Prologue
Final layers of dirt were pressed onto the ground and I awoke to the sound of metal shovels clunking into one another. In a slow wake, I tried to sit up but my head collided with the roof.
âow! What the?â Confusion whirled around my head like a cyclone and with a sleepy haze still present, I rested my head back down. However a vexing feeling crossed me when the absence of a pillow allowed my neck to extend further than I was ready for. I didnât react, but my annoyance was beginning to get to me. A bubbling feeling arising in my stomach. Unable to see, move, or hear, I, understandably, began to panic. As my breathing sped up, tears were flooding my face and streaming down my cheeks, creating soft droplets on the floor below. Without thinking, my fist rose from my side and with everything I had, I tried to shove my knuckles through the roof. Over and over, striking the wood above. With each hit came a groan of pain through a fit of tears. Red rivers rushed down my knuckles, open wounds on my hands. With one last punch came a crack in both the wood and my wrist. My reaction at the time was to spiral into rage-filled screams. Kicking the roof and cradling my hand with the other. Continuously smashing my skull into the floor with frustration, my head throbbed uncontrollably sending a pulsating ache throughout my body. Suddenly, I stopped.
A tingling sensation on my chest grabbed my attention. With my uninjured hand, I used my fingers to feel what was falling. Dirt. The course feeling against me created unease and a shiver sent through my tense body. It wasnât stopping. Through the pain of a broken wrist, I reached to the top and plugged the hole with my hand. Only two minutes had passed before my arm had grown tired and I had to drop it back down. It was around this time I had realised the dirt was beginning to fill the space and panic set in once again. Forgetting completely about the pain in my hand, adrenaline took over and I struck the roof again. I had decided that the only way out was to climb upwards. More and more dirt filled the box. Blood trickling down my hands mixed with the soil and combined with my tears. Like a prisoner stuck in a burning cell, I used what little I had to snap the wooden cage. As the hole in the top grew, so did the speed of the falling mud. Tapping against my skin, a small sensation. One tap, then two, then three, and eventually eight simultaneous impressions pressed into my body moving upwards and fast. Shock and fear froze me in place, my body contorted with a desire to escape. For seemingly no reason at all, two fangs pierced my stomach and I screamed with suffering and began to writhe. This episode didnât last long however, through the agony of the bite I had pictured myself escaping and finding help. The wooden cage was half full by this point and the movement required to claw at the roof was becoming harder and harder to achieve but filled with determination and a desire to live I kept ripping. Skin was peeling off my hands and her nails were bending from my fingers like hot metal, something unimaginable. After fighting bugs and spiders trying to scatter across me and into my mouth, a hole just wide enough to fit through formed in the roof. Having no other choice, I sat up with a struggle and shoved my head through the gap and into the ground above. Immediately my eyes became full of dirt and spiders and insects made their way onto my tongue. Crawling down my throat, I was suffocating but still pushed forward. Intertwining with roots and rocks, I wouldâve decomposed if I stopped. No, I needed to live and so through a mouth full of insects, eyes full of dirt, peeled nails, a degloved hand, and a broken wrist, I had no choice but to push on. Soft droplets, the cool sensation of water made its way to me. I knew what it was and the knowledge filled me with strength. With one final strike, my skinned hand made it above the surface and the gentle rain stings causing me to tense. Through the dirt, I looked up and Iâve never been so relieved to see a grey sky in the gap my hand had made. Pushing and pushing, pulling myself up was difficult but I made it out and felt the chilling rain trickling from the sky. Convulsing and coughing, bugs flew to the floor from my throat. Black hair dry and knotted, the same tiny creatures that I had just spat out were tangled. Overcast and grey, I rose to my feet and scanned my surroundings. When the realisation that I had been completely deserted in a place with no life whatsoever hit, I collapsed to the floor and lost consciousness.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.