Short Stories Collection

Rats

Taps echoed throughout my small enclosure; tap tap tap. Silence surrounded me, all except for the taps. The poundings start again after a few minutes of anticipating silence. The same rhythm with the same amount of force with each individual noise-producing action: tap... tap tap tap.

I sat somewhere towards the middle of the darkened room, my knees against my chest and my arms around my knees. I rocked back and forth as shakes racked my body. Spit foamed at my lips. Yellow, hardened puss crusted around the rims of my eyes.

I hunted around the dark in a desperate search for light, some sort of sign that would prove to my subconscious that I wasn't alone. More tapping reverberated against the walls.

Maybe I was blind at this point, I couldn't tell. Cool, unforgiving stone sat underneath my feet. Mold flourished on every surface I could touch. I tried drying my slick hands on my clothing but the meager things they gave me to wear when they threw me in this hell were long torn and destroyed by now. My attempts were futile and my hands remained sweaty. Iron overwhelmed my senses. I could smell it. I could taste it. It was everywhere. I picked up the sounds of the poundings once more.

I wasn't even chained. They didn't bother. I had free roam of the place, but I had no center of gravity. Whenever I attempted to stand, I almost immediately fell over. Cuts littered my face and limbs from my multiple escape attempts.

It could've been a year ago that I last saw light. Maybe three. Maybe ten. I lost track of time in the dark, small space.

The tapping continued: tap, tap tap.

I swiveled my head from side to side, searching for the source of sound. Again my results turned up void.

Clicking erupted from around me, causing me to scoot backwards in fear. My back hit the wall and I scratched at my arms until they bled. More iron filled the air. Tiny claws climbed up my body, scratching at my face. I screamed. Fire burned where they cut. I felt a liquid substance drip down and fall onto my stomach.

"Oh, don't scream! Hush, we're taking care of you..." A disembodied voice whispered. I didn't know where it had came from. It was condescending; not a friendly voice that one wants to hear when in precarious situations such as these.

A few more scratches and then they stopped, along with the taps. I revelled in the momentary quiet. Tears ran down my face and I clenched my eyes shut in hopes that they would not start up again. The pounds continued and I cried out, my voice cracking. More screaming as the scraping continued and more wounds appeared on my already-tattered body. Sometimes I wondered if I was well and truly broken.

I heard steps approaching me. I wanted to scoot backwards even more but I couldn't. The steps stopped in front of me. I felt breaths against my neck and face. Cold, unkind breaths that came from a cold, unkind person. This person was in front of me.

A rough, cold fabric was forced over my head. I struggled at first, trying to lodge the cloth off of me, but I failed. I felt it tighten around my neck as it was secured into place. Sounds became muffled, my breathing laboured. I tried to ask what they were and where they were taking me, but my voice came out in broken, incomprehensible rasps. Utterly imprisoned.

I was roughly uprooted from my spot on the metal slab that used to be my home. I was dragged along the ground like a sack of flour that they couldn't carry properly.

More clicking. I felt something claw at my eyes and I turned my head left to right to attempt to dislodge whatever was on my face. Yet another failure. I felt a tiny, sharp claw dig into my left eyelid. I shrieked. Flames laced through my entire face. Pain. Pain and fear is all that I remembered before I blacked out.

When I came to, I was still moving. Now, I could see everything surrounding me and I could hear everything efficiently. I stopped our small group of five for a moment. I pulled out a struggling rat from my canvas bag and placed the panicking creature on our victim's face.

"Hush... we're only trying to help." I laughed.

750 words, horror genre