Boxed In: Trapped in the Dark

I was drifting through a dream of peaceful nothingness. The kind of comfortable sleep reserved for vacations and lazy Sunday mornings. A cool breeze ruffled over my shoulders and beckoned to me. I rolled over to snuggle in closer to Ryan to soak in his body heat but he no longer was there. I sat up to look for him, but my eyes wouldn't open. As though sewn shut, the lids refused to budge. I tried to call for him, but my mouth wouldn't open, my lips stuck together. I have had this nightmare before, in the in-between moments when sleep refuses to loosen its grip on me. That's all this is….

But, no.

I struggled to pry my mouth and eyes open, even using my fingers, to no avail.

I could not make myself wake up. I couldn't open my lids or my lips.

Panic gripped my heart angrily, overwhelmed with the helpless sensation of slowly suffocating. The mystical box had me still in its grip. But I refused to give in; we had come too far. I concentrated on slowing my breathing, focusing on carefully inhaling and exhaling through my nose. I could breath just fine, as long as I didn't think about not being able to open my lips. Finally, my pulse steadied until I could think clearly.

I need to find Ryan.

Getting on my knees, I cautiously began feeling my way forward, crawling slowly. The air around me clung to my skin, sticky and thick like molasses. I clawed my way forward.

Everything will be okay if I just find him.

And then, I bumped into a wall.

Finally, something to guide me as I slugged through this sticky darkness.

I stood up, feeling more comfortable on my feet now with one hand against the wall. It was tacky, catching against my fingers and slowing me down, yet I pushed forward, propelled by the hope of finding Ryan.

BAM!

The unexpected sound threw me off. I didn’t realize how deafeningly silent it had been before that.

A second later, Bam! Bam!

My heart began racing, unsure what the slamming sound meant. It continued, now in a rhythmic pattern that tugged at the back of my mind.

Morse code? No, that didn’t seem right.

Bam-pause-bam-bam-bam-pause-bam-pause-bam-bam.

As the rhythm started over, I began humming in my mind along with it. It clicked. Our song. It has to be Ryan.

Wanting to signal him back I lifted my hand to knock onto the wall, but when it came back against the sticky surface it made no sound. I would have to find my way to him. Listening carefully, I turned around, keeping my hand against the wall, moved toward the knocking.

Bam-Bam-Bam.

Every so often I would pause and listen, making sure I still headed toward him. Then my heart sank. The knocking clearly came from behind me. I had passed him. I would have to cross back through the sticky nothingness to get to him with no way of knowing if I would ever be able to find him or the wall again.

Without warning, my hand suddenly fell through an opening that had not been there a moment before. Cool air flowed over my arm, a soft welcoming breeze. Something about it felt safe and inviting. Somehow, I knew that if I went through that opening, I would get out of here. I would get home.

Bam-bam-bam.

But what about Ryan?

I turned away from the wall and sank to my knees. If I had to crawl through this heavy darkness forever, as long as I could hear his pounding, I would keep going.

Fate mocked me and the pounding abruptly stopped. I tried to scream his name, tugging on lips that would not part. Again my heart began to race as I sucked air desperately through my nose, sure I would suffocate any moment. I couldn’t think of anything any more, I couldn't calm down, sure I was about to die. Then…

Bam! Bam! Bam!

He had abandoned the rhythm of our song. Now the slamming came in groupings of three distinct knocks, over and over. I love you, I thought. I love you. My breathing slowed as I pulled in one long breath for three slams then exhaled slowly over the next three. I started moving forward again. I love you, I shouted in my mind as I got nearer the source of the sound. Bam, bam, bam. I. Love. You. Bam. Bam. Bam. I. Love. You.

I crawled forever, my knees ached deep into the bone and the skin burned as layers slowly rubbed away. I began to wonder if I ever would find him, if I would die crawling through this endless black purgatory. Defeat threatened to overwhelm me, but each time I heard his Bam Bam Bam it called me forward.

I paused, realizing the sound now came from my right. I turned toward it. It now came from my left. I corrected my course and continued. Now, it came from the right, now the left, back on my right.

Then it stopped. I waited for it to start again. The seconds stretched on and on. Maybe he had finally given up. Maybe he had found his own opening and decided to leave without me. He wouldn’t leave me, would he? NO! I shook my head.

Bam…this one sounded muffled, barely there. Again, silence filled the suffocating darkness. No more sound came yet I continued to crawl.

I put my hand down and instead of the slightly tacky floor, my fingers found warm, wet, viscous liquid. I could smell a familiar coppery tang. I slid my hand cautiously forward, following the small rivulet of blood until finally my hand found his. I wrapped my fingers around his, but they remained slack.

Trying to hold my panic at bay, I scrambled forward, following his arm to his limp body. I collapsed over his chest, holding my cheek close to his face. Barely there, I felt his breath on my skin.

"Ryan, Ryan," I whispered. "Please be okay. I cannot lose you."

Overwhelmed with fear and desperation, I didn't realize my mouth had been loosed and I could speak again until I noticed a light in the distance with eyes that suddenly could open. Again, I knew if I went to the light, I would find my way home, but not without Ryan.

Turning away, I looked down, assessing the injuries I could finally see. Both of his hands and his forehead were raw, the skin scraped away from the knuckles clear down to the stark white bone. I tore long swaths of fabric from the skirt of my dress and wrapped his wounds as tightly as I could. He groaned a bit when I tightened the wraps. My heart welcomed the sound.

I saw then that Ryan lay at the base of a single metal column streaked with streams of crimson blood. I reached over and touched it with one finger, then recoiled immediately from the sharp twinge radiating through my finger tip. Looking closer, I could see the surface was not smooth, thousands of tiny sharp metal splinters lined the entirety of the column. Unable to find me any other way, he had continued pounding out his message, calling me toward him, until he had torn the skin down to the bone on both hands before resorting to hitting his forehead against the pole in the end.

As carefully as I could, I slipped my hands under both his arms and pulled. He groaned in pain with each tiny tug. Slowly, I inched the two of us closer to the opening and our hopeful escape. We had only gone a few feet when his groan became a cry, a sob of pain unlike any other I'd ever heard from him, and something pulled forcefully back.

For the first time I saw the chains around his ankles, tethered to the evil spiny pole.

Now what?

A breeze came through the opening, fluttering the edges as if taunting me with the most impossible choice.

Do I leave him and hope to find help?

I wanted to lay my head down on his chest and cry. But that would accomplish nothing.

"I'll be back," I kissed him gently then got to my feet.

Crossing the short distance to the opening, I intended to just peer through it. If I knew what was on the other side, maybe I would know what to do. But I should have known, the Box had other plans.

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Ryan and Kayla's strange journey began two years ago, the idea blossoming from a challenge I never entered. Earlier this year, I went back to the story I had abandoned and published the first four parts. Life got in the way of art, as it so often does, and I am just getting back to the tale. My apologies to those of you left waiting for the story to be finished and to Kayla and Ryan left waiting in limbo. I hope to wrap it up soon with the next installment. Until then, read where their adventure started.

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Part Four: