(Trigger Warning: Intense/Mature and Graphic Themes that may not be comfortable for all readers.)
You awoke to dingy and unfamiliar surroundings. Your eyelashes fluttering against your cheekbones like the wings of a hummingbird, as they struggled to open slowly. Your left eye felt weighed down, as though someone had left a heavy stone on top of your thin eyelid to simply hold it shut. The swollen nature of the surrounding skin, made your vision in that eye askew. And a throbbing pain flashed through your orb, as your left eye hesitantly opened in the glow of a pale and near burnt out light, that shrouded the dark room you had yet to recognize. The pain felt as though it was melting down the side of your face, the left side searing as though lava ran like the blood through your veins on the left side of your head. From your temple all the way down to your jawbone, the pain was overwhelming.
A low moan resonated from the back of your throat, it was faint and yet filled the small room with a muted and guttural rumble that seemed to echo off of the surrounding walls. It felt like you were waking from a slumber you never remembered laying down for. A drowsiness still trailing in your consciousness, weighing down on your body that felt sluggish, as your eyes fluttered open as they woke ever so slowly. The pain that pounded against the left side of your head, made the room seem tilted as you looked ahead. A dizziness from the throbbing that left the dark and peeling walls to look as though they were moving. Swaying back and forth, as though you were somewhere out at sea, and yet your bare feet sat perfectly flat against the roughed wooden panels beneath you. Your vision felt clouded, like there was a perpetual fog interrupting your ability to see your surroundings clearly or your mind's capability to think straight. But as your weak eyes slowly began to look downward towards your lap, through the dense flailing of your thin lashes, the sight that awaited for you seemed to clear the shadows away with a frightening ease. The glass that had been fogged by the clouding steam, was suddenly swiped through by a harsh hand and in its revealing path, you were left with a clarity that shook you to your core.
Your feet were bare, stripped of the sneakers that had once kept them warm and enclosed. Now, the pads of your toes scraped against the rough wood that seemed to be nothing but splinters and sharp shards. Although you craved for the normalcy of your shoes, that you didn't realize you had taken for granted, you were thankful for the fact that your legs were still denim clad and your pastel floral blouse still adorned over your chest and down your shoulders. The thin fabric doing little to ease the chill that settled in the air, as though you were stuck out in the middle of a winter snow storm minus the precipitation, but allowing you the modesty and the peace of mind that you needed. You could feel the cold metal of the chair you sat in soaking through the denim of your light washed skinny jeans, the chill shooting shivers up and down your spine. Erupting goosebumps up and down you arms, causing the hair that lined them to stand in the frozen shock. But it was the tight rope that was coiled around your wrists, tying you to the arms of the chair, that caused your anxiety to peak.
The binding material was chafing, the thick rope rubbing against the flesh of your wrists as you tried to move them. Wiggling your fingers as much as you could, before the harsh cord dug into your skin with a pain so sharp that it brought you to stop fighting against it. Feeling as though a match had been lit against your skin, the burning sensation swelling beneath your flesh that had been abraded by the unforgiving prickly rope. Your fingers beginning to feel cold and slightly tingly, as the pressure in which the scratching rope was tied around your wrists, was worryingly tight. Feeling like the blood flow would soon be cut off if the restraint's didn't loosen soon.
A fearful breath escaped past your trembling lips. Tumbling forward and you almost expected to see it freeze out in the stale air in front of you. It was different from the moan that had echoed in the room minutes prior, that one was low and aching with the pain and sluggish nature that your mind was struggling against. This was a croak of fear, that was full of the sound of heartbreaking tears, that you could feel collecting in the back of your dry throat. It was raw and afraid and full of pain. Both physical and emotional. But instead of freezing in a visible puff out in front of you, the cry that exhaled out from your lip parting gasp, disappeared into the air but it didn't fall on deaf ears. For as soon as you heard the unnerving echo of your stifled sob in the small space, a voice spoke out to you. It was a familiar voice, one that drew you back down from the monstrously dark thoughts and filled your tightening chest with a shadow of comfort.
