Sleeping Beauty

Darkness arrived

  I opened my eyes as a shiver crept upon my back. Uncomfortable, cold tiles were  pressing against my side. Everything was surrounded by darkness. The strength to get up wasn’t here. I felt like the last drop of life was taken from me. Where was I? I didn’t get it. Was this how fainting looks like? I remembered the last time I did. It was like an endless sleep without dreaming. This looked nothing like it. This wasn’t a dream. Everything felt too real, too cold. My eyes may have been open, I couldn’t see a thing. I wanted to find my strength and get up. The cold was starting to make its way through me when I managed to get myself up on hands and knees. I was desperate to discover where I was, what this was. Blinking a thousand times to hope the darkness would go away wasn’t the right solution, yet neither was wishing for light. Instead, a sound so loud, as if it came from an amplifier only a feet away from me, crashed through.

  The sound hurt my ears. It’s tone was ear-piercing, I wanted it to stop so badly. It kept going and going and I kept screaming to make it stop. In the end I was lying back on the cold floor in fetal position with my hands pressed against my ears, still screaming. Suddenly, the sound became less earsplitting. I didn’t know if it was my imagination, but I could hear someone screaming: Don’t you dare to lose!. I didn’t understand. What was this, a game? Was it important to win? If I actually found a way. I felt dizzy for a while because my head was still spinning from the sudden noise. Relieved, I placed my hands before me and managed to get up.

   “Who’s there?!”, I yelled. Maybe whoever said that line could hear me too. If only I did my best. This needed to work. They would hear me. “Please!”, screamed. “Please, help me! Answer me!”

  My cries for help held on for what felt like hours. The pain of hoarseness should be dominant by now, still I felt nothing. The immense cold seemed to have taken away the my last touch. Whatever I screamed, the only response I got were my own screams, echoed in the darkness all around me. I pressed my jaws upon each other, to prevent any further yells. What was the point of this anyway? If they heard me, they would have answered by now. It seemed like I’ve been here for hours, and still I know nothing. I don’t know where I am, or what this is. I don’t know what that sound was.

  Hours seemed to drag by, and my screams were replaced by the sound of my own nails, scratching the tiles. Even then I didn’t feel a single sensation of pain. I wanted to feel. The cold was everywhere. I didn’t notice I started crying and scratching my face until I covered it with my hands. A warm fluid streamed down both of my cheeks. Blood.

 What was happening?

I wish for now…

I wish I could just give up.