Illusions

It’s all an Illusion.

Trixie makes her way down the dark hallway the humidity; makes breathing difficult.  The screams of her friends echo through the surrounding walls. She is startled by her distorted reflection multiplied in shadows down the wall.  Instinctively she makes a sharp left as she attempts to recall the lay out of the building in her mind. 

The once familiar maze has her confused.  The darkness and smoke have created a parallel universe.  Do I go left or right she thinks to herself. Right. I’ll go right. That should lead down to the next hallway.

Stepping to the right, the floor gives out below her and she begins to fall. It's only an illusion she tells herself. The heat inside the building is overwhelming and she can feel the panic set in as the oxygen is slowly sucked out of the air. Count to ten she thinks.  Count slowly to ten then breathe. 

The walls begin to quickly close in. 

This is a nightmare.  I’m going to die inside my very own nightmare.  But it’s just an illusion.  It’s all an illusion. No! Panicking she screams, I have to get out of here. 

She begins to run, crossing the rickety bridge she slips, her hand getting tangled in the rope as her body hits the hard uneven wood below.  Her wrist snaps in a horrifying sound of bone snapping as an unsettling pain shoots through her left arm. 

I an attempt to untangle herself her body falls halfway into the water below the bridge and she finds herself half tangled in the rope and half tangled with a human body floating in the water.  Terrified she jerks her body to get away, pulling tighter on the rope and causing even more pain in her already mangled hand.

Soaked through to her skin the moisture starts to rise off her body in a deep humidity making it even more difficult to breathe.  She begins to suffocate, and reminds herself again to breathe.

If I can just stay calm, I will find my way out of here, I just have to remember this is all an illusion.

I have to go.  I have to get up and get out of here or I’m not going to make it.

Although the screams are becoming more distant, she can still hear them echoing through the walls around her.

A mixture of pain and terror set in causing adrenaline to go rushing through her body.  In one bold move she is off.  Bolting down the hallways.  She makes her way through the maze like structure with ease as though in that moment she could clearly recall every inch of the floor plan.  Then the realization hits. She’s made a wrong and possibly fatal turn. She continues to move forward acknowledging that the floor has given way to tracks, and she can feel the rocks shifting beneath her feet. 

The whistle from the train cuts sharply across the air as its one headlight shining brightly down the dark tunnel blinds her.  She screams and as the train passes through her, her entire body goes limp.  

She can see the dark smoke starting to circulate through the dark tunnel; laying mangled on the tracks she picks up her body with her one good arm, heaving for air.  Smoke fills her lungs as she begins to cough and then instantly falls limp.

I refuse to give up she thinks to herself, I will not die like this.  There should be an emergency exit just a little further up the tunnel.

She pulls her broken body off the ground and slowly limps towards the exit.  Her limp body gives way to a quick walk and before she even realizes it, she’s running again at full speed.  Acknowledging the flickering red light above the door she hits the door without slowing down, and without hitting the handle to let her out, crushing her already broken hand against the burning metal door.  As she pushes on the metal lever she feels blisters bubbling on her skin. As she walks through the emergency exit she find herself trapped in a wall of flames.

Her flesh starts to burn, blisters form on the surface of her skin as she struggles to find the door. Gaining her balance she uses all her weight to push through the second door.  She steps into a room surrounded by mirrors, she feels the cold water from the sprinkler system extinguishing the flames, and as the shock begins to set in, her charred reflection stares back at her from the mirror.  Her blistered lips look oddly familiar as they mouth; this is all an illusion.   The salt from her tears burns at her face as she pushes desperately at the mirrors searching for the one that will give way to the outside.  

As she stumbles out of the funhouse, a wave of oxygen washes over her, The humid 90 degree air is oddly cool against the burns festering on her body.  The spotlights from the police cars are blinding as she begins to walk towards them.  There is so much noise but she can’t make out what anyone is saying.  She feels a searing pain tear through her chest.  Looking down she sees the blood pouring out of her.  A familiar face runs towards her out of the crowd as she Collapses.  Gasping for air she reminds herself, this is all an illusion.  Her body deflates as the familiar face screams out from the crowd. 

It’s not her.  She works here.  IT WASN’T HER! 

Paying no attention the police surround her body as the fireman moves in to extinguish what’s left of the flames.  After the fire has succeeded, the remains of the arsonist are found trapped inside the rotating room.

~Kandi Kirk