Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-28420405-20160531153144

I awoke in an unfamiliar room. A dank mustiness hung in the air. Moisture and mold coated the concrete walls and ceiling. I tried to lift my head, but I found I had no strength. As I turned my head to the right, my neck gave a loud crack. I winced in pain and shut my eyes tight. When I opened them again, I saw a woman standing to the right side of me – she too, was unfamiliar.

Panic and shock started to set in. I could not move, and everything around me was strange. It was as if my surroundings were coated in a dark slimy muck. The only brightness in the room was the woman’s pale skin. She wore dark clothing and had dark hair and eyes. As our eyes met, a smile slowly spread across her face.

“Good morning, my dear.” She walked closer to me, and I felt my body try to recoil. All my strength was drained. Her smile widened as she watched my struggle. I followed her movements, and watched as her hand hovered over my legs. I realized I was in a small bed with a metal frame, not unlike those used in old hospitals. I was covered in a grey wool blanket with frayed edges. I seemed to be wearing a hospital gown. She lifted the blanket from my legs, and I let out a quick gasp.

My body was withered. My skin was hanging off my bones. Bed sores ravaged my exposed skin. The shock of being in an unfamiliar place was subsiding, and I now felt pain flood through my body. My muscles were aching and my skin felt like it was under intense pressure that needed to be released. My mouth was painfully dry. My lips were chapped and cracking. Any movement made my entire engulfed my body in pain.

“Where am I? Who are you?” I used all the strength I could muster to address the mystery woman, croaking out due to my dry throat and mouth. Her face lit up, and she seemed almost giddy.

“Oh Sweetie, it hurts that you don’t remember your own mother! But that’s to be expected, you’ve been asleep for quite some time. The doctor informed us that you would be fuzzy after you woke up.” She laid the blanket back over me, and tucked the edges underneath me with force. The pressure of being touched sent fire coursing through my legs.

It took a moment for her response to sink in. My mother? I had no idea who this woman was. I laid my head back down and tried to rifle through my memories. The last thing I remembered was walking down my street. I heard a car horn blare, and turned to see the commotion in the road. The next thing I knew I was laying in this bed. The rest of my memories were running together, like ice cream dripping down a cone on a hot day.

Before I could search my memory for any more answers, she woman patted me on the legs. Pain surged from my toes to my chest and gripped at my lungs, causing me to gasp for air. I heard a small pop, and felt a warm ooze down the back of my leg. I remembered my body covered in sores, and realized that a wound must have ruptured. The smell rose up from under the blanket and made me gag. When I opened my eyes, I found the woman looking down at me and smiling.

“You’ll heal up in no time, my sweet one. You just need to rest!” With that, she turned her back to me and walked to the heavy metal door in the back of the room. She looked back to me, gave me a big smile, and left. I heard a lock click behind her. Even if I had the energy to move, I was stuck in this room.

I heard footsteps, and she seemed to not walk far before opening another door. It slammed behind her, and I suddenly felt alone. Panic washed over me. I struggled to move in my weakened state. The adrenaline from the fear gave me the power to sit up and swing my legs around the side of the bed. My feet hit the slimy floor and I had to catch my breath.

I heard a faint scream from beyond my door, and any need to rest vanished. A cold sweat coated my neck and face. My breath quickened and I clutched at my chest. I looked down at myself. My bony body was unrecognizable. It felt like I was in someone else’s body. My head was pounding. I told myself to keep moving – to make sure I could still walk. Every cell in my body was screaming to get out of this place.

I pushed myself off the metal bed frame. The springs squealed under the shifting weight. I stood upright for a moment before collapsing to the floor. It must have been sometime since I last used my legs. I started to scramble. My palms slipped on the wet, grimy floor. My face hit the ground with a thud, and I felt a warm trick of blood run from my forehead and down my right cheek. My struggle to move just fueled my fear and panic.

Another hushed scream could be heard beyond my door. It was clearly a woman crying out. Suddenly, a heavy slam rang out and hurried footsteps went past my door. It sounded as if whoever was walking was ascending a flight of stairs. I decided it was time to get moving again before someone came back to this room. I did not want to be the next person screaming.

I pushed myself up and forced my legs to stand. My knees wobbled like a newborn fawn. I gripped the metal bedframe to steady myself. I looked to the door and remembered how it had been locked from the outside. I let out a heavy sigh and sat back down on the bed. I needed a plan before moving anymore.

I looked around the room. All I could see was the metal bed frame, topped with a thin mattress. The mattress was cold and damp, presumably from my heavy sweating in my attempts to move. Next to the bed sat a small metal table. I touched it lightly, and noticed it was wiggling, as if the legs were uneven. I wobbled the table back and forth and watched the ground. I determined that the back left leg was casing the wiggling. I inspected further, and noticed a small glint of metal on the floor.

I leaned over, and my back cracked and creaked. I fought past the pain and picked a safety pin stuck through a small folded piece of paper. I hastily sat back up and struggled to open the pin. My panic quickly turned to glee. I knew I could force open the lock someway with this pin. It was then I was filled with a sudden memory.

I remembered sitting in a large room with a wooden floor. I was opening a safety pin and picking at a lock. The lock popped and I turned the door knob. Inside was a room filled with wrapped presents, all labeled “To: Megan, From: Santa” and tied up neatly with bows. I then remember being scooped up by a man, my father, who rushed me out of the room and closed it again. He was a slight man who wore bottle-rimmed glasses. I then remember a woman, my mother, running up to me and scolding me for peeking at the Christmas presents. The woman in my memory was short, with light blonde hair, and olive toned skin. She radiated warmth. She was the polar opposite of the woman who was just sitting at my bedside.

Now that I was certain that I was not in my own home and that woman was not my mother, I knew I had to try and escape. The screaming from outside the room, coupled with the unfamiliar woman and the obviously neglected state of my body, all culminated in a resounding fear. I knew I was not safe where I was. I fumbled with the pin.

I stood up and shakily walked to the door. I forced the pin into the keyhole and jiggled the pin. I worked as quickly as I could. Before I could hear the satisfying “click” of the door unlocking, I heard footsteps descending the stairs. The crept closer to my door, and I was beginning to worry that the woman may notice the moving knob. I held my breath and clutched the pin. I kept my hand steady as the steps crossed my door. I heard a creak and a slam -- someone had entered a different room. I began rushing to unlock the door once again.

Another scream rang out. Cursing my weak fingers and shaking legs under my breath, I continued to try to force the door open. Tears were welling up in my eyes. My chest felt hot and my breathing was labored. Finally, the doorknob clicked and I felt the release of the lock. I held my hand on the knob for a moment. I was hesitant out of fear that the woman would be coming back to my room. I heard a creak and slam of the door once more, and an eerie silence. No footsteps rang in the hallway.

I shut my eyes tight and backed away from the door, pulling the pin out of the lock slowly and keeping it in my palm. It was the only form of defense I had, and I doubted I could even put up a fight in my weakened state. I had just used every ounce of energy I had to unlock the door. I panicked and backed away from the door. As I edged backward toward the bed, I heard the footsteps once more. The crossed my room and ascended the stairs.

I felt confident that whoever was walking around near my door was now gone. I walked back to the door and turned the now unlocked doorknob. It took all I had to push open the metal door. When I peered out, I saw a hall that extended left and right, lined with large metal doors similar to the one I had just opened. A staircase was parallel to my door. The stairs were metal and the whole hallway reminded me of the bottom floor of a ship. The stairs were metal and led to another heavy door.

I knew someone had gone up the stairs, so I immediately walked away from the staircase. I followed the hallway to the right. I could hear some muffled screams from behind some of the doors. The hallway lead to a dead-end and I turned around. I walked back past my door and down the other side of the hallway. I heard a loud sobbing from behind one of the doors. I gently knocked on the door, only to get a scream in response. I knocked again, and the sobbing picked up once more.

“I want to go home. Please. This isn’t my home! Who are you?!” The words were clear to me, even though they were coming from behind that heavy metal. I felt compelled to try and open the door. I tried to turn the knob, but realized it was locked just as my door had been. I jammed the pin into the keyhole and tried jiggling. The sobs behind the door grew and were interrupted only by screams of fear. Finally I unlocked the door and swung it open.

I saw a girl, about my age, in the same state as myself. Her skin was clinging to her bony body. Her hair was matted and her eyes were sunken. Her exposed skin was covered in sores. When our eyes met, she abruptly stopped making any noises.

She bolted past me. I watched her make a break for the stairs. I backed up toward the room where I had been and watched her. She was just as unsure on her feet as I was. She tripped up the staircase and clamored for the door. I watched her as she frantically tried to make an escape. Just then, the door at the top of the stairs started to open. Light filtered down into the dank underground. The mold that coated the doors and walls shined in the light from above. The woman I had seen earlier was smiling at the top of the stairs.

“Oh dear, you know you need to rest! I’ll have Dad put you back to bed.” She smiled as she gestured to someone behind her. A large man appeared. He was overweight and bearded. The hair on his head was thinning and he wore a white shirt with a large red and orange stain. He quickly stepped around the woman and began to descend the stairs. He grabbed the other woman and hoisted her frail body over his shoulder. I stood frozen in front of the door. He whipped open the door to the other woman’s room and flung her back onto the floor. The door slammed and he looked back at me.

I was trapped. The woman stood at the top of the stairs. The man began briskly walked toward me. I backed away toward the other end of the hallway. Tears were streaming down my face. I tripped over my own feet and fell to the ground.

"Please! Who are you!? What is going on here?!" I desperately cried out, hoping anyone but the couple would hear me.

Before I knew it, the man grabbed me. My body cried out in pain. His hands were gripped tightly around my wrist. I struggled to break free, but he quickly overpowered me. He grabbed me by the waist and put me over his shoulder. I kicked and screamed, but it made no difference. I remembered the safety pin I had found and tried jamming it into his neck. He was not phased. He walked back toward the door and opened it with his free hand. He hurled me back into the room and I landed with a thud on the cold ground. I heard my bones crack and I let out a loud scream. My ankle was tucked under my foot at a strange angle, clearly broken from the fall.

The man and woman stood in the doorway. They both smiled at me. I tried to move my broken ankle and screamed again. There was no way I could move now – I had only been able to move as much as I did before due to adrenaline. I hopelessly looked up at the couple standing before me. Their smiles were unnerving. The man gingerly picked the safety pin from his neck and tossed it on the floor in the hallway.

“I thought I told you that you needed rest, dear!” The woman motioned to the man to put me back in the bed. He started the cross the floor, and I tried to push my body away from him. The man picked threw me back onto the bed. The woman then glided over toward me and tucked the wool blanket back under my body. She patted my broken ankle and I screamed out in pain. The both turned their backs to leave. The woman stopped and turned to say one last thing before she left.

“You know, mother always knows best!” With that, they shut the door, and I heard the lock turn. 