Hard Breathing

I slowly slip into conciousness. There is nothing, all dark. i then gain my other senses. Feelling my back uncomfortably againts a hard surface. I smell fresh saw dust as one would smell in a Home Depot. then Comes the taste. the taste of sawdust and grain making my mouth crave any sort of liquid to quench it. Now the heat sets in, i realize its just at the bareable level. I'am sweating slow and just a general musk is making the air humid. I still cannot see.

I start to breathe heavy, i put my hands in front of me. i feel thick, grainy wood no more than six inches in front of my face. i now realize, im in a coffin, im in my deathbed, i am going to die.

after what felt like an hour pounding all sides of a coffin, i relinquish my strength to the air. i lay back, knowing what is next, knowing death wont come quickly. my fate now would either be starvation, dehydration, heat stroke, or more likely suffocation. My worst fear. gasping for air and no relief in sight. I havew often been afraid of swimming, or any sort of thing where i could drown or be deprived of oxygen. as im thinking of this torture i feel my lips. they are dry, like a desert, now all that flashes in my mind is a dry and desolate desert with nothing but animal skulls and carcases drying out in the dry summer sun.

what felt like another hour i start to fall asleep. i hear a beat off in the distance. I convince myself its just a vein in the side of my head throbbing. the longer it persists the less i belive its an internal affair. then it becomes so loud that i cannot fool myself into believing its my psychi or something physical. i slowly turn my head and see cracks become clear with a dim orange light shining through. not enought to light the coffin, but enough to line the edge of my tomb. Now along with the drums i hear chanting, in some language that i could not distinguish, almost a mix of arabic and german.

I start to shake violently out of fear. All of the suddent the chanting stops, but the drums only slow to a mild beat. my heart finally slows to the pace. I do not yell, becuase i believe i am in here for a reason, and these people know the reason. then i hear it, i know the sound. its the crackle of fire.

i hear shuffling around the outside of the box. then another familiar stench, gasoline. now the sound of slpashing, shuffling, and crackling give me the all too obvious sign of what is going to happen. then i feel the gasoline dripping on my legs.

then all goes silent. after my panic all i hear is my breath, and the crackle of the fire. in a sudden burst the fire engulfs the part of the box where my legs are. I scream in agony, and cannot shed the fire off. i bang on the box till my hands bleed. i scratch and yell but no answer. finally the box falls apart and i fall to the ground still burning. i roll to get the flames off and finally they extinguish. i catch my breath. i see people in cloaks around me. i am too shakin to say a word. then one takes his hood off. i cannot believe my eyes, my own father. he walks to me and gets on one knee. kisses me on the head. i feel a sharp pain in my chest. he removes himself from me. as i look down to the pain i see a burning piece of wood from the box erecting out of my chest. i fall. lifeless, motionless, one tear falling down. i exhale my last breath.