We are watching him. He lay there on the floor, unmoving.  We know his thoughts, but we are silent.  He is waking up.

What happened? Where the hell am I?

He thinks as he opens his eyes.

 How on earth did I get here? What! I can’t see! What is going on? There must be no lights. 

He tries to reassure himself, but it is useless. He struggles to get himself up, as the eternal darkness presses down on him. We silently laugh at his clumsiness. But it is time to move on.

Ugh! It’s so hard to move. What am I wearing? Winter clothing? Oh, this place is so cold. This chill is biting into me.  

Yes, winter clothing, he will die without them, the darkness is too cold. We covered him well, all but his face.  He must not die, not yet. He must hurry; it is time to move on.

Okay, just think, where am I? This is not where I was last night.

 He attempts to look around himself, but it is useless, he cannot see anything.

  This flooring is as hard as rock, or harder. A Cave maybe?  No, the ground is too smooth.  But even so, there must be a wall somewhere. Perhaps there are other people here too. 

“Hello!! Is there someone here?” Nothing, not a sound. No sound at all? That can’t be right. I must not be listening hard enough. “HELLO!!” What do I hear? I can’t hear anything. I can’t even hear my own voice! My ears must be blocked.  

He raises his arms to his head and feels the thick cloth covering him. We do not reply. Why should we? He is taking too long, we will hurry him. 

Something is definitely wrong, but something… Something is happening. What is happening? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Silence, so much silence, it is pressing into me. My ears, they hurt. There is too much silence. It is too cold. But I feel there is something out there, or is it in here, wherever here is? 

 I want to run, I need to run. Why? Why do I want to run? Something must be coming. But where to run to?  I might run into a wall. Walls are good; they will lead me to the exit, or something. 

Good, good he is moving, but too slow. We are amused by his thoughts.  Why does he think of walls? What are walls? There is no such thing. We laugh at him, but we are silent. Darkness is silence, loud, heavy silence. We are amused, but we must begin, he must go on.

Run. Run. There is something behind me. I can feel its eyes on me. Run!

Yes human, run. Run faster. We will play this game. We laugh at him, but we are silent.

 Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. There must be something behind me. Run. I can’t stop, it will get me. Run. Too fast, I can’t breathe. My muscles are burning. 

 What is it? I can’t hear anything. The silence is following me.  I’ve run for so long, maybe I should stop, and find out what it is. 

No! He must not stop! Fear, fear will keep him going.         

Why, why is this happening? My heart is racing. Wait! I can hear my heart! Thump pump! Thump pump! 

No! He is slowing down. We must move on.

 I need to breathe. My head is throbbing. Thrush, thrush. Thrush, thrush. My blood, I can hear my blood. But I still can’t hear my voice. I can hear my heart; I can hear my blood rushing through my veins. I can hear the solid silence, but I can’t hear my voice. Why?

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He does not know! Ha! We laugh at him, but we are silent. We must hurry. We will push him.

Is it just me or is it getting warmer? I’m sweating, and panting like an animal. This thing must come off. Ahrrg, it’s so much hotter than before. How long ago was that? Hours? Days? I don’t know.

Good, he feels the heat. He will feel much more before we are done, we will be amused. We laugh at him, but we are silent. We need to move on.

What is that sound? Ripping? Rustling? Yes, rustling. Ha! It’s my clothes! So I am not deaf! 

But oh, the heat! It is coming from behind. It’s following me! I must run! Run! The heat, oh the heat, it is burning!

We watch him take his winter clothes off, stumbling over himself.  Clumsy human man. Oh, what they do not know. Oh, what they cannot know! We laugh at him, but we are silent.

            Think, I can’t think. It is too hot! I can’t think. Why? Why? Why am I here? What am I doing? Where am I? Why am I running? Where am I running to? What am I running from? Death, yeah death. Death is behind me. Burning, scorching death.  Don’t stop. I cannot stop! What have I done to deserve this? What have I done? I don’t know. I don’t remember. I must run faster, faster.  I can’t. There is no end. 

            Where am I? I am in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere must be somewhere if I’m here, right? I am here, so I must be somewhere, but I’m in the middle of nowhere. Where am I? I am in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere must be somewhere if I’m here, right? I am here, so I must be somewhere, but I’m in the middle of nowhere.   What the Heck! What is happening to my mind? I am thinking in circles! 

Am I walking in circles? No! I can’t be. I need to see! I need to see the fire. Shadows within shadows, darkness within darkness, is there nothing more? I need to see! Is the darkness moving? No. It's just my mind, or is it?

            Yes, there is more, we are watching him, but he does not know. We watch him run. He strains his eyes to see, but he cannot. We will not allow him to. Not yet. We laugh at him, but we are silent. 

            He runs and runs, and we are amused. Oh, to see such a thing! Humans, stupid creatures, they do not know! We laugh at them, but we are silent for now.  Now is the time!

 Is something up ahead? Yes, directly up ahead! Light! Oh, glorious light! It’s so far. Run faster! So small, but it is light! It is dim, but oh how glorious is that light. My angel! Closer, it is coming closer! This might be the end of this nightmare! The end to the burning, the pain!

            Yes, run little man, run. Run to your end. Now is the time. We laugh at him, but we are silent. We will be patient. 

I’m almost there! There is something else! What is that?  A table? No.  A podium? No.  It’s a signpost! Strange. The light is over the signpost. A little pinprick of a light, but it is light! But what does it say? Does it matter?    

Almost there! I can’t breathe! My lungs are on fire, my muscles are burning! Oh, the pain! My blood boils, my brain is frying. I’m almost there, almost there! I don’t want to die in the dark.

            He is almost there, yes, it will be his end. We laugh at him, but we are silent. We will be ready, ready to sing him to sleep with our laughter!

            I am here! Thank goodness! I am here! Rest, I must rest. Let death take me now. I am in the light! I don’t care anymore. It’s so hot! I can’t breathe!

            Goodness? What is this? There is no such thing, only us.  Yes human, rest. Look at what you see! We laugh at him as he collapses, but we won’t be silent for long. Now is the time!

              What is this? What I see doesn’t make sense. The lighted signpost says: 

“Welcome to Nowhere, Jaden Cull. You are here.” 

An arrow points to the center of a blank map.

            What the Heck! I am in the middle of nowhere! But my name?! They know my name!

            Yes, we know. We know everything! NOW is the time! We let the light die.

            No! My light! Where is it? No! No, no, no! Where is it? Where is my light?

 We let our voice ring out! We laugh at him, as he clings to the post with all his might! Our high-pitched squeals, our ear-piercing giggles, our nerve-racking cackles, our mind-numbing chortles, and our bone-rattling guffaws fill the emptiness. We laugh at him! Oh! What a sight! Oh! What a game!

 AHHH!! What is that sound? It hurts! It hurts! Stop this! Stop!

              We laugh at him! We are silent no longer! Oh, the pain he feels! We laugh! We laugh as the dark red blood drips from his painful ears. The blood is flowing like rivers from every opening. We laugh at him! Oh what a game he has been! Yes, we are amused. We laugh at him! We laugh in the darkness! His time has ended.

Now, we feast on the flesh before we find our next prey.