Malevolent Conflict

• Senara Maposua, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2018

My body shaking, my bones fragile and weak. Trapped within these walls, within the darkness. BANG. BANG. A distant scream, a terrified whimper. Chaos. I rock back and forth, back and forth. Fear is a powerful thing. Back and forth. The tears have stopped running, my throat stopped screaming, my nails throbbing with pain from scratching at the concrete door. They are caked with blood. I've just stopped fighting. An overwhelming sense of hopelessness takes over my body. I feel nothing anymore. Except fear. Complete and utter fear. The hard cement beneath my trembling body is cold. Desolate. BANG. Another shriek. They taunt me with their screams, driving me insane. Instilling this inevitable feeling of dread. I feel my mind begin to untangle, I feel myself letting go. The smallest breeze swims from beneath the crack under the door. Spreading a stale almost fetid scent in the air that overwhelms my nose, sickening my stomach. BANG. Louder this time. The noise jolts my body upright. A sudden sense of panic, I attempt to jump to my feet only to crumble to my knees in pain. Agony ripples through my body as a fire-like burning attacks my waist. I instinctively grab at my side, where the source of the pain is. My hands are sticky, covered in blood, I whimper in pain. I put my hands in front of me, staring at the dull crimson liquid as it drips onto the ground, disappearing into the darkness. I see my hands tremor in the dim light from under the door. I slowly, painfully slide back down the wall. I land back onto the lifeless, unwelcoming ground with my hands still outward in front of me. I stare at them, these are not my hands. This is not my blood. It can't be, surely not. Questions run wild through my mind, screaming so loud I can barely hear the deafening silence. I remember nothing before the pain. Before the fear. I was reborn, shoved into a box of terror, consumed by the darkness. A putrid gash on my side, oozing a scarlet river. Why? Why would they do this? An animal like moan echoes through the prison, a tormented scream. It sounds like pain. It's only when I lose my breath do I realize it was me that made the horrid noise. I sit there. Staring into the darkness when the tears start to fall again. I can't stop them so I let them fall. I just let them fall. Then I rock back and forth. Back and forth. My body is so weak, exhausted. I never knew hell could be so cold, I didn't know the devil could be so silent, I never realized the darkness could be so suffocating... I am no longer here, My mind has abandoned my body. I sit, empty. I am empty. I let the darkness take over me, I listen to what the silence has to say, I embrace the fear.
I hope whoever did this is happy. I hope they are ready for whatever evil has been seething within me. I'm not strong enough to hold it back anymore. I hope they are strong enough to fight it. I can feel it, swarming and clawing out. I can feel it's anger. It's rage. There's nothing I can do now. Are you ready for the consequences?