Under your skin

When I opened my eyes, complete darkness engulfed me. “Lilly? Sharmi? Are you ok?”

Nothing, silence engulfed me, adding to the weight of the darkness. I couldn’t stay here longer, the walls seemed to get closer and I hadn’t heard a sound in hours. I tried moving my legs, my arms, wiggled with them, scratched the surface above me and beside. Dirt was drilling into my skin and my nails broke into it. Until, finally, a small light reached my face. I kept digging. My fingers were wounded, my eyes burned and I was pretty sure that my air streams were getting filled with dirt. My head shot through the surface, and I was coughing for fresh air. My eyes widened and I clasped my hands before my mouth. Were we safe? I looked around and none could be seen. Immediately, I scrambled to the side and jumped out of the raised flowerbed, tossing the petals and dirt to the side. Panicked, I went to the other side, where I buried Sharmi. My nails were torn, and the blood was mixing into the earth, as I shovelled more and threw it to the ground. I could see her face, her eyes tightly closed and the paper bag covering her mouth and nose. I pulled her up quickly, her eyes slightly opening and once she realised it was me she quickly helped free herself.

Tears were forming in my eyes and with long struts I walked over to the next flowerbed, hoping that Lilly was also ok. Sharmi ran over to me and helped pull our friend out of there. Once she was standing beside us, covered in dirt and tears, I composed myself.

“I will go first. We need to leave as soon as we can.” They nodded tiredly.

I took a deep breath, looking through the windows of the door. They certainly wouldn’t be here at daylight, right? I swallowed hard and looked back at my friends one more time, before entering the horrors of the hallway again. Empty.

“Okay. Let’s go.” I saw their looks of uncertainty. “Or should I check the hallway?” Unsure, we just stood there. None of us have ever done anything like this. Well, at least Sharmi and me.

“No. Let’s go.” Lara said, the fear and pain of old memories clearly written into her face. We nodded. I opened the door wide. Lilly took my hand and we took a breath, nodding at each other. We took the first step, then the second.

Nothing. We could be free. I fumbled my phone out of my pants and turned it on again, while we made our way to the exit. Lily’s car was surely gone.

“This exit leads to the woods. We can make our way to the parking lot, checking out if our car is still there. Then we can see where we need to go.”

A stone fell from our hearts, seeing Lily’s VW standing there peacefully. Until we saw the red Porsche standing next to it.