Part 1

Blinding whiteness and an incredibly painful pounding in my head was the only awareness that I had. I couldn't possibly say for how long I was subjected to that torture - my gage of passing time was non-existent. It could have been seconds, hours, days even. For me, it felt like an eternity of pain.

I saw flashes of moments I assumed were my memories, but they were always too rapid for me to concentrate on. A dull green blur, something dark, then blinding whiteness again.

It was all in my mind, at least I hoped it was. My retinas surely would have burnt out if I'd actually seen this light. Maybe they had, but I had no way of knowing for sure. I thought that I'd been getting used to it because I didn't feel as sore as I had before. It was possible that I had lost my mind, as I began to realise that the brightness was dimming and the pain diminishing.

***

A hand belonging to the young man lying in the steel framed bed twitched. Nobody present noticed as they lay asleep in identical beds in rows around him. They too were unwanted and desperate, choosing this as their promising escape.

***

My eyes fluttered open, I blinked several times before I could see anything. I felt that I was lying in a bed – an uncomfortable one at that. I raised a hand to test my vision. There was something blurred on it. I tried moving my hand further away then closer again to adjust my focus. Just as it was becoming clearer, I heard a noise to my left and turned sharply to face it.