I crawl through the coal, trying with everything I have not to breathe the harsh mineraloid into me. My hands and knees wobble over the black lumps, gaining heat with every inch I move. My stressed lungs slowly tear, fiending for oxygen. I crawl at a faster pace, attempting to keep my mouth closed and eyes open. The eyes I have no control over, the ones that I can't even blink. They roll like a coin-slot-machine in Vegas, missing the chance to find out if there's a light at the end of the tunnel I'm traveling through. My forearms slam down into the coal, along with my stomach. I push my back upwards, only to meet with a wall forcing me back down into the coal. My lungs greedily pull in the atmosphere around me, choking a out a cough in return. The strong flavor of tomatoes hit the back of my throat, pulling along with it no typical taste of coal. I attempt to focus my tumbling eyes, battling against the ceiling. My hands along with the rest of my body begin to sink underneath the endless coals, I try to force my body up on whatever sturdy pieces I manage to locate.
" Ow " My shoulder-blades hit the solid wall above me as I shove myself upwards, arm slipping underneath. " No! " I yell, changing absolutely nothing.
I try to wriggle my arm from underneath using my left arm to push against the charcoal lumps. A gasp escapes me as my surfaced fingers slip beneath the darkness too, followed by another one as the wall above smashes me down flatter against the dusty stench. The taste of harsh tomato barricades my taste buds, it cakes over my mouth and throat.
" Help me! " I yell out, too aware of how futile. I struggle to no matter against the unseen wall pressing me dangerously into the now cooling coals, unable to move a limb. My mind races through the dead-end routes of escape from the pitch-black, desperately clinging onto every shred of light fabricated. Eeuhh-! silence; the pressure on my rib cage finally releases, ruptured bone subsequently giving way to the force. The heat I'd previously attempted to run from sucks from my fingertips, wrists, elbows, shoulders-
" Please " I almost release in a question, heat pooling from my toes, ankles, knees, into the dark matter beneath me. The straining lungs wrapped in my chest explode against crumpled ribs like balloons. The flame on the left trickles; starves; extinguishes;
Exposing lingering heat, opting for it to drip; leak; pour from me.
I'm starving so I can fill my life;
I kill The Monster so he can evolve;
I further wrong myself to do what's right;
I break down so I can be solved;
I resent my enemy, but he is I;
I only battle what I commit;
Blindfolded, my fate is mine;
To save my life I must destroy it;
And when I'm dead and rancid;
Rotting in the ground;
The hate will lead you to me;
I'm waiting to be found;
YOU ARE READING
The Parade
Non-FictionAllen Quincey(17) is dealing with his long-time addiction to mainly but not exclusively Heroin and perscription Xanax. He struggles to find the correct way to help himself without finding death in the process. Allen searches for his 'lost self' amid...