.The Eraser.

vight-et-un

                                                                        -21-

The sound of distant car horns and birds chirping nearby entered Atara's ears, waking her up. Her eye lids felt heavy as she lifted them up slowly. Her vision was hazy and her skull had begun to pound; as if someone was hammering her forehead with a club. This caused a wave of fatigue to wash over her as she now fully opened her eyes. 

Something was terribly wrong. Panic seized her heart. 

Aside from the headache and fatigue she was feeling, a sense of confusion filled the air. Where was she and what happened?  

She recalled the extreme coughing and people lying on the floor unconscious. Her heart clenched in sorrow as she remembered her sitting mother struggling to stay conscious and her father and Jean standing, also coughing heavily. An image of Larry's unmoving body flashed before her eyes and her brain instantly replayed their little moment in the gym. Then she remembered how the scary figures in gas masks circled them while they suffered. She shivered. 

Atara's heart was racing in fright. She tried to get up from her sitting position and realized that she was being supported by a metallic chair. Her wrists were tightly strapped to the chair's arms. She desperately wiggled, trying to free herself. Another torrent of panic rained over her as she could not loose herself from the chair.  

She tried to move her legs instead; if she couldn't free her hands then she would instead try to escape with her legs and back still attached to the chair. Unfortunately for her, her feet seemed to be strapped to the floor and as she continued squirming, she noted that the chair was stuck to the floor as well. Her kidnappers really wanted to keep her from escaping.  

The butterflies in her stomach weren't helping the situation; they kept on tumbling in her abdomen, making the anxiety and confusion worse. She felt like puking. Whatever that green mist was, it definitely did a number on her body and brain. 

With the revelation that she was not able to free herself at the moment, she moved her eyes upwards and examined the room she was in. It was empty, aside from the chair she was sitting on in the middle of the humongous room.The big space was filled with orange light rays streaming in, from the rectangular windows lining the long wall in front of her and also lining the other walls at both of her sides. She couldn't look over her shoulder, because the chair was restraining her movement. This made her feel very uneasy. 

She strained her neck a little, trying to get a good glimpse of what was beyond those windows. It looked like the sun was beginning to set over the distant warehouses. That was a clue at least. She must have been in a warehouse herself. She realized then, that she was probably on a high floor from the way she could only see the roof of the other warehouses in the distance. 

The room was quiet- too quiet. 

'Where are my parents and Jean...? And everyone else?' she wondered as she once again started moving frantically. Atara was terrified of the unknown. Nothing made sense as she tried to sort out the reasons why she was here. 

She yanked her wrists while moving her legs, but the stubborn straps wouldn't budge. Then she heard a door open and close behind her. She stilled. 

Atara held her breath and her heart organ sank down to her stomach in dread.  

Light footsteps thumped against the cement floor tormenting her, coming closer and closer to where she was situated. She suddenly felt trapped, with nowhere to run. She had never felt so helpless before. The footsteps behind her were slowly moving nearer, as a rush of bitter bile rose into her esophagus.