Fear

Immediate terror. As consciousness reclaims you, You are brought into an even more pressing darkness. You are alone. The silence that surrounds you is deafening. For one eternal moment it alone is your captor. Until you remember how to breathe. It is broken by your panicked, jagged breath As sightless eyes search for reason. But you are blinded by the darkness. Your mind swims in fragments. Questions, fears. Tumbling over each other in an attempt to make themselves known, To bring sense to the senseless. But you can’t hear them over the pounding of your heart, Beating against your heaving chest as if in an effort to escape. As if it knows what is to come. Your dry mouth stretches wide To release its desperate call for help. For answers. For salvation. Your cracked lips tear and split, a sickly sweet metallic taste Trickles onto your parched tongue. But the pain this brings is nothing. You don’t stop. You scream and thrash, But cold metal binds your wrist and ankles, Holding you to an even colder metal surface. You can feel its icy touch everywhere upon your trembling form. You are naked. You are exposed and vulnerable To whatever it is that lies in wait Within the surrounding darkness. The tight binds chafe against skin covered in a cold sweat As you twist and pull more frantically. The cuffs dig into your flesh, The metal beneath you becomes slick with your blood. The change from cool to warm is anything but a relief. Agonizing cries of torment Blend with those of desperation. Your throat feels as if it’s being shredded Yet you hopelessly persist with your pleas Until overcome by heaving sobs That choke you. Coughing, gagging, spitting blood. You pray for an end, An escape from this hell. Every tear a screaming word of your silent prayer. But it has only just begun.