Summer Rain

It was cold. It was so terribly cold. The kind of biting chill that digs into skin like a hoard of terrible worms. Worms that burrow under flesh; stinging, burning, and twisting through bone and tissue alike. Water dribbled from the roof above me. It splashed against my head and popped against my nose. It wasn’t warm water, like raindrops in the summer. It was water moments away from hardening into dots of ice.

The floor was a layer of smooth stone. The stone soaked up the miserable freeze of the atmosphere around it and shot it back up into my legs. It radiated throughout my shivering body.

Iron bars surround me on all sides. Thick bars so close together that you couldn’t slide a tennis ball in between them. Past the bars, there was a long, desolate hall. On every side of the hall, there rested more bars. These bars were the cells that held me, and many others, captive.

With jerky legs, I made my way over to the front of the bars. I stood before them. I could see into the cell across from mine. Another prisoner stood there. His watery eyes mirrored mine.

“C-c-cold.” He whimpered. His whole body quivered. Thick puddles rippled under him. He was soaked. I could see icicles forming under his nose. It was too painful to watch. I turned my back on the other prisoner.

My stomach rumbled. Nothing but air bubbles filled my gut. My last meal... When was my last meal? It’d been so long. My mouth no longer remembers the sweet taste of food. My tongue prickles with pain whenever I consider the water dripping down the walls. My thirst is never quenched by the icy droplets. My body longs for warmth. My soul howls desperately for the sounds of familiar voices and loving arms. My spirit is alive with a need for compassion.

The monsters had come in the night, and they’d taken it all away. They’d taken it from me. Taken it from all the other prisoners trapped in this desolate place. They were sly creatures. They walked around with malicious thoughts and evil intent. They took innocents from their homes. They nabbed them off the streets. The monsters ripped them from their families. They threw them in the cells and left them there… until the day they returned and dragged them away. The monsters took them down the hall, never to be seen or heard from again.

Death row, I closed my eyes. Tears dribbled down my face. My shoulders slumped in an agonizing defeat. They put us all on death row. Yet, we’ve committed no crimes. So why? Why did they take us? What do they want from us?

I’d watched the monsters lumber down the hall. They slunk from cell to cell. Their dead eyes peeked into each prison as they went. They would stop and stare from time to time. Each time they stopped to look at me, I trembled. The thought of being the one to be dragged away down the hall haunted my dreams. What did they do with those they took from the prison? Did they eat them? I didn’t know. I only knew they weren’t set free. Freedom was lost to all who entered this frozen place. It was never returned to them. The monsters held them captive. They left them trembling and alone in the cells that lined the dreaded hall. They made them wait. They made them shake. The monsters left them wondering with frightened hearts when they would be taken down the hall, to wherever, whatever, waited for them there.

I perked my ears. I could hear one coming. I turned my head. The monster came. It lumbered down the hall. Its hairless face and dangling hands sent shivers down my spine. Its long fingers, which were curled like the talons of a hawk, made me back away until I was pressed against the wall. Water dribbled down my back, and I trembled all the more because of the cold drizzle. 

The monster jingled as it walked past. I lowered my head. I prayed it would not stop before me. My heart ceased beating when it did. I peered up at this merciless creature. It met my eyes. It clicked its tongue. A noise like a bird’s chirp. It tossed its head from side to side. Then, it continued its slow lumber down the long hall. I didn’t move, didn’t dare to breathe, until I heard a door open and then close with a bang at the end of the hall.

I gasped for air. The desperate inhale shifted into a husky cough as the rigid air filled my tired lungs. I coughed until I couldn’t cough anymore. Drool dripped from my numb mouth. It stuck to the floor in frozen strands. My eyes dripped goop. My heart beat in thundering palpitations. I stayed with my back against the wall. My head drooped towards the ground. A quiet sob escaped my jaws. The sound that cracked from inside of me was worse than a cough. It brought on a fit worse than one of hacking. Wail after wail fell from my gaping mouth. Tears slid from my eyes and splattered against the floor in droves. It reminded me of summer rain, tapping a musical song against the roofs and windows of beautiful suburban homes that lined the streets of the town I used to call home. A town where I had food and warmth. A place where water didn’t bite; it was warm, and it was enjoyable. Puddles were for splashing in, and rain was for joyful dancing.

Summer rain seemed like a lifetime ago. The home of my youth now too far away to see again outside of memory. It is gone now. There’s nothing left. They took it all. They took everything.

I lifted my head to the ceiling, remembering in foggy visions the blue of the sky, and I howled my grief for all to hear.

And all the other prisoners, prisoners who’d committed no crimes, joined me in my wail of misery.

The pound was alive with the anguished cries of hundreds of dogs.