Stuck Here (Ziall)

Chapter 17

(Niall’s POV)

I didn’t know where I was. Well, I had been there before for only a brief moment. It was that room. The one with the four blank walls, but this time there was a television in the middle of the room, its screen showing nothing but a window of white noise. I stepped closer to it and it was like my footstep changed the channel. On the screen, there was a pathway, and someone’s heavy breaths were flowing out from the speakers. I decided to sit in front of the television as it grabbed my attention.

There was something familiar about the scene planned out in front of me on the television screen. The pathway was one that my mind had remembered. It’s winding path and old wooden fence, that looked as though a gust of wind could knock it down, made my heart plummet into my stomach. It was the park.

“There he is. Just go talk to him. He’ll listen. He’s such a nice boy. A very nice, nice boy.”

That deep, throaty voice ran through my body and the television showed the next seen. It was as though the footage played through a camera behind the eyes of whoever was talking, which in that case I believed it to be Mr. Tanner. He was there that day at the park. The camera followed his eyesight down to his dog at his side and then up at me in front of him. That was when I saw myself look up and I knew at that point I had sealed my death sentence.

I saw the question mark plastered on my face. At the time I didn’t recognize Mr. Tanner’s face. I couldn’t think of his name. He had been gone for a while from school and I guess I just ignored his longing stares, ultimately forgetting that he really even existed. How very wrong of me.  I continued to stare at the television as the rest of my death played out on screen. I wanted to throw up. I was so stupid. So. So. SO STUPID!

 

“What a nice dog you have here, sir.” My past self said, kneeling down to pet the friendly looking dog. I shouldn’t have done that. He warned me that the dog would jump, and that was just what the dog did. She jumped and I saw my body fall back, catching itself on that old wooden fence. It looked as though I was in the clear, but the camera moved close, almost directly in my face.

“I- I remember this.” I muttered to myself. The room felt like it was getting smaller around me. “Please don’t….” I said to the television as Mr. Tanner got closer and pushed me back, breaking the fence. I then watched my body fall, tumble down the ravine. Sickening cracks and thuds echoed out of the television speakers. I cringed each time I hit the ground until my body came to a stop and I knew I was done for. That was the end of my memories from my death, but the scene still had more to unfold.

“Oh, no. No. No.” Mr. Tanner shook his head back and forth and the screen followed his movements. “I couldn’t have him. No. No. No.” I watched the screen closely and it moved to just the edge of the ravine, looking down upon my muddied corpse. That was when I lost it. I gagged and fell to the palms of my hands and emptied the contents of my apparently full stomach onto the ground next to me. I looked up back to the screen, wiping my mouth and watching the last bits of film play.

There it was. My necklace was in Mr. Tanner’s shaking hand. He stood over my body, holding my most precious object in his greedy hand. For a moment, the screen watched over my body and a thunderclap rolled through the speakers, successfully ending the short film and my time in the room.