STOREROOM

COLD SWEAT

In this dark storeroom, the staccato gives me anxiety. I realize it's the thudding of my heart! In this room where there are shapes in monochrome, the daylight could once bring brilliant fuchsia or deepest scarlet, but for now it could be a still from an old movie. The door doesn't budge. With darkness all around, the silhouettes are menacing, closing in!

Four walls…ceiling…floor. How long have I been screaming?

My throat hurts...Water…

I noticed how time is so much like water; that it can pass in slow motion, freeze, or zoom in the blink of an eye. The past few minutes had passed like a million frames per second. In this slow time-bubble my heart explodes in my chest, my skin is clammy as I lean against a wall.

Outside this room is rubble from the massive earthquake which hit us out of the blue. There is nothing here to even mark time. Would someone come and find me in fifteen minutes or two hours… or ten days? Or never? Will I get out alive?

The panic is mounting… I'm trapped…! Claustrophobia…! I slump on the floor as I hyperventilate…Help me…

(193 words)

©️ Sangeetha Kamath

FULL CIRCLE

The stairs twirled upwards and I made my way up following the shrill sound. As I gingerly placed my hand on the door, it creaked inwards and a draft of musty air hit my nostrils. Groping the walls for a light switch, I finally found one. This windowless room seemed to be a storeroom. Buying this cheap house wasn't such a good idea after all. The shrill sound was emanating from a corner. It was a landline ringing! Why on earth was a telephone which is in good order in the storeroom?!

I answered it hesitatingly.

Silence! As soon as I slammed it down in annoyance, it rang again. This time I was curt as I answered. A humming sounded in the background. It stirred a long ago memory…

High-strung, I lifted the phone off the shelf to smash it to the floor and realised that the wires were dangling off it ! Even before I could react, the humming was now in the room…behind me! The floorboards gave way and my terrified shrieks went unheard as I fell three stories down into the basement.

Amy hadn't seen it coming either as I had pushed her over a cliff years ago…

(Word count:199)

Pic Courtesy:Pixabay

©️ Sangeetha Kamath

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