18-Jun-2002
My whole body screamed at me. GET AWAY! I watched in horror as he tossed the pillowcase onto the bed and began dragging me towards the door of the bedroom. I struggled against his grip and tried to get as much smoke free air into my lungs as possible to make ready to launch myself at him when I felt a blow to my head connect. There was an eruption of pain, momentarily blinding me, before everything narrowed to a very small, dark spot and I felt myself begin to slip into the void.
Something was whispering at the back of my mind telling me that I needed to wake up. The soft, fragrant smell of freshly cut wood and freshly turned earth assaulted my senses furthering my ascension back into the conscious world. But when I opened my eyes I had to swallow the rising tide of panic as I blinked and saw nothing but pitch-blackness. When I tried to turn my head I was met with blinding pain that made me squeeze my eyes shut again. There were a few brief moments when I thought I had been struck blind by the blow to my head. The harsh breath I took stung in my dry throat and sounded dull in my ears.
I reopened my eyes slowly and tried to bring my hand up in front of my face to make sure I hadn't lost my sight when I hit something solid right above me. I rested my palm flat down beside me and felt a wood floor underneath me. I lifted one foot up and felt the same resistance with my toe; it sounded like wood above me as well. My stomach twisted painfully and the blood began to rush in my ears as I tried to squint my eyes into seeing just where it was that I had been put.
I could feel the panic creeping over my skin like ants as a trickle of sweat dripped down from the side of my face into my ear. I took a shallow, shuttering breath then brought both my hands up and lay them flat against the wood above me and gave a small push, my elbow painfully stretching and couldn't budge it. A bit of dark, black dirt seeped down through one of the boards above me and landed on my stomach.
My mind was suddenly racing and I frantically began clawing at the floor at my sides. I felt one of my fingernails break painfully on my right hand and could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. My breathing became ragged and I felt like I couldn't get enough air in my lungs. As my eyes got more and more accustomed to the darkness I began to realize that I wasn't in some basement or warehouse. I was in a wooden box.
I had been buried alive.
I screamed.
The wood and dirt absorbed the far away sound. I knew that the chances of anyone hearing me were very slim, but real true fear does strange things to people. I've been afraid before, but I had never experienced this kind of absolute terror. My brain was frantically trying to process what my body was telling it.
I was in terrible pain; that radiated from my head down along my spine to the very tips of my toes.
I was running out of air.
I can't see.
No one was going to find me.
I'm dying.
I don't recall when I began to hyperventilate, but it was the last thing I remembered doing before I passed out.
When I woke again for the second time, I had hoped it was just all a nightmare and that I would find myself in my smoke filled bedroom at the PTH at the very worst. But when I opened my eyes and had them once again readjust to the gloomy darkness, I was still laying on my back in my little pine box. And now it addition to the smell of dirt and wood, I could smell the sweet cloying scent of my own piss. Apparently that was something else I hadn't recalled doing right before I passed out.
Now, I am not claustrophobic, I was a Gundam pilot after all, and more than used to being in very tight places, nor am I afraid of the dark. However, those two things in the combination I was experiencing them started to do bad things to my head. While living on L2 I had found myself glad to find a little hole to hide in when things got really bad. This wasn't like that. I was comfortable in those tight places because I knew that I always had a way out. I had no way out of this one. Whoever grabbed me made sure of that.
I did a quick calculation in my head to see how much air per square inch I had, give or take a few minutes, and would probably run out of air in about an hour and 18 minutes. Not a whole lot of time to come up with a plan of escape, but then again I was still in denial that I was actually going to die.
78:00
There was no sense in trying to scream for someone to help me. My throat was very dry and already painfully sore from the screaming I had done earlier. I should have realized that the earth above me would just absorb any sound. But I hadn't been thinking clearly when I first woke up. I shivered. My world was one of pain. Now after the horrifying reality of my situation had settled against me like a too thin blanket, I could try to come up with some kind of resolution. A little black spider scampered across my forearm.
I let out a frantic little huff. This was not how I wanted to go.
I suddenly remembered the cell phone like getting shock therapy. I had grabbed it from Wufei's desk stuffed it down my pants in my haste to get to the garage. I highly doubt anyone would have found it. I suddenly realized that the familiar weight of my guns and knife was gone, so they had done a search. I fumbled until I could get my fingers under my waistband, ignoring the slightly damp feeling, and was ready to holler Halleluia when my fingers grazed over the little phone. I pulled it out carefully and flipped the cover open.
66:12
I stifled another scream as the little green light illuminated the space enough for me to see my coffin in harsh clarity. I had to shut my eyes and imagine I was somewhere else until I could get my heartrate back down. This was very different from any type of fear I had ever experienced, and I've had my fair share of narrow margins of error and hair raising escapes. Dying by suffocation was not something I wanted to think about. I had almost died that way once before during the first war with Wufei and never wanted to go through something that again. I fought the idea of dying then too, but I hadn't had the kind of gut wrenching fear that twisted my insides up as I did now.
I wasn't alone back then. I had time to say goodbye and make my peace.
64:42
Time wasn't something I had right now. My internal clock said that twenty minutes had gone by since I did my calculation. The clock on the bottom corner of the phone's tiny screen blinked 7:23 p.m. I had been missing for almost eight and a half-hours. I didn't know how long I had actually been underground and that was making my calculation from earlier seem sorely unreliable. It was quite possible I only had minutes left. I let out a hysterical little laugh, then coughed. The air was getting thinner and harder for my abused lungs to take in.
I held my breath and dialed his number.
60:58
Beep... beep... beep...
No signal. I blew out the air I was holding and tried again.
Beep... beep... beep...
Still no signal.
Third time's a charm, right?
Beep... beep... beep...
56:27
I closed my eyes and tried to find my center. I listened to the blood pounding in my ears and willed it to slow down. I felt much more grounded when I reopened my eyes. I've been known to do some crazy shit and always give the appearance that I'm some kind of macho, always-in-control, laugh-away-my-troubles guy, but I was scared. Damn fucking scared.
I listened to the busy signal on Wufei's phone and pictured them frantically calling my cell phone, which I had left in my top dresser drawer, trying to find my location and getting no answer from me. Then I screamed again.
I screamed until no sound would come out. I could feel blood in the back of my throat and tried to swallow. Tears had been rolling down my cheeks into my ears for a while now. I collected one on my bloodied finger tip and let the salt sting the ripped flesh where I had broken off all my nails in my attempt to claw my way out of my tomb and sucked on it slowly. Then I took another shuttering breath and punched in Wufei's number again.
32:11
The fear that had been slowly choking the life from me suddenly washed out of my whole body and a sense of peace came over me. There was no denying it. I was going to die in this little pine box, buried underground God knows where, and sticking of my own piss. I dropped the phone onto my stomach and listened to the soft beeping noise.
30:01
I started to laugh. But it produced no sound. My diaphragm ached like I had done too many sit-ups.
I laughed so hard I could feel my lungs beginning to burn and the metallic tang of blood beginning to trickle down the back of my throat even more as it became more raw and irritated. I laughed until my vision grayed and I couldn't force any more air out of my lungs. I laughed myself into oblivion.
24:54
End Part 10
(:./ebony/magic10)
