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Description
      She awoke with a fright, "It was just a nightmare," she whispered as she arose wearily to get a glass of water. As she stepped forward away from her bed she fell, her ankles in shackles.  Somewhere in the darkness, a loud uproar of laughter shook the floor and walls of the room, as if a thousand onlookers were just down the hall. She stood, rubbed the sore edges of her skin where the metal braces held tight, and then touched her half numbed feet. Were the bands cutting off her circulation, or was it the cold floor on her bare skin?

      With only the moonlight spilling in from a small 1x1 pane of glass in the ceiling, the room slowly faded into grayish blue hues. She was chained to a bed, 4 post hospital bed with metal wheels and leather wrist shackles attached(but not being used) with a single hospital pillow and thin veiled blanket. Her outfit, the cute purple and black sequined clubbin skirt and halter top she had remembered wearing to 'Dead Zone' down on 45th ave, was gone and replaced with a simple white with small butterfly nightshirt that seemed to have a dark stain on the side of it of grease or soot. The room smelled of old upholstery, dust, and faintly of mildew or ancient clothing.

      Standing and slowly turning into half circles, she realized all 4 walls lacked a door. They were straight cut concrete painted some pastel greenish color and the floor was black vinyl tile with light grey marbling patterns in it that didn't seem to match. There was a sudden brief sound of stone shifting, then of skittering across the tile. Lisa jumped up onto the bed and peered down across the darkened floor, looking for some shadowy object moving in the fair light.

      Skrit skrit skrit… It moved across the room to a corner. She looked but saw nothing.

      Skrit skrit skrit.. It moved again under the bed. She leaned over the edge and peered down underneath her slowly. Something touched her nose and he jerked back and hit the wall with her back, screaming and flailing her arms. She didn't' see what it was, she didn't know what it was. But it touched her.

      Again the walls shook and thunderous laughter and clapping ensued. Was she somehow being watched?

      "Hello? Anyone? Can you hear me?"

      The applause quickly went silent.

      "Please! My name Is Lisa Bennett. I live in Chicago Illinois at 45 Queen Mary Ave. I don't know where I am but I think I am… kidnapped. Hello? Please help me! "

      Her body shook and she began to break down into sobbing tears. What had happened the night before? She tried to backtrack. Got dressed. Went to the club with her girls Ellen, Cindy and Riana. Danced. Had a drink. Met.. A guy named Raoul. Yes, He was a great dancer, poor English, but she couldn't resist the thick latin accent, or his tight leather pants.

      But that was it. She went blank after that. Had she gone home with him? Was she THAT drunk that she blacked out?

      Skrit skrit skrit CRACK. Whatever was in the room moved again. A quick stone shift. Now there was a cluster of crackling spreading across the floor.

      Skrit skrit skrit *crunch crunch crunch*

      Was the thing eating? Lisa moved to the edge of the bed and looked down to the floor. He black tile seemed to ungulate and move, as is covered by rolling black marbles. In the sea of the shiny bumps was a small fuzzy bump. A mouse? She breathed a sigh of relief. Field mice and beetles be damned, this was not as scary as she initially thought.

      "ok I see what you're doing and I think I can deal with a few bugs and a mouse. " More applause shook her to the core. "Who the hell are you people and why are you watching me?!"

      Silence. Crunching. Rustling. Then quick stone shift and what sounded like grain dumping into the room. Lisa looked to the far corner, where a block of cement was not gone and thousands of black beads were dumping into the room. Million. Quickly the floor encroached up to the height of the bed and what was once a simple swarm of beetles was not a writhing sea of them, big fat ugly ones with large white tipped pinchers and shiny red eyes. The mouse bubbled up to the surface, now a bloody rended corpse, half it's fur and flesh stripped bare on it's head. Flesh eating beetles?

      Lisa stood on the bed and felt the light tug of the shackle on her feet. She had no where to go. No place to hide. The beetles began spillng over the edge of the mattress and crawling towards her toes. She kicked at them and shrieked at their lightest touch. Cheering slowly rose from around her and more applause.

      Looking up she could see the skylight was actually just a simple glass window on a hinge with a small latch holding it closed on the inside. Standing on her tip toes, ignoring the small teeth ripping into her toes and digging under the nails, she reached and pulled a simple linchpin out, the window dropping open and letting fresh air billow down into the room. Now the noise of hundreds of voices got much louder and people could be heard cheering her on. She reached for the edges of the window frame and began pulling herself up through it, shaking her feet and the beetles attached off into the still growing ocean of black beneath her. With the scent of her blood dripping into the rustlings pile, the loud cicada like chittering got louder, like a beehive in her brain.

      Getting her head over the lip of the window, she was blinded by lights in every direction. Was she in a studio? At a football game? She pulled her left arm up and placed her weight on that elbow, wrenching her other shoulder through the narrow hole and stripping of half the robe and her skin with it. She didn't care. The light bumps of the beetles were starting to nudge her toes. She needed to get out, whatever the cost.

      Forcing her other shoulder out, she planted her other elbow into what felt like grass and mud and quickly lifted the rest of herself out of the hole. All around her was the sound of spectators cheering and clapping and chanting her name. She screamed at them. At all of them. What did they want? Who were they? Why her?!

      Finally the bright lights dimmed and an overhead spotlight began to glow on a single figure walking towards her holding what looked to be a flower. It was Raoul. He was dressed in a black leather tux, a single red rose in his right hand, a envelope in his left with her name elegantly scrawled across it.

      "Dear Lisa. You won. "

      Looking around, confused, bleeding, barely able to stand as her feet still bled from the bite marks, she realized she was in a larger room with 4 walls and speakers suspended from the ceiling. There was no audience. There was no crowd. She wasn't even outside, just standing on a 5x5 patch of grass placed around the hole she came out of.

      "You have been reborn, conchita. It is the day of the dead. This is a very important spiritual moment. "Raul kicked a hinged plank over the window on the ground, stopping he swarm from coming up. He placed a gentle hand to the bloody raw should of Lisa, and pressed a thick envelope into her fingers. "Here is your new life, enjoy it."

      And with that he walked to the corner of the room, a panel opened, and he vanished through the doorway.

      "Wait, what the fuck happened?" But the door shut quickly. She again was in a room with no doors. The rustle of the floor, though behind her, still made her tremble a bit. In the envelope was a stack of $500 bills and a small yellow note.

      "You won your life. Not win this cash. Get out"

      The spots dimmed, the room got quiet, then complete darkness.

      Skrit skrit skrit….

Description
      She awoke with a fright, "It was just a nightmare," she whispered as she arose wearily to get a glass of water. As she stepped forward away from her bed she fell, her ankles in shackles.  Somewhere in the darkness, a loud uproar of laughter shook the floor and walls of the room, as if a thousand onlookers were just down the hall. She stood, rubbed the sore edges of her skin where the metal braces held tight, and then touched her half numbed feet. Were the bands cutting off her circulation, or was it the cold floor on her bare skin?

      With only the moonlight spilling in from a small 1x1 pane of glass in the ceiling, the room slowly faded into grayish blue hues. She was chained to a bed, 4 post hospital bed with metal wheels and leather wrist shackles attached(but not being used) with a single hospital pillow and thin veiled blanket. Her outfit, the cute purple and black sequined clubbin skirt and halter top she had remembered wearing to 'Dead Zone' down on 45th ave, was gone and replaced with a simple white with small butterfly nightshirt that seemed to have a dark stain on the side of it of grease or soot. The room smelled of old upholstery, dust, and faintly of mildew or ancient clothing.

      Standing and slowly turning into half circles, she realized all 4 walls lacked a door. They were straight cut concrete painted some pastel greenish color and the floor was black vinyl tile with light grey marbling patterns in it that didn't seem to match. There was a sudden brief sound of stone shifting, then of skittering across the tile. Lisa jumped up onto the bed and peered down across the darkened floor, looking for some shadowy object moving in the fair light.

      Skrit skrit skrit… It moved across the room to a corner. She looked but saw nothing.

      Skrit skrit skrit.. It moved again under the bed. She leaned over the edge and peered down underneath her slowly. Something touched her nose and he jerked back and hit the wall with her back, screaming and flailing her arms. She didn't' see what it was, she didn't know what it was. But it touched her.

      Again the walls shook and thunderous laughter and clapping ensued. Was she somehow being watched?

      "Hello? Anyone? Can you hear me?"

      The applause quickly went silent.

      "Please! My name Is Lisa Bennett. I live in Chicago Illinois at 45 Queen Mary Ave. I don't know where I am but I think I am… kidnapped. Hello? Please help me! "

      Her body shook and she began to break down into sobbing tears. What had happened the night before? She tried to backtrack. Got dressed. Went to the club with her girls Ellen, Cindy and Riana. Danced. Had a drink. Met.. A guy named Raoul. Yes, He was a great dancer, poor English, but she couldn't resist the thick latin accent, or his tight leather pants.

      But that was it. She went blank after that. Had she gone home with him? Was she THAT drunk that she blacked out?

      Skrit skrit skrit CRACK. Whatever was in the room moved again. A quick stone shift. Now there was a cluster of crackling spreading across the floor.

      Skrit skrit skrit *crunch crunch crunch*

      Was the thing eating? Lisa moved to the edge of the bed and looked down to the floor. He black tile seemed to ungulate and move, as is covered by rolling black marbles. In the sea of the shiny bumps was a small fuzzy bump. A mouse? She breathed a sigh of relief. Field mice and beetles be damned, this was not as scary as she initially thought.

      "ok I see what you're doing and I think I can deal with a few bugs and a mouse. " More applause shook her to the core. "Who the hell are you people and why are you watching me?!"

      Silence. Crunching. Rustling. Then quick stone shift and what sounded like grain dumping into the room. Lisa looked to the far corner, where a block of cement was not gone and thousands of black beads were dumping into the room. Million. Quickly the floor encroached up to the height of the bed and what was once a simple swarm of beetles was not a writhing sea of them, big fat ugly ones with large white tipped pinchers and shiny red eyes. The mouse bubbled up to the surface, now a bloody rended corpse, half it's fur and flesh stripped bare on it's head. Flesh eating beetles?

      Lisa stood on the bed and felt the light tug of the shackle on her feet. She had no where to go. No place to hide. The beetles began spillng over the edge of the mattress and crawling towards her toes. She kicked at them and shrieked at their lightest touch. Cheering slowly rose from around her and more applause.

      Looking up she could see the skylight was actually just a simple glass window on a hinge with a small latch holding it closed on the inside. Standing on her tip toes, ignoring the small teeth ripping into her toes and digging under the nails, she reached and pulled a simple linchpin out, the window dropping open and letting fresh air billow down into the room. Now the noise of hundreds of voices got much louder and people could be heard cheering her on. She reached for the edges of the window frame and began pulling herself up through it, shaking her feet and the beetles attached off into the still growing ocean of black beneath her. With the scent of her blood dripping into the rustlings pile, the loud cicada like chittering got louder, like a beehive in her brain.

      Getting her head over the lip of the window, she was blinded by lights in every direction. Was she in a studio? At a football game? She pulled her left arm up and placed her weight on that elbow, wrenching her other shoulder through the narrow hole and stripping of half the robe and her skin with it. She didn't care. The light bumps of the beetles were starting to nudge her toes. She needed to get out, whatever the cost.

      Forcing her other shoulder out, she planted her other elbow into what felt like grass and mud and quickly lifted the rest of herself out of the hole. All around her was the sound of spectators cheering and clapping and chanting her name. She screamed at them. At all of them. What did they want? Who were they? Why her?!

      Finally the bright lights dimmed and an overhead spotlight began to glow on a single figure walking towards her holding what looked to be a flower. It was Raoul. He was dressed in a black leather tux, a single red rose in his right hand, a envelope in his left with her name elegantly scrawled across it.

      "Dear Lisa. You won. "

      Looking around, confused, bleeding, barely able to stand as her feet still bled from the bite marks, she realized she was in a larger room with 4 walls and speakers suspended from the ceiling. There was no audience. There was no crowd. She wasn't even outside, just standing on a 5x5 patch of grass placed around the hole she came out of.

      "You have been reborn, conchita. It is the day of the dead. This is a very important spiritual moment. "Raul kicked a hinged plank over the window on the ground, stopping he swarm from coming up. He placed a gentle hand to the bloody raw should of Lisa, and pressed a thick envelope into her fingers. "Here is your new life, enjoy it."

      And with that he walked to the corner of the room, a panel opened, and he vanished through the doorway.

      "Wait, what the fuck happened?" But the door shut quickly. She again was in a room with no doors. The rustle of the floor, though behind her, still made her tremble a bit. In the envelope was a stack of $500 bills and a small yellow note.

      "You won your life. Not win this cash. Get out"

      The spots dimmed, the room got quiet, then complete darkness.

      Skrit skrit skrit….