Two

tick tock tick tock never say a word your voice is laced with magic your heart a fluttering bird tick tock tick tock no one can know tick tock tick tock he wants to steal your soul

Grey Grimly

3.18.2013

Two

The thick chains around my wrists gnaw hungrily at my skin as I slide off the bed of springs. Dragging myself across the floor I reach for the shake. I grunt in frustration, the sound muffled by the parasite of rubber clinging to my face, my fingertips just barely brush the edge of the glass. I'm starving starving starving. Like my insides are carnivorous beasts trying to eat me. Is it still cannibalism if you eat yourself?

The thought startles me.

Seven seconds pass before I make another grab for the shake. So close but yet so far has never been more applicable.

I want to scream. I want to yell my frustration through these damn brick walls. And I want whoever it is that thinks he is in an opera to kindly shut the hell up.

But I can't.

I wonder if the puddle is deep enough yet.

Making one last desperate attempt I snatch the glass, finding it oddly cold. With an excited fist pump I raise the glass to my face, guiding the straw into the hole and sipping with deep pleasure. It takes like the protein shakes I usually get, except this one is cold and banana flavored (as opposed to piss flavored).

I don’t stop until every drop has been inhaled, but I do I realize that something is not right. My head is spinning and I'm falling

falling

                                                           falling

                                                                                           falling

I'm concerned when I wake up. Shouldn’t I be dead? Fluorescent lights burn my eyes, which had just moved in with the darkness, only to be evicted into the light the moment they had gotten comfortable.

Two eyes�"green.

A nose�"hooked and small.

A mouth�"thin and pink.

Short hair�"black, falling in the eyes.

A face.

 “Kira?” his mouth forms each letter carefully, like it’s a secret he's sharing with me.

Blink

Blink

Blink

A piece of hair is brushing against my cheek. I reach up to push it away. But no, my arms are bound to the chair I’m sitting in. my mind has left me, fleeing to the hills; leaving me behind. Next goes my voice, it claws its way out of my lungs, puncturing my chest and tearing up my throat, denying any scream bubbling to the surface. Screaming is all I'm capable of anymore.

Where's my voice where's my voice come back come back come back come

A hand on my shoulder, giving me a small shake.

But he doesn’t understand, I can't breathe, the muzzle over my mouth won't let the air reach my lungs. Suddenly the bright light of realization dawns on his face and he leans in close. My heart is like a trapped bird, fluttering frantically in my rib cage. With a touch so tender you would think it was for an infant, he unlocks the muzzle with a small silver key and pulls it gently away from my face.

A wave of oxygen hits my lungs and I'm drowning. Cramps rip through my sides as I inhale deeply, but I ignore the pain. I've been suffocating for 179 days. But my lips are burning, unaccustomed to fresh air and dry as two, thin pink pieces of sandpaper. Blood drips down my chin and the man looks startled. He's calling for someone but I'm too interested in counting the ceiling tiles, taking a breath with each number.

“Kira?” green eyes are staring into my soul but I'm lost in the depth of the gaze, I drown in the waves of questions that flash across his face. His head snaps around and he’s calling for someone. A foreign word is leaving his lips and I’m trying desperately to understand.

I listen closer.

Kay

Lee

Ah.

Oh but it’s a name. A beautiful name that slips around the room, clanging around inside my head until a young woman appears in front of me. I've never seen anything like her.

A black sheer scarf is wrapped around her head, coming around under her neck and is tucked into the front of her button up, gray shirt. The fabric shifts with her every movement and I'm enchanted. She's saying something, I realize, bringing my graze up to her small mouth. Thin pink lips are forming words, letters, syllables.

I search my mind for some way to translate the movements into sound when I feel a hand on my forehead. The skin is cool and soft and startles my mind, which retreats into the dark, dusty corners of my mind.

Kay

Lee

Ah

She pushes my hair out of my eyes and says something to the man. He gets up and leaves.

“Kira?” she says and my eyes are pulled to hers. I'm greeted by two large, shiny orbs like portals to another world and for a moment I'm lost. She says my name again, rolling the r over her tongue in a way I'm pretty sure no one has done before.

“Yes?” I try, but my throat is constricting, refusing to let air pass and my cracked lips are screaming at the sudden movement.

Kay

Lee

Ah

doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know why I had a piece of black rubber strapped too-tight over my mouth. She doesn’t know that people always did what I said, like they had no choice. She doesn’t know that my words hold power. Doesn’t know that, if I want, I could tell her to pick up the pair of scissors lying on the counter behind her and stab herself in the eye. She doesn’t know that, if I told her to do that, she would. They said it was magic, or sorcery, or a curse. They said a lot of things. But all they ever did was throw me in a cell. All they ever knew was that they were afraid.

Author's Note

any form of criticism is welcome