Rewind

Rewind

B. Case 

Abella sees the bullet as it moves towards her. She knew that should be impossible since the people who kidnapped her had blindfolded her but she could. She can feel it bury itself in her forehead, but she feels no pain. And then her body drops. She can still hear everything and this scared her. The man in charge, or at least who Abella thinks is in charge, shouts to get a body bag and clean up the mess. Abella takes a deep breath and tries to tell the men, who she can now fully see, that she’s still alive but her body doesn’t comply and she’s left in the hands of the men who ended her life.

She can feel the creep of strong hands as they wrap her up in a trash bag and sees the remorse in one of the henchman’s eyes. Silent screams echo in her mind as they throw her into a hole and she watches as the men go, leaving the one behind with tears streaming down his face.

“I’m sorry”: a whispered apology that becomes empty when the nameless man throws dirt on top of her. 

 Abella screams and cries until the voice in her head crackles and her throat burns as if she has actually been screaming. Alone in the darkness of her mind, Abella thinks about the life that has been rived from her. She thinks about all the tales that say your life flashes before your eyes when you die and how that is the farthest from the truth. She thinks about the Bible and realizes that she won’t be going to heaven. Abella lets out a shuddering sob when she thinks: maybe this is hell. A way to drive those who have done horrible deeds to insanity with the silence of the grave.

Time passes slowly for Abella. Minutes turn to hours. Hours turn into days. She runs out of things to think about and turns her focus on remembering what the sun looks like or how the rain feels on her bare skin. Her brother’s voice echoes in her ears as she remembers how it felt to hold him in her arms. But now the voice sounds warped, too deep and aged with time to be her brother’s. She dismisses it as her memories fading…but the shiver that creeps up Abella’s spine tells her differently.

“Abella? Abella!” it rasps. “Abella!”

The voice grows louder and she tries unsuccessfully to block it out. It goes on and on, leaving Abella a sobbing mess. And then it stops.

In place of the noise, pictures start to flash in her mind. It starts with her kidnapping and leads up to the moment of her burial but then it is shown again. Instead of being kidnapped, though, she is able to make it home and see her family.

“Shall we try again?” a voice whispers behind her.

And then she wakes up gasping, drenched in sweat in her bedroom.