The Case of Melancholy

Her head was pounding and she couldn’t focus. All she could hear at first was the sound of a loose board slapping against something not too far from her. She couldn’t smell anything and felt as if her nose had been bleeding at some point in time, as her upper lip felt crusty and sore as if it were pulling at her skin.

Her eyes where open but everything was completely dark. She could tell something was around her head to cover them and felt a rough tug of her hair if she moved her head to much. She fought to find her memory of how she got here. No matter how hard she tried, it wouldn’t come. She tried to focus on the sounds around her to give her more of an idea of where she was.

She managed to stand up by leaning against something hard and cold. It felt like concrete of some kind, a little grainy and rough. She still kept hearing the slapping of wood against something close by. Focusing a bit harder, she could hear and smell rain beginning to fall. It was muggy and hot.

She heard what she thought was a muffled voice above her. She couldn’t make out any words or if it was a man or a woman talking. In her state, she could’ve been mistaken too. She was barefoot and the floor below her was wet and it felt muddy between her toes. She tried to stay as calm as she could, but her heart was pounding, and her breathing was getting unsteady.

When she lifted her head up, she felt the rain hitting her face. It did nothing for the muggy heat. As she walked around the space where she was, she noticed it wasn’t a very big area. She felt a stick or twig by her toe and she counted her steps around the perimeter from the stick and back. It was circular or oval in shape. She counted fifty-three steps before stepping on the stick again. Worry and panic started to consume her.

She reached as far back in her mind as she could just to remember anything. Her head started to pound the more she tried to focus on the memories that she just couldn’t find. The rain started to pick up and she huddled against the wall. The sound of the wood slapping got louder as she heard the wind start to pick up.

She pressed her back against the wall and slowly started to squat down to sit. As she sat down, she started to touch the tips of her fingers and quickly realized that some of the nails were missing and some were chipped and cracked. Her head still sore, she began to struggle with whatever was over her eyes and pulling her hair. It seemed to be duct tape of some kind.

The more she fought and pulled at the tape, the more her head pounded. She cried out in pain as she pulled and struggled. Her eyes filled with tears as her head throbbed under the pressure of pulling the tape away and pulling out hair. She let out a long yell as the tape started to give way. She felt a sharp pain from both sides of her head as she could feel her strands of hair being pulled out as the tape slowly came off.

In a daze, she started looking all around her to see where she was. It was almost pitch black and her eyes were having trouble focusing. The slapping of the wood was almost unbearable at this point, and the rain just kept falling on her. She looked up and could see a different shade of dark. High above her, she guessed 15 to 20 feet above her, she saw an opening of some kind.

Slats of two by fours looked to be covering most of it. Her eyes were slowly starting to adjust somewhat in the dark, but it was still very hard to see. She threw the duct tape on the floor next to her and looked side to side. The walls were for sure concrete and rose above her to the opening in a circle. Pieces of concrete were on the floor below her in small chunks.

She caught her breath in revelation, she was down inside a well. When she realized this is where she was she started to panic. How did this happen? How did she get here? Why was she here? Why were her eyes taped shut and why did her head hurt so bad?

She tried to listen closely to see if she could hear any of the mumbling that she had heard earlier, but didn’t.

Still yet, she yelled up at the opening for help. The only response was the rain slowing and the slapping of the wood finally stopping. The night was now still. The only sounds were the tree frogs above and her heavy breathing. She was still fully dressed in the shorts and tank that she had on. She had no shoes. She stood up slowly. She felt around her and walked the circle trying to focus to see if they were on the ground. Nothing.

She now felt a bit of pain on the bottoms of her feet from the concrete rocks on the floor beneath her. There was also some mud on the floor around her and she realized that is what she felt between her toes when she couldn’t see.  It seemed to be getting deeper somehow. Maybe it was just in her mind but it did seem to be deeper than it was. She knew she had to try and remember how she ended up here and how she was going to get out. Above her the rain and the slapping of the wood started to pick up again.

She must have dozed off sitting there on the wet ground. Her body jerked her awake and the darkness still surrounded her. It did seem as if the sun was starting to come up as there was a lightness to the dark above her head. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten or drank anything, but her stomach was used to being empty. She looked around trying to focus on anything that may be around her. There was nothing but the hard walls and the muddy floor.

When she stood up, she noticed that her feet were now covered completely in the mud. It seemed as if it had rose at least an inch or so, but she couldn’t be sure. The rain had stopped and the slapping of the wood had stopped. She could faintly hear some shuffling from somewhere up above. She yelled out, but received no answer. She heard some kind of a dripping noise from above her head. She looked up and tried to focus. It seemed to her something was starting to drip into the well. It sounded steady and thick. The drip started to increase to a small steady stream.

She was on the side of the well where the light was getting a bit brighter above. The other side of the opening seemed to be closed off by something. The opening with the light was maybe five inches or so. She stayed quiet and listened. The stream would momentarily make a plopping sound when hitting the bottom on the mud on the floor. She felt her way around to where the sound was coming from and felt around the wall.

After a few seconds, she felt it. A stream, of what she thought was muddy water was slowly draining into the well. She felt a panic fill inside of her. Will it stop? Will it continue to fall in? She couldn’t even see where it originated from, and it somehow felt intentional. She stared off in horror into the darkness around her. If it doesn’t stop, what will happen to me, she thought. What will happen to me?

She was tired and thirsty but was too scared to really worry about any of those things. She needed to get out of here. It was getting to the point that the walls felt like they were closing in. It was maddening. Meanwhile, the thick stream of what she thought was mud consistently kept falling. It was up over her ankles now. Dread began to fill her the more she thought about the situation. Her memory wasn’t as fuzzy as it was before, and things were a bit clearer.

It was starting to get dark again outside and she saw the little bit of light above slowly fade to black. The stars were visible. It still felt uncomfortably sticky and hot in this horrible hole. Her head still hurt and her throat was getting sore from being dried out with nothing to drink. She thought she had maybe been down here for at least forty-eight hours, maybe longer. She couldn’t still quite remember being put here or thrown in here. She thought maybe she had fallen in somehow and hit her head and that was why she couldn’t remember everything clearly yet.

Nothing would come through; it was all a blur. The stream that had been pretty consistent close to her, started to fall steadier now as if someone turned the tap up. It was much more than watery mud, though. It was thick and dark and slimy to the touch. It was straight mud, and it was filling up the well with her inside.

The panic was indescribable. She had never been so scared in all of her life. It must have been all the rain that fell. It was causing the ground to soften up. Sure, that made sense except it didn’t make sense at the same time. If that’s what happened, it would’ve always happened as long as this well was here. Unless the cover on the top wasn’t missing slats of wood at some point in time. And it wasn’t raining now.

The only other thing that made sense was almost too horrible to think of. Did someone do this to her intentionally? The thought sickened her as she looked around the dark circle in horror, feeling the mud get higher up on her legs, now almost to her knees. It was coming in steady and fast now.

She yelled up at the opening praying someone would hear her. She yelled until her throat was sore and her voice started slipping away. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to understand why this was happening. There was no response from above, only stillness and the occasional tree frog.

The mud was rising now slow and steady. It was wet and warm on the bottom half of her body, and she struggled to move. She continued to yell at the tiny opening above with no luck. It was full daylight out now, but it was still dark as night down in this hole. The mud had consumed every part of her body from the waist down now. She could feel it start to constrict her body, as if gravity were pushing in from all directions. And a horrifying thought crept though her mind, no matter how hard she tried to push it away.

Any hope she had of getting out or of anyone hearing her had faded now. She just kept looking around in horror realizing that her fate would soon be sealed, and there was nothing she could do to prevent it from happening. As her thoughts darkened, she began to tear up and cry. She didn’t try to hold it back, and she cried until her head started to hurt. The dehydration just added to the pain. Her spirit was sinking, and she put her head down in sorrow.

She suddenly heard a sound above her. It was voices, but she couldn’t hear them clearly. The echoing in the well and the stream of muddy water falling, drowned out any type of words. She yelled up the well to get their attention. They had to be close. They had to hear her. “Help me! I am down here! I am in the well and I can’t get out!” She was hopeful for a moment, but the voices stopped or moved further away from her. “Please! It is filling up with mud and I can’t get out! I know you are there! Help me!” Nothing. The voices were gone.

The Sun was covered up and it got a bit darker above her. She heard the rumble of thunder as the blue sky she could see turned into black clouds and she knew another storm was brewing. The wind picked up and the slapping of the wood started again.

The rain was falling hard and fast now. No stars could be seen because of the dark clouds overhead. And no sounds could be heard except the storm above her.

The steady stream of mud sealing her fate was even drowned out by the sounds of the storm, but it definitely was still rising. The mud and water had now reached her chest and her arms just seemed to float stickily in and out of the surface around her. She knew her prayers were not being heard.

The storm had slowed, but the mud had not. Sylvie was neck deep in it now. Her body was enveloped in the wet and warm mud. She couldn’t move any part of her body now, besides her head. She heard what she thought was a whistling above her, and she started to call out again. “Hello? Hello? Please, if someone is up there can you help me? Please! Hello?” The whistling stopped and Sylvie looked up. In the opening above her head, she saw the outline of a figure leaning over the well. “Help me! Please! I am stuck down here and I need help. Please, there is mud filling up in here and it is almost to my chin. I have no way of getting out or any memory of how I got here.”

The figure at the top tilted their head to the side as if listening intently, then they moved away from the opening. The stream of mud stopped. Sylvie couldn’t hear the sickening sound of it anymore. “Hello? Are you there?” Sylvie was terrified and also excited that someone heard her, and she would hopefully be out of here soon. She saw the outline of the figure again.

“Wow. It really looks like you’re in some kind of trouble down there.” Sylvie couldn’t make out who the figure was just by their voice. “Yes. Please, thank God. Please help me,” Sylvie begged. The figure continued to look down into the well. “No, I don’t think I can do that. That’s not part of the plan.” “Plan?! I need help. I need help getting out of here!” Sylvie was yelling now.

“You really don’t know how you got here, Sylvie? Really?” The voice was harsh but somewhat sympathetic. Sylvie’s blood ran cold. This is the person that put her here. When she realized this, she knew there was no hope at all. “Who are you?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“You don’t remember, do you?” The figure shook its head from side to side. She was confused as to who would be doing this to her. The figure started talking again. “I have been waiting for this for years now. Lying dormant and watching you struggle, but I have never left you. You are my home. Home always calls you back, Sylvie. It always calls you back. You try to hide me away, but I am constant and never ending. I am the heaviness you wear as a cloak, the hopelessness that consumes your mind.

I am the closed curtains and the unanswered calls. I am the sadness that has become your only companion. The tears that never stop. I am the hate and hurt you inflict upon yourself. The life you no longer want to live. This didn’t have to happen, Sylvie.” The shadow moved closer to the opening and whispered. “But now you are mine.”

Sylvie heard the stream of the mud again to her left. “Don’t do this! Please!” Sylvie yelled. This time as she called out, mud started to get in her mouth. She kept her head tilted back as far as she could. At the top of the well, Sylvie could see the dark figure just standing there, watching. It raised its arm and slowly waved at Sylvie as the mud rose up her face.

Sylvie’s eyes were wide, and she tried not to open her mouth as the mud streamed in even faster this time. Above her, she barely heard the hammering of nails as her ears started to become covered. She could see the two by fours being replaced over the opening of the well.