It echoed through the cave. She stood quickly hoping the movement would bring back the comfortable oblivion of sleep. No such luck. She groaned and stumbled to the edge of the cave. The little garden had exploded and gone wild. The pumpkins were giant boulders of squash. She ripped one off its stem. She tried to go slowly, but once she started eating she couldn't stop or slow down. She polished off three of the monstrosities before coming out of the daze. Much better.

Her ears popped. The air felt like lead as she worked to pull it in. The pumpkins roiled in get belly. Had it been like this since she woke up? The silence was complete and oppressive. There should have been birds. There weren't. There should have been rustling. There wasn't. There was no water. There was no breeze. There should have at least been the distant sound of growing things or the tides. There was nothing. In all that silence she should have been able to hear the world spinning. The silence was utter, and complete. She'd have thought she was deaf except the sound of her own labored breathing roared through the stillness.