Light strobes my mind as eyes flutter open. Constricted pupils see nothing but vague shadows and outlines. The singular ray of sunshine casts a garish spotlight on this tragedy and I, the lead, have forgotten my line.

It seems I’ve consigned much more than that to oblivion. On the hard floor, my butt and back are cold. Raising my head up, I roll away from the light but am stopped short by something around my wrist. My eyes adjust to the light but I can’t comprehend what I see. Stone walls, ceiling, and floor encase me, my left wrist is in a shackle and chained to the wall.

Brown cotton pants with an elastic waist and a loose fitting, black linen shirt drape over my gaunt form. My feet are bare, hair long, and I can feel with my tongue that I’m missing a few molars. My head is in significant pain and I bow it to meet my free hand and apply pressure. The bandage on my head is damp and exposing my palm to the light, it is dotted with old blood.

Why am I here? Who am I to deserve this? Wait. Who am I?

“HELLO?!” It echoes off the walls. “HELLLLLOOOOO?!” There’s a desperation in my voice I wasn’t expecting. I tug on the chain in naïve hopefulness that it will break off the wall; it doesn’t. An undetermined amount of time passes as I try to remember. I stand up and walk the arc my fully extended chain allows. Patterns in the dirt that lay thick on the stone show that someone has done this before.

On the wall opposite the chain is a small window, five feet up I can see the ground is level with the bottom of the window. The cell seems about twelve by twelve and a steel door is in the far-right corner with multiple slots that can be opened and closed. I’m hoping that’s for food and water because I don’t see any.

Suddenly the light is blocked and I jerk my head to look out the window but before I can tell what it was the light returns and I’m left with an increased headache. I try to focus through the pain and become more aware of my surroundings. Muffled voices and the squeak of a small mouse are what I can identify but there’s something droning in the distance outside the window that I can’t.

I begin to feel dizzy and nauseous simultaneously, stumble to my hands and knees, and begin dry heaving. Retching with increasing intensity, my body contracts in an effort to expel the issue but to no avail. I can’t catch my breath and fall to my side, though when I do finally gasp, I inhale some of the dirt from the floor. A mixture of retching and coughing have given me a cramp in my side and it’s curling me up. I’m trying to stretch out, find some relief, can’t breathe- thinking this could possibly be the end. I spasm, arching my back, manage to vomit a small amount of bile.  I see a tunnel- black.

NEXT…