The Writers' Circle

It was dark. Too dark. It was as if a thick, heavy blanket had been thrown over my eyes - one so thick that even the most intense of light could not penetrate and I was here in a world where even the darkest shade of grey did not exist - just the omnipresent pitch black.
	I did not know if my eyes were open or shut. I tried to move, but could not feel my limbs although the heaviness - the existence - of such limbs could be sensed. I did not remember a thing; I did not know my name, where I lived or even what I looked like.
	"Where am I? Why is it so dark? Have I been blinded? Have I been drugged?" I thought to myself as I lay/sat there in the darkness.
	As an indeterminable time drifted by, I realised that in the absolute darkness, there was some sound coming from around me. It was an echo-like banging that was both subtle and yet distinctly present. 
	"I must be in a box or a container of some kind," I thought as the echo-like banging from "outside" continued. And then suddenly realisation hit me like the impact that results when one has an electric shock. I flinched hard and screamed, "OH NO! Please, may I not be in a coffin! I can't be in a coffin! OH, PLEASE!" But the scream was only in my mind as my mouth could not - would not - make a sound.
	Hysteria came upon me, and the panic that tagged along almost choked me. For a moment, I thought that I may just die from the suffocation - the congestion deep in my chest and throat. Breathing was impossible and maybe death was not such a bad option after all, considering my current predicament. However, after a few minutes of conscientiously induced deep breaths, I was able to clear my mind and push aside those dreadful feelings of despair.
	"No matter what, I am still alive. I must think logically and try to figure out what has happened," I thought to myself in a much calmer and composed manner. "I'm sure that there must be an explanation for all this. I just wish that there were some light. Or even a more distinguishable sound that will tell me that I am somewhere safe - like a hospital."
	As I cleared my mind of all unnecessary, detrimental thoughts and just focused on listening, I was able to finally identify that familiar echo-like banging. It was like the sound that you would hear when you knocked two hard objects together underwater.
	The cold tingling fear of being buried alive in a watery tomb began to creep up my spine - slowly but surely. I could sense my body, which I still could not feel, shivering unwittingly. However, I chose to ignore it and decided to just concentrate on what I could do and not aggravate the situation through negativity.
	As I waited for something - anything - to happen, tiny snippets of memory started trickling back into my mind, and as if one were watching a movie, I saw the scene unfold.
	The sun was setting on that cloudless day, and I was standing on a pier talking to a group of men. I could smell the sea and hear the cackling of seagulls as they swooped around above us. Although I tried to make out what I looked like, all I could see was a bleary conglomerate of colours. I then sensed an air of anger and discontent, and an argument resulted. One of the men, who had been standing behind me, tried to place something over my mouth. I struggled but lost my balance and fell. The other men then came up to me and tied me up. In my semi-conscious state, I knew that I was being picked up and tossed into the fifteen-foot yacht that was moored by the pier.
	Bang! The loud thud from the toss jerked back memories of the hard knock just above my forehead as I landed onto the deck. I tried hard to recall more of this horrible event, but my mind drew a blank although the new sensation of a bump on my forehead was now clearly present.
	"They must have thrown me into the ocean. Have they left me to die but somehow I didn't? Maybe if I were to just sleep for a while, I would wake up and this would just be a dream. Or... I could just die in my sleep and not worry anymore."
	I must have passed out or fallen into deep sleep after that, and when I next regained consciousness, I could hear the sound of activity "outside". I could hear the clanging of metal, the shuffling of feet and even the murmuring of voices.
	"They must have found me! I'M SAFE!" I thought as I passed out again.

	"Where did you find the body?" Inspector Gordon asked the coast guard.
	"It was washed up onto the beach, and some kids found it while they were playing Frisbee."
	"It looks like he's been dead for some time, doesn't it? Was there any ID on him?"
	"No, sir. Nothing that would identify him, sir. In fact, he could not have been in the ocean for too long as these are shark-infested waters and he's still here, except for one of his legs."
	As Inspector Gordon walked around the decomposing body, clicking away with his digital camera, he noticed that the wrists of the body were tied together and that there was a huge bump on his forehead.

	Ahhh...! I was aroused from my world of darkness by a loud scream from somewhere "outside". I jumped and must have kicked one of the walls of the container that I was in.
	"What's happening? They have found me, but why am I still in this oppressing darkness?" I thought to myself and at that moment, I could feel a strong push from somewhere. "Good, they are trying to open the box now! I can't wait to be released from this horrible, horrible place."
	And as suddenly as the first push came, another ensued and I was no longer seeing black. It was now different shades of grey and I knew that I was free.
	"I must open my eyes now! I need to see!" I screamed in my mind, but when I finally did open my eyes, everything that I had experienced before disappeared and they were all erased from my mind. All that I could do now was cry a cry of relief and nothing else.

	It was a beautiful morning, as Robert stepped out onto the patio where his wife sat, basking in rays of the glorious sun with the bundle that was their newborn son held tightly in the folds of her arms.
	"He's beautiful, isn't he?" Martha said as she looked up from her loving gaze at the baby. She then leant down and kissed her baby on the little round birthmark that lay on his forehead.