His head was throbbing, his thoughts spinning,
The path in front of him was blurred as he went from past to present,
not quite knowing which was which.

The sound of police sirens blare,
Lights flashing blue and red,
And then a dirt trail leapt up below his feet.
He was running… but he wasn’t running.
His feet were stories above the ground: they were treading air.
Time was almost up.

Trees…
Yelling in the distance…
…Silence…

He was being led somewhere, but he couldn’t grasp his surroundings.
He kept hearing noises, sounds of twigs cracking and feet stamping, but he just felt like he was in an enclosed space.
He stumbled and…
And then… everything went black.
He was submerged in something, pushing on him from all sides.
The pressure was building…
And then pain exploded behind his eyes,
Bursting at the edges of his head.
He moved his arms to hold his head,
It felt as if his head would rip apart by the seams at any second…
But his arms wouldn’t move… they were strapped to his sides.
He was struggling, he couldn’t breathe…
He felt a small tremor go through his body and then… there was nothing… he went still…

Time was up…