Caged

• Leigh Williamson, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2017

The smell of sewage blocked my nose, I felt hard cement where I lay on the floor, my eyes snapped open to a blaring light. I immediately felt my head spinning quickly and a searing pain coming from my forehead. I remembered everything. What was I doing here? Where was I? What time was it? I slowly adjusted to the light and sat up. The room around me was made of white bricks with a sink and a toilet in the corner, with a single bed in the other with a red rose lying lightly on it. I stood up, swaying a little, my head feeling heavy, as I made my way to the bed. I picked the rose from the bed, smelling its sweet scent, staring at its red petals, my hand shaking. I then noticed a door with a small window with metal bars. I paced over to it, gripping the bars so tight my knuckles went white, screaming urgently ‘help’ into the long dark corridor with a single light at the very end of it. A tall, mysterious figure of a man lured underneath it with a hideous smirk on his face, staring fiercely at me, dangling a key in his hand.