THE ESCAPE

 THE ESCAPE 

I remember those days. Days and nights of what felt like endless torture. I was forced to live in very cramped quarters, an area so small I was compelled to curl up tightly into a fetal position. There was a long slimy rope wrapped around my body, holding me in place.

 For the most part, all I could do was wiggle. Occasionally I would punch or kick out with my feet, trying to smash down those walls, trying desperately to be free.

 I had no recollection of how I came to this place, my memory of another time and place was non-existent.

 I spent hours wondering how I had gotten here. Who had entrapped me? How could I escape? What kind of inhuman monsters would make someone suffer like this for so long?

It was dark, so very dark.  I could not see anything at all, my world was devoid of anything other than total darkness. The walls pressed in upon me.

 I could hear sounds, talking, laughter, and occasionally music. The sounds seemed far away,  fuzzy or indistinct  I often heard one particular muffled voice that sounded like someone was right on the other side of the walls that held me captive. I wondered if they too were a prisoner.

  The smell was abominable, but I grew more accustomed to it as the days passed. I also became accustomed to the perpetual dampness and the water that seemed to be all around me. Everywhere. 

 All I wanted to do was to get out, to be set free from my incarceration. To move and stretch. For long months I was captive, my limbs longing to stretch completely. I wanted to arch my back and uncurl my head and shoulders. I thought I would go mad.

 I wondered if I would ever escape.  I often dreamed in the eternal darkness where there was no day or night or where night blended into day and blended back into night, it seemed like an endless cycle. I floated along, mindlessly at times and at other times, extremely focused. Wondering about my future, or wondering if I even had a future.

I strategized and planned for the day I  could escape. But I did not see any evidence that that was possible. I was still tied with the cord that kept me fettered. There did not seem to be any exit. I focused on my goals to no avail; without some help, I felt doomed to be in that prison, forever.

 I wondered about the voice I could hear on the other side of the wall. As I lay curled into a ball I often wallowed in my pit of despair. All I had going for me was one thing and one thing only. Hope.

I remember the day I felt a change in my moist, dark environment. I stretched as far as I was able. There was some give to the walls that surrounded me. I pushed harder, saw a dim light, and moved slowly towards the light. Slowly, oh so slowly, it took me hours to inch down the passageway.

 Then I heard the shriek of some poor soul nearby in deep distress and wondered if they too were trapped as I was. It sounded like the voice that I had heard on the other side of the walls. Again and again, the voice cried out as if in agony.

The light became brighter and bigger and inch by inch I continued to move towards it. Pushing, straining against the walls that surrounded me. I could feel that I was almost at the end of some passage. I was so close, I could feel it. Almost free.

      I remember that suddenly my head broke through the opening, and I was free. But the opening was small and I could feel my shoulders become stuck in the small opening. To make my escape this far and not be able to break free entirely was unimaginable.  I pushed and strained some more and just when I felt that hope was gone, I felt someone grasp my head, turn my body, and pull.  I had been rescued.

 Someone had finally, finally, come to my rescue, I only hoped that they would rescue that poor soul who continued to shriek with growing intensity. I strained with all that I had and that giant hand grabbed me and swung me through the opening of my prison and my fetters were cut. Some beneficiary's hand wiped away the filth and debris from my months in captivity. I tried to look at my deliverer but the months of captivity had taken their toll and the light hurt my eyes. I kept them tightly shut.

  I couldn't breathe, I started gasping for air. Then I felt myself being swung over what seemed to be a large chasm and I felt my backside being struck roughly. I cried loudly.

 I remember how only moments later, I felt the warmth of a blanket being wrapped around me, warming me, swaddling me. I felt the soft texture of the blanket and felt grateful that someone was caring for my creature comforts. 

I was feeling groggy, weak, and dazed from my

arduous journey down that dark passage. But at the same time, my soul felt exhilarated that at long last I was no longer feeling that intense claustrophobia that I had been experiencing for so long. 

Never again did I want to be in such a confined space and the very thought of it made me shiver in fear. Warm hands rubbed my back and wrapped the blanket tighter, and the oppressive feeling started to abate. I took another deep breath, free from the airless prison I had so recently escaped from. Then another. It almost felt like my lungs were expanding, I could feel my chest rise and fall. I felt so good. It felt so amazing. I felt like I was really alive.

 Warm hands transferred me and I became aware that someone was holding me, gently, tenderly, lovingly.

 I heard a voice, a somewhat familiar voice, the voice from the other side of the walls, a voice I had heard for the past nine months. They were speaking clearly now, and sweetly. 

“Hello sweetheart, I’m your Mummy. I love you, yes I do.” A head bent over me and kissed my cheek.

I remember, for the first time in my short little life, I felt completely free, completely loved, and completely safe.

 I had escaped.