Search for the Soul Gem

Chapter Twenty-One

     200. That's how long my first experience locked in the box was. 200 long, silent, horrifying minutes. Silence was Kalahan's favorite form of torture. I lost count of how many times I'd been locked in the box. Silence was his favorite but not necessarily the worst. I always thought waterboarding was something only prevalent in Iraq. I never understood the mechanics of it. Not until I found out personally all too well how it worked. 20 minutes of simulated drowning. I'd rather I would have actually drown. Kalahan was a sadist. I was rarely allowed to eat. In the approximate two weeks I'd been here, I hadn't slept for more than one hour at a time. The only plus about the box was that I could at least get a few hours of sleep.

     "10804...10805...10806...," I muttered to myself, trying to keep track of time while staring at the black above me. Being contained was one for the most dreadful things I'd ever experienced. It feels like floating but also feels like a ton of bricks is on your chest. Being in the dark and silence also allows your brain to play nasty tricks on you. My eyes made up images that I knew weren't there. My ears searched for sounds that didn't exist. The anxiety it caused was so deeply rooted that even after I was release, I was on edge.

     "Pst," it sounded like someone whispered in my ear. I jumped and my counting faltered. I was silent for a moment, trying to hear if someone was outside the box.

     "10813...10814-"

     "Hey! Professor!" the voice came again, shocking me.

     Who was talking? Were they taking to me?

     "Yes doctor, I'm talking to you!" the voice said again. This made me pause. How could this person have heard me? I wasn't saying anything. I couldn't even speak if I wanted to. I had to be imaging this voice.

     "Come on doctor, talk to me," the voice whined.

     How?

     "Just like that!" the voice said again. Okay, I had to be loosing it now. The voice laughed. The laugh was vastly different from Kalahan's. It was warm and inviting and comforting, "Don't worry. You're only as crazy as I am."

     Oh fantastic! I'm as sane as the voice in my head. That's comforting.

     The voice laughed again.

     "Oh ouch," the voice laughed. There was a long pause where I thought maybe I'd recaptured some of my sanity, "How long have you been in here?" the voice asked, reminding me of my insanity.

     10847 seconds... 10848...10849

     "So about 19 minutes," the voice calculated.

     Only 19 minutes... it feels like so much longer.

     The voice chuckled once, "That's the point, sweetheart." My mind snapped painfully to Tony. I wrenched my eyes closed and yanked violently at my wrists to bring physical pain to the pain I felt in my soul.

     Don't call me that.

     "Sorry," the voice was taken aback. It was silent for a long moment.

     How do you know me?

     There was another pause. The silence was threatening and set my whole body on edge.

     "How do you think?" the voice said finally.

     Great, I've gone crazy

     Another laugh echoed through the room. He cut off his laugh and threw us into silence again. This sudden silence was full of tension and anxiety. Before I could ask what was going on, the top of the box was torn off, flooding me with blinding light. I was thrown into a white blur of disorientation. My wrists and ankles were released and the box was flipped forward, sending me tumbling to the ground. While I was fumbling around on the ground, I felt a boot connect wth my stomach. The room was filled with a cacophony of overwhelming sounds. I closed my eyes against the light and sound and braced for another kick.