Escape: the Legend.

You must find your way home, before Midnight.

I jolt awake. A surge of electricity brings the room back to life. The AC groans, the TV blinks, and clock flashes 12:00. Midnight Again?

My throat is dry. The air feels swampy. I fumble for water and knock the nightstand. Empty bottles crash to the floor. Tequila. Antidepressants. Antipsychotics. Sleep Aids. Energy shots. 
I cringe, what a mess. 

What day is it?

Disoriented, I swing my legs out of bed and stand quickly, lightheaded… then dizzy. As my eyes adjust to the light, and I trace the walls. The blackout curtains, the cracked drywall, the chaotic ramblings of paint attempting to tell stories that was cut mid-thought. The familiarity steadies me, I am home. 

Home. I sigh to myself, the room feels different than it should. 

I close my eyes and try to recover the missing days. There was a fence, and a highway moving fast below. A brilliantly bright moon overhead, and wind whipping my hair against my face. The city glowing on the horizon, impossibly beautiful. I remember smiling. I remember laughing as I found a hole cut through the chain link fence. It was a moment of peace. The voices had finally merged into one, and it felt divine.

Just before I crept through the wire, I felt a sharp sting in my neck. 
My eyes snap open, and my hand moves instinctively to the spot. I rush to the bathroom mirror and flip on the light. There it is. A swollen red mark beneath my ear. My stomach twists.

The memory returns all at once. Not the traffic below. The van approaching from behind. The door sliding open. Hands gripping my arms. And then darkness.

The electricity flickers again.
I turn to see the clock blink back to 12:00.

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