Rachel

Her head felt heavy. Her heart was beating fast. Her body felt numb. She was unable to move a limb or open an eye. A soft surface against her right side felt cold. Slowly the feeling of reality started pushing its way back into her fuzzy mind. Where am I? What is going on? Something must be wrong. She needed to open her eyes and be aware of her surrounding. But tried as she might, her eyes wouldn't open. Her eye lids seemed to be glued.

  The place she was in was very quiet. She tried opening her mouth to shout for help but failed. I must be dreaming. I definitely must be having a nightmare. Another one of those long disturbing nightmares where the feeling of someone chasing her was inevitable. Someone holding a chainsaw or a big axe chasing her out in the open where she can't possibly find anywhere to hide. The feeling where she is running in a desert and the chase is a joy for her tracker. He is faster than her. Much faster and stronger. He can easily get a hold of her and chop her to pieces, but he'd rather not because he likes the chase. She tries to run and run as fast as she can, but she still feels stuck in the same place. She can't move. She watches him get closer and closer and she feels helpless. She feels paralysed. She tries to scream hard, but no sound comes out. There is no running away. This is it. She is going to die.

  She closes her eyes and gives in to the terror that awaits her when finally someone shakes her awake from the nightmare. Yes a nightmare. One that left her sweating with a racing heart. One that made her gasp in her sleep. One that felt so real but wasn't.

  She lay down still unable to open her eyes or move a muscle. Few moments later, she started to feel the numbness fade away. The gap between her eye lids was increasing a bit by bit. She was able to open her eyes. She kept them wide opened afraid if she closed her eye lids, they would never part again. At first her vision was blurry. All she could see was white. She closed and opened her eyes a few more times before she was able to make sense of her surrounding. There were padded white walls all around her. She could see them tilted as her head was resting sideways on her right ear. She tried to move her arms to support her body, but she failed. She shook her arms and shoulders left to right, but was still unable to move. Something tightened around her waist. Bending down to examine her body, she found herself dressed in white from head to toe. She was barefooted lying down on her right side with her legs bend inwards towards her chest. Her arms were strapped inside a white cloth making it impossible for her to loosen them. She was in a straitjacket.

  What the hell is going on? Where am I? She sat down on the soft surface which was also padded and stared at the room she was in. The whole room was padded. There were no windows in the room except for a small barred one located high at the top corner of the wall behind her. A small round glass ball was set in another corner close to the ceiling. It must be a camera. Someone is watching me. There was no furniture in the room except for a small mattress placed at the far corner. The room was small like a prison cell missing the iron bars, bunk beds, sink, and the toilet seat. There was a large padded door fixed properly on the front wall with a small rectangular transparent glass at its top. The room was dark and spooky. Only some light was let in through the glass in the door. Her heart raced so fast and she felt the hot blood rushing through her veins. She shook her head violently and pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

  "Kevin," she called out for her husband. "Kevin...Kelly," she called out once more for her husband and her daughter, but still there was no response. She stood up, her body still feeling heavy. Her legs could barely hold her small figure. She was well fed and healthy, but she had a petite figure. It was the genes. Most of the women in her maternal family were quite small as well. She hated the gym and preferred the early morning runs instead. Her wobbly feet found it difficult to carry her towards the door.

  "Hello, is anybody here?" She raised her voice in desperation. "Hello, somebody help me!" She screamed as she banged on the door with the side of her left shoulder. She tried that a couple of times, but nobody responded. She retreated from the door and moved towards the surveillance camera. "Please somebody help me." There was no response either. Of course she didn't expect the camera to talk back to her, but she hoped to see the lens of the camera moving and know that someone might be there to help her. She curled up on the mattress in the corner of the room. A trembling sensation ran through her body. She took a deep breath trying to remember how she ended up here, but all was blank.

  Her memory was blank. She was unable to remember anything recent. Old memories were also difficult to dig from the back of her mind. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she thought about her daughter. Where is she now? What could she be doing? Who is taking care of her? For how long have I been here? What day is it? What time is it? All these questions and much more spun in her head like a tornado. She felt a shrill ache running up her spine and into her head. She couldn't figure out what was going on inside her body, but that was the least of her concerns. She wanted to know where she was and what was happening to her. She heard a high-pitched squeak as the door opened. Someone was on the other end. It must be help. Someone must have heard my cry. The door slid open, and there were two people talking together. A man and a woman.

"Do you think this is a good idea?"
"Even if I don't, we have no choice. We have to get on with it," replied the man.
"Alright."
"Hello?" She called in a low voice her vision blinded by the bright light coming from the outside.

Both the man and the woman entered the room. They were fully dressed in white holding things in their hands while a trolley waited for them outside the door. She winced as she tried to adjust to the bright light which disturbed her vision. It took her a while before she was able to see clearly. They were both standing right there in front of her wearing gloves. The woman was holding a syringe in her right hand and a small glass bottle in the other. The man was holding a rubber ball with two straps extended from it.

"What are you doing? What is going on?" She mumbled as she sat there frightened.
"Now" said the woman.
"Get away from me!" Rachel screamed as she tried to push herself up on her legs and run towards the door. The man grabbed her strongly by the shoulders and pushed her down on the floor.
"Let go!" she screamed. "Help me. Somebody help me!"
"Don't waste your energy. No one is going to hear you. No one is going to help you," said the strong man. Up close, he appeared smaller than he seemed when he was standing next to the door. He had brown hair and sky blue eyes. His arms were strong and it was impossible to escape them. His body frame was small compared to his strength. He pinned her down on the floor and said "please just relax and don't make this any harder."

He gagged her mouth with the rubber ball and strapped it to suppress her screams. She grunted trying to scream and move but it was of no use. The woman now approached while filling the syringe from whatever was in that tiny glass bottle she held in her other hand. Rachel watched helplessly as the woman filled the syringe and got it closer to her. She puffed air into her cheeks trying to breathe as fast and hard as she can as she watched her move closer to her. The man sat on top of Rachel pinning her arms down with both his hands while the woman knelt down next to him. She adjusted the syringe pushing out the extra air. She then thrusted the sharp pointy needle into her skin. She felt a piercing sensation in her body as the liquid mixed itself with her blood. Few seconds later, her vision became blurry again and she started losing awareness of her surrounding. Both of them now withdrew away from her and made it towards the door.

The world started to collapse around her. Her head grew heavy and her vision blurrier. She watched the two figures as they headed towards the door unable to tell who is who. The door was shut, and the strong light from outside the room no longer disturbed her. The lights in her room were now turned off. She was left all alone once again. Someone was looking at her through the glass. She looked to see who it was, but she couldn't make up a clear vision.

"She is sedated sir," said the man.
"Good. Make sure you keep an eye on her."
"Yes sir," replied the man.
At that very moment she was completely powerless. Her body disconnected from reality as she drifted into a deep sleep.