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By Katie Arminie

The last thing I remember was being in an Uber and taking the offered bottle of water, drinking it down with abandon. Disbelief overcomes me as I look around this strange, foreign room, trying to get my eyesight to adjust. Grogginess and a sense of doom build as seconds tick by. From the velvet couch I’m perched, I estimate the size of the small room. 10‘ x 10′? All the furniture seems to be of an bygone era. 19th century? What really draws my attention is how dark it is in here, supernaturally black, despite the window to the right. It is displaying either late afternoon or early evening. Diagonal to my direction in the room, is a hallway with a statue at its end. For some reason, this gives me the most anxiety. It is why I am here. A smell assaults my nose, dust, mold, and something more sinister. Now I am certain that I’m in danger. I don’t know how I know this, but I must get out of here. Time is running out.

 There is an odd wooden trunk, next to the couch, that has long legs and the feet of an animal, perhaps a wildcat. I grab one of the legs and smash it down to its side. One of the bottom legs give, so I turn it facing up and stomp on it until I feel it loosen. The boom is unreal in the deafening silence. I shake off my nerves and continue. A sense of relief and exhilaration rush through me as I rip the leg off the furniture. Now all I have to do is break the window and jump out onto the ground below. It doesn’t matter if I get hurt escaping because what awaits me, is far worse than anything I can imagine. Again I’m not sure why I know this, but it has something to do with the ancient, bizarre smell that fills my lungs, choking me. Then it hits me, I know what it is…death!

Now my actions are frantic, terror blinds my senses as I rush towards the window with my weapon gripped in my right hand. My legs are forced immobile by a stool, my body is suspended in the air as my mind screams, “No!” The torn leg flies from my hand as my body collapses to the cement flooring, searing pain stretches from my elbow up to my shoulder of my right arm. The injury makes my situation worse. Nothing should get in my way…I have no chance to fail. Working through the pain, I scramble to pick up my weapon again, this time with my left arm. I’m shocked as I limp over to the window, not only is my right arm injured, so it seems my right foot is too.

I say a silent prayer before I smash the glass with all my might. What greets my violence is a subtle thud, the window is unbreakable! This realization makes my heart ache with horror. The blood in my veins freeze as it is pumped down my body. I am shaking as I turn from the pinking sky to the dark hallway.  Screams fill the room, even before my brain is aware of what it is I’m seeing. Two glowing eyes, where the statue is, are glaring out. It dawns on me that the eyes are slightly squinted, because it is smiling. This is when I realize, the tin smell that prickles the air is my own blood. As if reading my thoughts, the eyes grow squinter with pleasure. There’s nothing left to do now but watch as the sky grows darker at the edges and pinker in the middle like a filleted steak. How many minutes does it take for the sun to disappear? This is all the time I have left. I pray for the impossible: the sun to not set.