Forsaken
Dedicated to John Petrucci

As I slowly regained consciousness, I could hear the footsteps and the yells of the men outside. It was dark out, and I could hear the rain hammering against the walls. My head was killing me. I felt as though I had been thrown through a brick wall. The pounding. It started in the back of my head and slowly worked its way around to the front. What the hell happened? I thought to myself. I tried to remember what had happened, but nothing came to me.

As I reached up to rub the back of my head, something stopped my hand. I felt the cold, metal cuffs around my wrists that were attached to the wall. What the hell? I thought again. I pulled my self up so that my back was flat against the wall and looked around. I was in a small, cold, stone room. My hands were chained to a wall, and I couldn’t move. There was no light, just a faint haze coming from outside. I tried again to recall the events of the day that could have lead to this, but the pounding in my head blocked out any sort of memory.

I leaned my head against the hard wall, and closed my eyes. My name is Edward, I thought. I have two brothers and two sisters. I continued to try and recall basic facts about my life, hoping that it would stir up the lost memories from this evening.

Suddenly, I heard a noise. I turned my head towards the small window in the wall. I could barely see the silhouette of a woman, crouching by the window.

“Damn”, she whispered softly. She stood up, brushed her self off, and looked out the window. “Damn bastards”, she whispered again.

As my eyes began to adjust to the dark, I could start to pick out small features of this woman. She was slender, with long hair that was wet from the rain. Did she climb through the window? I thought to myself. She continued to stare out the window, her back towards me.

Quietly, she began to laugh to herself, “I am in so much trouble”. She continued to laugh, unaware of my presence.