I Will Not Die

Water. Water everywhere. He is choking on it, unable to breathe. A pair of hands pulls his face from the liquid asphyxiator. His head is above water just long enough to gasp for air, as though it is the last breath he’ll ever take, and then mercilessly submerged once again. Water. Air. Water. Air. A vicious cycle. The last thing he remembers is begging them to stop, then blackness.

The sound of dripping water awakens him. It is as though he is at home in bed with his wife, the cheap IKEA sink dripping as it always does, keeping them awake for hours. Pain soon ends this fantasy and brings him back to reality. So much pain. Everywhere. Pain in places he didn’t know he could feel pain. He tries rolling over, only to find his wrists cuffed to the bed. His feet are also tied in place. Nothing left to do but wait. Wait for the Angel of Death that is certainly going to visit him.

Seconds turn to hours. He wonders if they are just going to let him slowly die of starvation. Consciousness comes and goes and with it, visions of his family. His son riding on his father’s shoulders. His wife smiling at both of them, her hair golden like the wheat in the field behind their house that glows as the sun slowly dips lower into the pink evening sky.

As he remembers each of their faces, tears begin to roll down his cheek. Not tears of sadness, but tears of anger. Anger at himself for giving up so easily. I will not die like this.

The door flies open, casting a beam of light brighter than the fires of hell into the room.

Get up.

I can’t.

The woman, wearing a black mask with a 9mm hanging from her waist, quickly walks over to where the man is tied up. She unlocks the cuffs from his wrists and unites his feet.

Get up.

Okay.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, he rushes for the door, moving slower than he anticipated. The woman calmly removes the gun from her waist takes aim and fires at the man’s leg. He falls to the ground screaming in pain. More pain. The woman slowly walks over to stand above him.

Get up.

He slowly crawls to his feet, standing on his sole healthy leg.

Now follow me.

He follows the woman down a hallway. No windows but blindingly bright with fluorescent lights. She leads him past cells radiating with cruelty. The halls are empty and the only sounds are the methodical thuds of their footsteps. They round a corner and enter a room. A room with one window, and a man sitting in front of it. He is a very large man, particularly around his waist. Violence and cruelty are as much a part of his face as his eyes and nose.

Sit down.

He walks into the room and sits down in a chair across from the stranger. The masked woman walks out.

Do you know why you are here?

No.

Do you have any guesses?

No.

A long pause.

You are here because you know information about our organization. Information that makes you, well, let's just say it makes you a liability.

I don't know what you're talking about. I don’t even know where I am or who you are.

Of course you don’t.

The man who seems to be an interrogator sighs and stands up from his chair. He turns his back and walks toward the window. As soon as the interrogators back is turned, the man leaps out of his chair and slams into the large body holding him hostage. The fat man is on the ground in an instant, with fingers wrapped around his throat, quickly squeezing the life out of him. As soon as the interrogator is no longer breathing, the man whose hands did the deed stands up and slams a chair underneath the door handle. He can hear the woman yelling and beating on the door from the outside. Time is limited. He quickly searches the deceased for anything useful, finding both a knife and a gun. He puts the knife in his pocket and the pistol in his belt. Standing up, he grabs the other chair in the room and throws it through the window. He rapidly follows suit, diving out of the window and onto the dry dusty ground.

As darkness begins to overtake him, he slows his pace. He stops. Silence penetrates his ears. He can feel life, coursing through his veins once again. I will not die.