By NATALIE SACKET
Staff Writer
“Five, four, three, two. Do you know what happens after one?”
All around me was an assortment of bright lights and dulled noises. The colors sorted and the sounds faded away, long enough for me to get my bearings. I was disoriented, lying back against the ground. Above me stood a figure hidden in the shadows.
Again I heard, “Do you know? Do you know what happens at the end of a countdown?”
I struggled to move, but I felt an unseen force restrain me.
The figure repeated the question, this time with more force.
“What happens when someone counts down to one?”
I stammered, struggling to figure out where I was. “Something.. begins.”
“Perhaps, Jonathan, perhaps.”
Jonathan? How did this man know who I was. I struggled to peer further into the dark, but his face was just barely out of my line of vision. The hidden man continued his statement.
“Or, Jonathan, perhaps something ends.”
“Ends? What’s ending?”
The figure emitted a disturbingly low chuckle.
“All things end, my dear boy. All things. Life ends. Even your life, too, will end.”
This was absurd. I felt panic begin to grow deep within me. Hours ago I had been sitting in a restaurant with my fiance, fumbling with a delicate engagement ring in my pocket, and now I was restrained on the ground.. somewhere… with some unknown person. I struggled to get up, throwing my body against this invisible force, but I was only able to raise my head slightly off the ground.
Without warning, I felt a sharp pain on my cheek, as if fingernails were scratched across my face.
“It’s best if you do not resist.”
Suddenly I fell. Only a couple feet, but enough for the lights to begin to cloud my vision once more. Suddenly the figure became clearer, framed with a rectangle. I realized, then, that I had fallen beneath the earth, and all that kept me in touch with humanity was the small space above me.
I had fallen into a grave.
I began to scream, but my lips allowed no noise to come forth. The figure knelt at the edge of the opening, and finally I could see his face. However, there was no face to be seen, simply a pale oval surrounded by stringy black hair.
The figure began to count down once more.
“Five, four, three, two, one.” And immediately I knew what would happen after one. Dirt begin to shower over me, and I felt darkness close in.
I awoke, gasping for air. These nightmares had haunted me for weeks. I struggled out from underneath the tangled sheets and made my way to the bathroom. I paused at the mirror due to my reflection, and saw that three trails of blood ran across my cheek. I leaned in further to get a better look, fear beginning to swell in my stomach. As I looked nearer to my face, I saw a figure move in the background. I turned to see a face. Not a face, but a pale oval with stringy hair.
“Three, two, one.” And a crooked, evil grin appeared on the figure’s face.