Tomorrow will mark a year since I had my stroke. It's an occasion that, according to my daughter, Ginny, I should view as important. But I've spent enough time staring at death; I don't want to think ... [+]
They're going to find us.
I hear them coming, though I can't see them.
I thought we had lost them-but they're still there.
Closer. Every step, closer.
I hear their voices, the scrape of their shoes, the sound of their bodies moving through the dark.
My leg burns. I know I have to ignore it.
If I don't breathe, it hurts.
If I breathe, it hurts even more.
The blood won't stop, but the fear-the fear weighs more than the pain.
Someone's hiding behind the boxes ahead.
Too obvious.
Too still.
There's no time to warn them.
No time to pray.
They're coming.
They laugh.
They laugh as they describe us.
They laugh at the terror in our eyes.
A sharp pain-
I can't scream.
I can't breathe.
The pain swallows me whole.
I see them.
The light blinds me.
Only shadows walking.
Keep walking, keep walking, I shout inside my head.
Maybe too loud.
Because they heard me.
Because they saw him.
They saw the man behind the boxes.
I know it's a man from his screams.
The sound of struggle fills the air.
I want to help him, but I can't move.
My mind is too busy fighting the pain.
It was only a blink. Just one.
And suddenly, more of them arrive.
I freeze.
I can't think.
I can't breathe.
Is my fear louder than they are?
They're searching for us.
They've found more.
I see it.
"Help! Help!"
That sound will follow me forever.
Every time I blink, I'll hear it.
My heart is sweating.
My body trembles.
My blood keeps moving, hot and heavy.
My pain grows louder.
I breathe in tiny gasps.
They can hear me.
I know they can.
They keep searching.
Every blink-more chaos.
More screams.
More bodies dragged away.
The voices blur into one endless noise.
Nothing makes sense anymore.
They're coming.
One of them is close.
Too close.
My leg knows it. The pain spikes.
My fear screams louder than I do.
I don't breathe.
As if that could hide me.
My body wants to run.
It won't move.
They saw me.
There's no escape.
They grab...