There stands a giant tunnel. Dark and cold, running down it, hoping there will be an end, but I can’t find it. There is so much silence, all I can hear are the echoes of my footsteps. They boomerang off the black splattered walls and send waves piercing through my entire body. The waves rise and fall in succession, like a cannon, stretching with all their might to kiss the shore. But, even the waves grow tired, and begin to softly rock the sand.

Trapped. Watching the seconds, minutes, hours go by behind the plexiglass of this snow globe I’m encapsulated in. Shake after shake, it all becomes a blur. Slowly being smothered, longing to be free. Drowning in this water, there’s no way out. All I can feel is this leach. It’s inside of me. Eating at me, slithering down into my core. At any moment, it could swallow me whole.


Thoughts trudging through the mud, only to slip right into the quicksand. Squirming and arms flailing, fighting to the very end. The sand is filling up my lungs, devouring every last and tiny crevice. My legs give out. Trying desperately to speak, to scream but nothing. The fear sends my body into a convulsion. Aching from every finger to every thumb. But then, numbness.

Just when it seems surrender is near, light. Streaming into this hallow cave. Swirling and twirling along the wide-open space, it illuminates all that was lost. Those once gapping scars now shadows, distant memories buried under the sand. The waves begin to rise again, gaining momentum, thrashing and crashing louder than ever. Vowing never to be silenced again.