My chest aches and my heart races. My throat is beyond dry, comparable to the Antarctic plains. My shoulders rise and fall erratically, synchronised with my hyperventilation to a perfect Olympic standard. This breath-taking performance - or should I say breath-provoking performance - causes my head to spin. These are just the joyful side effects of the all too common domestic sleep killer; the nightmare.
Sweat gently trickles down my face and contributes to my already drenched clothes that have absorbed this salty mix. Just my luck, one of my eyelashes whose sole purpose is to protect my eye, decides to impale it. A twisted reminder that I can't move my hands, not even to relieve my discomfort. You see my nightmare doesn't end with the sometimes blissful, sometimes dreaded act of waking up. No, my nightmare lives on as I'm shackled to what I can only assume is a concrete floor. I say assumed because it matches the characteristics; cold, hard and unforgiving, however I can't see it. Did I mention there was no light in here? No? Oh, well there isn't. I'm trapped in what I suspect is a 2x2 metre room, shackled to the floor and am constantly kept in the dark.
The worst part about this torture is that I don't even know why I deserve it. All they told me was that my mother suffered the punishment and therefore I must as well. They also told me that should I ever have a child, there's a bloody good chance they'll be forced in here too.
It's not fair. How am I meant to show the world my potential if I can't escape this prison. I have so much II want to share, so much information trapped inside my head with no where to go. Do you know how frustrating it is when you have no communication with anyone. Do you know how quickly your sanity can slip from you when you have nothing but yourself?
I muster all my energy and the miniscule amount of strength in a pointless attempt to free myself. Pulling relentless away from my shackles, using my legs as leverage. Nothing happens.
"Please!" I scream ruthlessly, "I JUST WANT TO BE FREE. I WANT TO WALK, I WANT TO TALK, I WANT TO DISCUSS IDEAS WITH OTHERS, I WANT TO LIVE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!"
My muscles stop fighting as my tears replace the sweat on my face.
"I just want to see the light," I whisper. There's no point. No one can hear me and even if they could they wouldn't be able to free me. I can never escape these walls for they are my own. I'm trapped here inside my mind forever. Unless they find a cure for ALS, my body will remain my prison.
