Untitled

By Debra Fehr

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She hates this place already. The noise is too much, and it seems that someone is shining a bright light into her eyes. Her thoughts are a whirling murmur, wishing her awake.

Look around.

“It’s so white here.” She is squinting. “It hurts my eyes.”

Look. Open them. Soothing. Burning.

She shades her eyes the best she can, and peers around her. There are others, all bare like her, and most of them seem to have no problem at all with the light. “It seems that some others are having trouble with the light, too.”

There seems to be no source for the voice answering her query in her head. It’s a sad thing. The voice seems despondent, almost. I’m sorry. You just weren’t good enough.

“What?” Indignant, the young woman stands, still shielding her eyes. People gather all around her, patting her and apologizing. “What the hell are you doing? Stop it!” She tries to push them away. Their voices seem like automatons, the same tone and inflection in each. “Get away from me!” Her voice is laced with alarm, instead of the ire of before.

She hears similar shouts from behind her, and sees an older man fighting off a crowd as well. Another person, a teenage girl. An elderly woman.

Faces twisted in mock pity and understanding fill her vision, panicking her. She draws blood.

The light doesn’t lie. A pause, as the patting fingers become painful upon her skin. That would be a sin.

The luminescent platform seems to open up, sucking at her feet. She claws at the figures around her, searching for any sort of purchase. A startled shout fills her ears for a moment, and she sees the man disappear into the glowing surface.

“No...” Her voice seems distant even to her own ears.

The ground swallows, taking her deeper within itself. She tries to prop her elbows on the rapidly eroding edge, tries to keep herself up.

No matter. She is consumed, and the faces watch her fall.

Dark.

“H-hello?” Her voice seems feeble to her ears, and she cringes at the sound of it.

“Who are you?” A whisper.

“I - I don’t really know...I was in a light, and then I fell...I can’t remember...”

“Me too.” She hears a shuffling, coming closer to her. “So this is your fear?”

“What are you talking about?” She backs away, plunging her foot into a small pool of dank water. A shudder runs it’s way up her spine and she quickly changes her course away from the water.

“Your fear, woman!” The shuffling becomes louder, and she can hear his breathing, quick and harsh in the air.

“Just stay where you are, I can talk to you from here, Don’t come near me!” Her small voice fills with bravado, but the quiver gives her away.

“Ah, I’m part of your fear, aren’t I?” The sneer is apparent. “I knew I was here for a reason. My fear is connected to yours...”

She turns and runs blindly, the rocks cutting her feet. Drops of water begin to cascade down her face from the ceiling, and she dashes them off with quick swipes of her hand.

The pounding of her feet on the stone quickly out-matches that of her pursuer. Beginning to think that she is in an endless cavern, she lets out a loud yelp when she connects with a stone wall.

Her head spinning, she tries to rise, but the ground seems to tilt underneath her. It’s damp. With a rising panic, she realizes that the water from the ceiling is coming down in sheets now. With every breath she takes in, the wet comes in with it. She chokes, pushing herself back with her hands. The woman is slowly going to drown. There needs to be an exit.

Her backside connects solidly with the wall again, and she grasps onto it with numb fingers. Her flight this time isn’t as wild, she needs to keep her calm if she is going to get out of this. There has to be an exit.

The panic waits to claim her. She keeps herself moving along the wall. Where is the damn exit?

“I know this place.”

She attempts a scream as arms encircle her, lifting her up and away from her security. The water pouring down fills her nostrils, and she vomits.

“I’ve been here, I’ve been through this, and this time I can stop it, because you are here.” The fear and elation are almost one emotion in his voice. “I can stop it!”

The woman struggles, though her flailing becomes weaker with each moment. Her life is already seeping away to the throes of exhaustion. She can feel the motion of her captor dragging her to the far edge of the cavern.

The water is rising. “I know it will stop!”

His footsteps slosh, his voice rising and falling wildly. He coughs.

Her head is shoved violently into the pool, the liquid flooding into her open mouth and through her nostrils. Panicking, she throws her head back as far as she can, and claws at the arm encircling her mid-section. Her nose barely clears the top of the water, and she sucks at the air without thinking. It forces down the liquid already in her throat, fueling the burn in her chest.

Her body convulses wildly, shoving the man further into the small body of water. He falls, and she hears the crack through the water, before the roaring in her ears obscures all else.

Wakefulness.

Trying to make sense of the gloom before her, she sits up slowly. A small voice is at the other end of the cavern, calling for her. “I didn’t mean to....I thought it would stop, I didn’t know....I’m sorry....” He’s sobbing.

He’s crazy.

Pushing herself up to a crouch, she silently pats the ground before her. Nothing. No variation in the stone floor. She backpedals, feeling with her foot behind her before she edges back. His voice is in front of her at all times, she makes sure of that.

A drop of water hits her shoulder. No.

Her breath coming slightly faster, she rises, and backs into the wall. There has to be a way out.

Another drop.

Two more.

His scream echoes throughout the cave.

Fighting back the urge to scream with him, the young woman starts running along the wall, her fingers keeping her anchored to the stone. No variation yet.

Running.

Screaming, close.

She crouches when the first cascade of water floods over her. No.

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