by John White

Created on: July 25, 2011

The darkness.

The darkness scares me.

I was deathly afraid of it in my small prison. The minutes turned to hours, hours to days, and days to weeks. How long has it been now? No one seems to hear my screams for help. No replies, only muffled voices drifting above me like soft clouds. 

I must be underground, and the voices are workers, going about their business, unaware of the horror that lies beneath them. The food drips out of a tube. Some days it tastes like paste, but I won’t starve. My flesh won’t allow me to starve. It won’t allow me to escape imprisonment by dying. Like a hamster in a cage, I constantly return to the feeding tube. 

There’s obviously air or my death would have been swift. Whoever my captors are, at least they arranged for my wastes to exit the dark black coffin, yet the horrible smell lingers like a putrid fog. 

I feel movement. A gentle rocking like that of a ship at sea. I must be in the hold and the voices from sailors working above me. Where is it going? When will it get there? Will I be released from this black hell then? Without this tiny bit of hope, my journey toward insanity could arrive faster than I thought. 

I kick and push hard at the walls with my last bit of strength, but it’s useless to try to free myself. My captors built this tomb well. Suddenly, I tilt over, my head slamming against the lower part of the enclosure. Bloodcurdling screams emanate above and around me. The ship must be sinking. What else could it be? The water bursts through, soaks my feet, and then rushes toward my head. I’m drowning as the fluid pushes over my ears and nose, salt water burning my eyes. So this is death. 

Up ahead, a large tunnel with a beautiful bright light beckons me towards it. Something pulls and twists at my head, its giant jaws clamp around my cheeks and neck. It might be an octopus or squid bent on ripping my head from my body. 

And yet the light … the beautiful… white… light.

“Well, there then. That’s over. Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Congratulations Mrs. Watson. It’s a girl.”

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