buried

1520 Words4 Pages

Darkness. Silence. Then short, abrupt shifting, ending almost immediately with the sound of his body banging against wood. He screams, though it's clear from the sound that his mouth is covered by something. After attempting to sit up, he immediately bangs his head against something. He frantically shifts about, only to discover, he is encased in something. There is a spark and then a flame. He is lit by the flame of the Zippo he holds in his hands, which are bound together in front of him with rope. A rolled-up, dirty rag is tied tightly around his head, stretched across his mouth. With great difficulty, and while still holding the lit Zippo, Paul removes the muzzle from his mouth.

“What...? What is this?” He asks himself as panic creeps up his throat. Claustrophobia immediately strikes as he realizes his situation “Oh my God! Help me!! Help me!!” He kicks and slams his hands against the top and sides of the coffin, His violent movements cause small grains of sand to trickle in through the space between the sides and top of the coffin, as well as a small gap that exists between one of the coffin's broken wooden planks. “Somebody help me! Please!!” It becomes clear to him that he is buried. He tries his best to calm himself, though he has trouble catching his breath. His eyes widen a bit upon seeing an exposed, rusty nail. He tries desperately to use the nail to cut through the old, frayed ropes that bind his hands. Doing so is no easy task. After a lengthy struggle, the rope snaps. Paul quickly frees his hands.

the coffin soon grows eerily silent. the silence is interrupted by a subtle buzzing sound. The muted sight of strange, bluish light flickers in the coffin, by Paul's feet. He is extremely startled. He lights the ...

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...om filling the coffin any faster, Paul removes the button-down shirt from his body and stuffs into the area where it enters with the greatest volume. Darkness. The sound of sand steadily pouring down.

Paul looks at the phone -- it is still holding a steady signal. Battery life, however, is running quite low. All that remains is one blinking bar, indicating that Paul has very little battery life left. He shakes his hand free of the pile of sand that now covers it and looks at his watch. It's 8:31pm.

Paul attempts to control his breathing, realizing full well that there are not many more breaths he will be able to take. He then calls Dan Brenner. After a few rings, Brenner answers.

Paul?

Yeah?

We triangulated the signal from the phone number you gave us, Three F-16s levelled parts of the city a few minutes ago.

I know. I felt it. --

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