English CAT 2012
No Escape
I bolt sharply upright, scrambling to my feet, eyes wide but seeing nothing, the metallic taste of adrenaline dancing along my tongue. My heart pounds and my rapid, raking breaths slowly evolve into hyperventilation as my survival instincts kick in.
Darkness
It envelopes me in its omniscient, inky blackness; what happened? Where am I? How did I get here? These questions begin to flood my hazy mind; questions I can't answer; I can't remember anything. I begin to become hysterical; the silence and utter realisation crushing down on me, stealing my breath away, I struggle to gasp in the oxygen my lungs are screaming for- I sink to the hard floor and put my head between my knees. Eventually, my panic attack ceases, though my head continues to pound. I shakily get to my feet, hesitating for a moment to allow the dizziness to pass, and stumble forwards, not knowing what I was looking for, but hoping for a wall to materialize before me or for some sort of light source, but after walking for forever and a day, I give up. Long ago had I given up on feeling anything in front of me; I curl my arms defensively around my waist and my pace has slowed from a shaky run to an unsure stumble. There is nothing but the darkness. It never ends. I am captive. No escape.
My heavy eyes droop- NO. I can't risk sleeping- it’s too dangerous. I always hated the dark. It wasn't the darkness itself I was afraid of; it was how vulnerable it made me. And plus I have to take care of- my breath catches in my throat- my pupils dilate explosively- “JAYDA!”
They’ve taken her. Oh God. Oh God, no- please, no…
I clamp my hands over my mouth and my breaths heave, tears threaten my eyes and a lump fills my throat, “Jayda-” my strangled cry is lost in the cold stillness of the empty void that surrounds me… I am utterly alone.
-
Their featureless faces, completely smooth and half covered by masks haunt my vision; the shrill sound of my screams of protest mingled with Jayda’s screams of pure agony ring in my ears. Then she falls silent. They tear her from my arms, her beautiful hair drenched with her own blood, gushing out of an open wound just above her brow, just one of many lacerations which blanket her frail body. Her crystal blue eyes, still half open, are unfocused as those monsters strap her down to a board and cart her away from me.
That’s when I woke up in a cold sweat, screaming her name, tormented by conflicting dreams- dreams? Or are they memories? They were too vivid to be dreams… I didn’t fall asleep- had I been attacked?
A red-hot, lethal mix of fury, grief and pure frustration blaze through my veins and the burning question that has resided deep in my subconscious erupts out of me like a furious volcano as I scream into the void- “WHO ARE YOU?!” My hatred burns as fiercely as a super nova- who are these faceless creatures who have abducted my Jayda? Stolen her from my protection?
I listened in the stillness for a reply, the time here passes rapidly, minutes melt into hours, hours into days, and days into weeks, and yet I hear no reply. There is no way for me to keep track of the centuries that appear to pass. The isolation has set in. My hope is slowly dissolving- with nothing but my determination to rescue Jayda spurring me on, I keep going. I keep breathing- I keep living- I keep walking. On and on into the darkness that holds me captive, clutching me, in its hostile grip.
Then I hear it.
My head snaps up, my ears tentative, my hearing capabilities sharpened by isolation and amplified by the imposing silence in which I live. My head whips around reflexively, my superior auditory senses searching for the source of the whispered hissing; there it was again. It comes from nowhere but everywhere at the same time and I suddenly become aware of my sweating palms, the sour taste in my mouth, the steady flow of air through my lungs… the sound, so familiar, yet I struggle to place it. Then it comes to me.
