The Dark Abyss

• Samantha Wainshtein, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2017

I wake up in a hot sweat, shaking with alarming fear! I can feel my blood pulsing throughout my veins. My limbs ache with goosebumps as I slowly rise from the dampened mattress. I'm surrounded by blackened walls and old lights that can barely produce an artificial flicker. Tentatively, I run my knuckles over old steel frames covering the wall behind my bed-frame. I can see photos behind the tainted glass of people who are familiar from the past. I can't help but feel somewhat affected by my inability to fully recognise them. Instead of seeing them as my family, I can only view them as a distant memory. Liquid pools in my eyes but I prevent my cheeks from becoming wet and stained.

"Are you okay Sky? You don't need to hide from me. I know this must be tearing you apart." I look up to see my sister staring at me with a cautious smile. I'm surprised that she was able to enter my room when it was clearly locked. I don't bother to question it.

"Of course I am Ruby, don't worry about me. I'm perfectly fine. A few photos can't break me!" I mask my falseness with an exaggeration of laughter. Luckily, she shrugs it off and returns to the kitchen to finish her breakfast. Although, it's more like burnt toast and over-frothed coffee. I reach over to my nightstand and grab my phone to check for any notifications. As I reach for the addictive device, I notice a black journal sticking out from the draw I left open the previous night. Curiously I reach for it and open its confinements.

What I see shocks me. Inside is a family tree with my name in the centre of it. I don't recognise any of the names, but I gather they are relatives I've either never met before or that were wiped out when I lost my memory. Before I can analyse the images, Sky returns from the kitchen and grabs me by the arm. She pulls me towards the doorway and to the main sitting area. I struggle to keep up with her meticulous footsteps. My feet fail to remain balanced.

A man in a white coat stands in the dining room with a serious expression etched on his masculine features. He's holding a syringe and I instantly know that I'm in trouble. He walks towards me with remorse and I immediately turn towards Sky for help. Instead of seeing her kind, blue eyes, all I see are emotionless brown orbs in uniform gripping me solemnly. I hear the man mention words of psychosis and asylum, but it only leaves me even more confused. They both grip me in a vice-like manner and start to haul me towards an alarming door, but all I want is to go back to my sister and look at the photographs. I start to scream but a small prick in my left shoulder turns the world black.