Crayon

The room was lit by a single flickering lightbulb.
He whispered softly, "Lets play a game".
She was not interested.
"Its very easy. I'll even let you win".
She shook her head in disgust.
Scenes from his childhood kept coming back. The house in the village seemed like a distant memory. Dad got transferred to this southern state where he didn't speak the language. His home was now a cramped suburban apartment complex where noisy children played till their play area became parking spaces. After it grew dark, parked cars were good for Hide n' Seek. They continued to play. But all he did was watch, hoping that someone would ask him to join. The fact that he was fat and had a running nose didn't win him any friends. Once, a curious bespectacled child did invite him, but he totally sucked at 'Dog & the bone'. He just didn't fit in and eventually it wasn't cool to be seen playing with him anymore. The treatment wasn't very different in school either.
The aging filament dimmed the light emitted by the bulb. Inconsistent rays announced the onset of its imminent end to the room. As disturbed as he was, thoughts of euthanasia did cross his mind.

He extricated the scarf that gagged her. She choked briefly when a fresh gust of air found its way through her wind pipe.
"Please let me out!! HELP!!", she screamed her pretty lungs out.
She was unable to move her hands which were tied to the chair. Her spectacles fell down as her body protested to being tied in the same postion for over five hours.
"I will. But first, lets play a game".
He gently rested her spectacles on her nose bridge and pushed it upwards. She stopped screaming only for a second to let her mind recognize the familar face.
The bulb seemed to burn brighter for a moment as it flickered violently.


Her piercing cries roused her from sleep. She breathed heavily while her mind retrieved the configuration of her new surroundings. It was still dark. Her bed didn't feel right. She heard metallic sounds as she moved her legs. Under the sheets, she was horrified to feel the cold links of a chain that shackled her to the bed. The nightmare wasn't over just yet.



"Attention. Disturbence in Cell 3A. Immediate assistance required",
a female voice looped over the intercom.

Lights came up in Cell 3A. Four men in labcoats rushed in to see a hysteric display akin to that of a vociferous caged animal.

"She's losing it, Bill", said one of the men in a very concerned tone.

It took three men to hold her down while Bill injected a highly potent sedative in her right hand. The seizures subsided as the drug steadily took command of her senses. A minute later, he reached out and lifted her eyelids one by one. They offered no resistance and he could see that her pupils were maximally dilated.

After positioning her back in bed, the men in labcoats turned off the lights.