Payment for Release

I’m not sure how or when I became a prisoner. It seemed that I had always been one. I remember waking up groggy and disoriented. My surroundings were moist and clammy. Darkness surrounded me. The smell of rot and decay engulfed me in a tangible form, wrapping me in a cloth of despair.

Fear was my companion as light poured forth from an oculus opening above me. I was in a cavern, perched precariously on the edge of a semi circular ridge centered around a large gaping hole, directly in front of me. The hole beckoning me to fall into it. Unable to move, I was grateful, as any movement might have me slipping into the yawning abyss below me. Alone save for a huge tentacle that wiggled and frothed from the fissure below; it prodded and poked at the sides of the ridge.

A sound came from below the ridge. It began as a low moan and soon became a high pitched scream reverberating off the walls of the cavern. I trembled at the insane babble issuing forth from the demonic abyss.

I sought a means of escape. The only routes available were the infernal gorge below and the opening above. The walls were made of a soft slick spongy material. There was no way to gain purchase allowing me to reach the oculus above, which kept opening and closing in an erratic manner.

I was plunged into darkness as the oculus closed. To my utter horror, I was now being dowsed with a strange smelling liquid. At least I suffered the deluge in silence. The flood stopped and I tried to sleep in the darkness. My thoughts would not let me. I kept wondering how I had come to be in this situation. What horrible crimes must I have crafted? Or was this the afterlife and I was here being punished for a life of sins? A life wasted?

A horrible sound reverberated through the cavern. A pulsing, spasmodic, rhythmic concussion. The sound was accompanied by the most foul stench. It took all I could to not retch into the abyss. But I refused to allow whoever placed me in this hell to have that satisfaction.

The days passed into oblivion. The only source of sustenance, a constant repetition of being deluged by strange liquids, with the occasional slop deposited in the oculus by a strange circular object. I was alone. I was frightened. I persevered.

After time unmeasured another soul joined me in this hell. He had been placed next to me, and was such a small thing. Silent and stoic, resigned to his new fate. I attempted to engage him in conversation to no avail. Undeterred, I spoke to him anyway. He was stalwart, a good listener, and great companion. I decided to name him Fido.

Fido seemed to take to the routine with gusto and in fact flourished. He was actually growing larger. More souls joined Fido and myself after a time, several nearby us. I was able to engage them in conversation.

None knew the reason for us being deposited into this hell. Speculation arose that we were all doomed because of past transgression. One theory even went so far as to say we were transported into another dimension and part of some bizarre experiment; to test our endurance to withstand devised tortures. To our horror, several of the newer guests were hung upside down directly on to a similar ridge above us. We shouted at them to hold on. Of course, it was in vain; they had been stuck fast to the ridge, and while disoriented, were safe. They were rooted in place.

We settled into a comforting camaraderie. Discussions were helpful, and we kept each other’s spirits up as time drew on; there was a perceived lack of the passage of time. We helped each other through the intense deluges and inundations of various slop making its way through the oculus as well as the bizarre sounds that would issue forth from the abyss below. Strange objects would appear in the oculus. These devices of torture were pushed up against us.We strained to force them back, lest they push us over the ridge into the abyss.

The tentacle would graze and bump us, trying to force us into the spongy walls of the cavern. The most frustrating times came when the ceiling would collapse. We would reach out to our hanging companions, grasping to each other, trying in vain to hold on, only to be pulled apart. This happened at irregular intervals and we wondered at the mastermind who devised this penultimate form of torture.

It was becoming crowded in the cavern. The days were filled with the tortures of collapse, slop and deluges. Nights became unbearable for a time as a large object was forced into the oculus, pushing some of us relentlessly up against the spongy moist walls of the cavern. The prisoners attached above us near the front of the oculus fared the worst. I could hear their muffled cries as they struggled to survive through the night. In the mornings they would not speak of the nights torture except for one plucky prisoner called Bucky. He seemed to take it in stride and found solace in the withdrawal of the object. We could hear him shout “Now I can stretch out”.

As ridges of the cavern became fuller, so came a new development. When it was close to the evening time a large bristle covered stick entered the oculus and was rubbed across all of the prisoners. The bristles were covered in a strange balm that smelled faintly of mint. Water would then be poured into the oculus and in a whirlpool fashion drench us all, then the cleansing liquid would be forced out of the oculus. It was actually refreshing. We all looked forward to this new evening ritual.

I was almost content in the cavern. I had Fido, my silent and stalwart companion, next to me and the rest of my comrades to console me. We had settled into a state of acceptance; willing to endure our fate as long as we had each other. The incident precipitating my desire for escape happened without warning. We had finished a discussion of what dimension we could possibly be in and if the abyss below us was a gateway to another realm, when we were all thrust forwards and brutality stopped.

A loud crunching sound rang throughout the cavern. Bucky screamed along with several others from the upper part of the ridge. The oculus opened and to our horror, Bucky and his companion next to him were hanging loose. Dangling precariously over the abyss. The tentacle whipped around and smacked against them. Bucky howled as his partner was ripped free from the ridge and fell into the abyss. I watched in dread as Bucky stopped screaming. He let go of the ridge and tumbled along the grasping tentacle, following his companion into the abyss.

A vile liquid poured forth from where they had been tethered. It splashed over myself and Fido. The tentacle whipped around in a frenzy lapping it up. The rest of us were silent as the slurping continued. It was then I decided it was time to try and escape my fate. Bucky and his companion, in their tragic way, had shown me how.

Bucky and his companion while held fast were not immutable from being dislodged. I reasoned that I too should be able to work my way free from this prison.I focused on a daily regime of movement; a tiny jostle, a wiggle here, a jiggle there. I could feel the bonds constricting me slowly loosening. Fido looked down on me in wonder. My peers thought me crazy, but I knew freedom was just a movement away.

The work I put into the regime was paying off. My movements were more erratic yet wider in depth. The tentacle must have sensed my attempts at movement. It began probing, poking, and shoving at me. I embraced it. In the past, I might have tried to resist, but now allowed myself to revel in its aggressive shoving.

I had thought, once free, to throw myself away from the abyss toward the wall of the cavern. Thus free, I would make my way out and find what may be beyond. The day had come. The tentacle reached out. I leaned back toward the wall. I could feel myself breaking free. This was it. I let the tentacle push against me. I was free.

I relished the feeling. The wall was soft and inviting. I slid down the ridge into the canyon below, ready and willing to search for a way out. The floor on the ridge was slimy and the wall of the cavern was tight against the ridge. I was seeking a means of escaping the cavern when the dreaded tentacle pushed me further into the wall. The oculus opened and a large object reached in and pushed against me. It slid me along the moist spongy wall out of the cavern.

I was free.

My bout with freedom was cut short. I was laid gently on a soft fabric. A feeling of relief was quickly replaced by fear as another soft fabric laden object covered me. It pushed down from above, shrouding me in darkness and weight. I struggled to move. Missing Fido and my companions, I would have gladly traded this suffocating torture for the mundane tormenting routine I was used to.

I once again resigned myself to my fate. Escape had only exchanged the form of abuse; from moist perilous darkness to soft crushing darkness. I thought it could get no worse. It did. The weight against me increased ten fold. There was no comfort to be found in the softness of the vise I was being squeezed in. The darkness was suffocating and I felt the pressure would fuse me into a diamond.

After an eternity I felt the pressure release. A bright light came from between the fabrics crushing me. A breeze of fresh air smelling of daisies and sunshine washed over me. Standing in front of me and holding the weight that was crushing me over their head was a giant.

She was beautiful. Bright flaxen yellow hair flowed around her. She was wearing a bonnet blue dress and huge silky butterfly wings adorned her back. They were blue in color; the edges darker blue and spotted white. One hand held up the massive cushion that had been crushing me. The other held a large metallic disk with the imprint of a face on it. She smiled at me and nodded. Her warmth filled me.

“You’ve done well my little friend,” she said, her voice a melody. “But now it’s time for you to come and join me with Bucky and the other lost teeth.”

She laid the disk down next to me. Her arm held the weight above me as if it were a feather. She picked me up, gave me a squeeze and we took flight.