The Attic

Chapter 2 - Acquaintance

Day: One

Date: February 28, 2012

Time: 5:39 P.M.

                Trembling, I gave a slight push to reveal a little of the outside as my heart hammered my throat like a cramming blacksmith. In my twenty-three years of existence, never had I experienced a burglar incident in our old house, so this was a first.

                Odd, the effort I exerted didn’t get me through. The door didn’t move outwards. I tried once more with a greater force by using both hands, but to my surprise, it was stuck. I wanted to pound on the wooden surface but had second thoughts for it would give away my hiding place. The doors appeared to be glued in place, having no intention of letting me out.

                Suddenly, a realization dawned unto me as I fumbled in the dark.

                …Or was it really the case?!

                The closet’s locking mechanism was a simple bolt slid in place with a golden knob, with the option of securing it with a pad lock to keep the hands of those with monkey business away from the valuables inside. I felt the focus of whatever prevented me from opening the doors only at the center; both top and bottom showed no resistance when I tried pushing on them.

                I was locked from the outside. The bastard locked me from the outside!

                My fate was sealed as I started to suffocate, not just from lack of breathing air, but also because of the terror that consumed me. I was claustrophobic, but with a little variation to how others would define the fear of being trapped in enclosed spaces. I only become scared of such areas when I’m confined in it for several minutes. I’m able to survive a two minute lift whenever I rode the elevator of our building. Anything more than that would make me go nuts. With that, one might disagree that I have claustrophobia, but that’s the only way I could put it.

                But this one’s entirely different.

                I was trapped in the closet for who knew how long now, and I could feel my paws becoming numb. There was an awkward silence as I struggled to breathe in the middle of nothingness; everywhere I turned would only show me a void despite knowing that I was actually enclosed by wood.

                Forced to choose between rotting in the hell hole I was and forcing my way out, the clothes I hanged brushed against me as I withdrew a step backward, prepping myself to bash the stupid doors. Whoever was outside became the least of my concerns. Taking a huge chunk of air in, I harassed the wood with a violent bump. I cursed at the good quality of the material used to construct the bloody closet, for it retaliated, sending a searing pain to my shoulders as it pushed me back. Doing so probably confirmed the intruder as to where I was, so my reflexes would be the only thing which could save me once I got out.

                Break out, disarm him if he has again, and then knock the wind out of him.

                That was the plan. But I scrapped that because had he carried a gun with him, he should just have shot me through the wood, so apparently he didn’t have one. He’s probably waiting.

                My second attempt almost got me out, hearing a clank and finally seeing a fine line of light appear between the closet doors.

                My first thought was to kick on it until it gave up, but in spite being spacious, there wasn’t enough room to fit the standing length of my leg if aligned perpendicularly to the wooden entrance. I wasn’t the type to give up right away. The saying ‘At least I tried’ wasn’t enough for me as well, for trying so far without actually yielding results was an effort for naught.