Darkness — everywhere I looked was emptiness. The only thing I could see was a faded white box in the corner of wherever I was. It was lying sideways like a shelter. I could move if I wasn’t terrified that it would kill me. My head beating, my body aching, but I didn’t know why. Moments passed without any sounds — the room was still and my short breaths hurt my chest.

People say that you can hear your heartbeat if the room is quiet enough, if your breath is at the perfect density. I could only hear my shaky breaths. Now that I think of it, maybe it wasn’t mine.

After another minute or two, a loud bang rang through my ears so loud you would think there wasn’t a sound at all. There were many small thumps after that, growing closer. My heart began beating more constantly, and the pain in my legs burned when I tried standing up. Then thumps grew quicker, louder.

I forced my arms to drag me across the floor to the box I had noticed earlier. My triceps were beaten and my fingertips gripped to the cold tile, which had small pieces of crumbs scattered left and right. As I dragged myself across the floor, the thumps increased. He knew where I was.

I started moving faster — aching all over. I felt a tear run down my face, leaving a wet streak on the side of my cheek. I was a few inches away from the box, reaching my hand out to grab the side. Maybe I could pull myself to it; though, right as I touched the side of the box, then the thumps stopped.

My heart dropped, sending a mist of dizziness and sickness throughout my body. I wanted to turn around but didn’t at the same time. I moved myself into the box slowly, hoping he hadn’t seen me. I was wrong. I looked up slowly to find him standing over me, watching me. I went deeper into the box even though there wasn’t any room left and closed my eyes.