Cold, invisible fingers wrap around my bare arms.

I try to blink away the inky veil in front of me.

I feel a warmth crawl down my leg and onto the rocky ground beneath me.

 

I try to move as an agonizing scream ushers forth from my lungs

And then silence as it wafts up toward the daylight peering in from above.

My surroundings press in around me.

 

The reality crushes me as I force my mind awake from unconsciousness.

He pushed me and he has left me.

The man I love has abandoned me to a cruel end.

 

A romantic hike during my dream vacation and it was all a lie.

He fooled me and I allowed it.

And now I will die for my stupidity.

 

He wanted to explore somewhere no one else had been.

He talked me into following him deep into the forest.

No one comes this way. No one will find me.

 

A vise restricts my throat as a sob pushes through.

I want to live. I am alive and I want to live.

Hopelessness washes over me as my heart pounds in my ears.

 

I see the sun through the trees at the opening to the pit above me.

Life continues unaware that I am helpless.

I can do nothing to save myself; all is lost.

 

As my eyes adjust to the blackness, I can see the blood pouring from my wounds.

My leg lays at an unnatural angle and the pain radiates through my entire body.

I take a breath and wish it all away, but it remains unchanged.

 

I am growing tired now; my life leaks from me and pools in the dirt.

The ground laps it up greedily.

I cannot stop it. I am helpless.

 

I no longer fight against the weight of my eyelids and let them close.

I slump back against the wall of the pit.

I breathe out and let the pit swallow me.

 

-Diana Kristine