lights out

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as i walked out of the office that night,  i couldn’t for the life of me tell you what i was thinking about.  i’m guessing that it was about my upcoming plans for the weekend.  who i had to call, who i had to visit, and when i had to work; but i couldn’t tell you for sure.

i had left the office late so many times that year and had gotten into the habit of not checking out the parking lot before exiting the building.  The back door, like every door in the building, automatically locks as you leave and the key card to get back in was buried deep within my wallet. 

to gain entrance into the office, i would just swipe my wallet by the sensor as i entered the building.  i never really thought about having to get back into the building quickly and never realized that this would be hard to do with my wallet in my pocket.  therefore, precautions weren’t taken.

if i could have wished for anything that night, it would have been that i had thought about that before hand.

as i took my second step from the door i can remember hearing the lock of the door automatically fall into it’s place, securing the building then nothing but blinding white pain firing across the right side of my face. 

my vision was quickly debilitated by a hazy grey fuzziness and within seconds, all sight had left my eyes.

explosive blasts of pain began to pepper the right side of my body.  i quickly rolled my body to left trying to shield from the violent fury of this unseen force, and for a second, it stopped.

i still couldn’t see very well but the hazy fuzz was beginning to lift.  i heard a voice and all i could make out was “wallet”.  then, the painful jabs to my back and kidneys resumed like a unrelenting jackhammer.  pain was shooting from everywhere and i truly thought that if this attacker kept up the brute force assault for any moment longer, he would surely kick right through me leaving nothing but giant cartoon holes punching through my chest.

“my pocket….” i managed to gasp through broken breathe.  all of the air had been beaten from my lungs. 

i felt hands fumbling through my jacket pockets, then they moved on to my pant pockets.  the last pocket checked was the one with the wallet, the score if you will.  there was a moment of calm just then and i thought my attacker had left.   that’s when i felt my wallet hit the back of my head.  i flinched like a dog being swatted for eating off the dinner table and i heard the attacker laugh in triumph,  and then like that, i was alone.

i slowly rolled back to my right and ended up on my back.  pain shot through my beaten frame as i made this simple basic manoeuvre.  i slowly began to regain my normal breathing rate and tried to comprehend what had just happened to me.

i opened my eyes and tried to get them to focus, and after a few seconds, the haze was completely gone.  I looked up to the sky.  the antenna on the top of the building appeared grotesquely huge and seemed to be on the verge of tipping over and knocking the moon right out of the sky.  as the tears began to fill my eyes, my vision began to play tricks on me again and for a moment, it was like the sky was filed with all these new undiscovered planets that seemed to float in place as if held by a thin line.

i felt lucky to be alive and the same time, completely and utterly empty……

…….and it was at that time that my attacker decided to return…….

…..it was at that time when my nightmare truly began…..

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