An anthology of terror

Commotio cordis

What is that smell, it smells like the dentist. I reach up to touch my face, why can't I move my hands? I hear the beep of some machine in the background, why does that sound so familiar? And why does it fill me with dread?

How did I get here, what am I doing here?

The sound of my breathing is amplified, my heart begins to race. The beeping grows faster as I struggle for movement. What the hell is going on?

My mind is foggy, what did she say again? Something about my heart?

I see my sister towering over me, gowned in surgical attire; I remember. Once again I try to move, once again it yields no results. Deep down I know this is it, resistance is futile.

I hear a maniac laugh, it is loud, too loud. Every sound is amplified, this does not make sense, is this even real?

I feel the sharp pain of a scalpel on my chest, cutting the skin above my thorax with surgical precision. Do I dare scream? I try, and manage to let out a shriek of agony! My tongue becomes numb and suddenly I am rendered immobile once again. I hear my sister curse, did I just disobey her? The slap across my face confirms it.

Is that drilling I hear? I feel dust fall onto my skin, is it bone? This is painful, oh so painful. I want to be numb! I am not numb, I can feel it all too well, every tremor, every movement of the bonesaw as it is cutting into me. A screen is placed before my eyes. To my horror I see my thoracic cavity open before me. I begin to hyperventilate, and see every sordid detail of the process before my eyes. I was never one for gore and blood, this is all too much for me.

A gloved hand caresses my face. I know what will come next. I have heard these words echoing in my head ever since this nightmare started. I can repeat them verbatim, using the exact dead monotony as my sister did when she recorded it. "So now you're scared? Now you're all timid? It is a little too late for that, very soon I am going to continue the process which I began. I will be retracting your lungs to take your live beating heart into my hands, I am going to pull it out, and hold it before your eyes, you are going to see everything. Every little detail, but you will not be able to move a finger. After that I shall close you up, or leave you open, depending on my mood. This process will be repeated for the rest of your short miserable life. You will be begging me to kill you, except I prefer you alive and in pain, so will keep you so till I get bored of you. At this point I would be asking if you understand, but it makes absolutely no difference either way."

I see my sister smile down at me, her eyes devoid of emotion. This is my future, there is no escape. If there is a hell, surely I have arrived. If there is a satan, surely she stands before me. There is no hope, there is no end. Eternity lies before me, an eternity of pain and suffering in suffocating silence.

My sister hates me, and does so with a cold passion. I still cannot wrap my head around that concept. My baby sister was always so gentle, always so innocent. She used to cry when I squashed a fly. But she has changed. Jealousy can take the most gentle and turn them into ruthless creatures. Even after this became my life, I could not believe she had the capacity to bring harm to any living thing, especially a human. I was proven horribly wrong, and I am reminded of it every day. I still believe that she cannot kill, but that does far more evil to me than good. She does not want to kill me, she does not want my life. Only my my soul, only my pain. As I hear the maniac laugh of my sister echo in my head, I wonder, Will I ever be able to even scream again?