Tuesday, December 13, 2005

June sat alone in the back corner of the dark empty attic room. She stopped screaming and banging on the door fifteen minutes ago. Her eyes failed to adjust to the light in the room because no light showed itself. The black weighed on her and enveloped her, choking sobs from her cold and shivering body. She covered her ears to block the sound of silence that attacked her mind. Her back maintained contact with the stone wall and her butt and thighs pressed into the stone floor, keeping her grounded in sanity.

June’s stomach began talking to her. It gurgled, rumbled and complained about its empty, lonely state. It tightened and twisted, creating an agitation in other areas of her body. The sole of her feet tingled and her hands itched. June scratched first one palm then the other and the itch moved to her elbows. It crawled up her arms, neck and sides of her face and lodged in her scalp. She scratched at her head until she felt a dampness under her fingernails. And she cried.

She sobbed, great heaves, loud, frustrated wails. Her lament echoed and bounced around the empty walls, running back to her in panicked gallops that slammed into her eardrums and silenced her. She sucked in a huge gulp of air, held it and blew it out in a slow streaming whistle.

Her hands felt their way up the walls and her body followed, until she stood. She pressed a hot cheek against the ancient cool stone. She read her way around the room, back to the door. Nothing blocked her path. She used her fists to pound on the door. She pulled and twisted the handle and fell back on her ass as it swung open on her. A halo of bright light shining around a dark figure blinded her and she covered her eyes.

"Is there a problem?"

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