A Path To
Freedom Rebecca
Chapter 6
the dungeon
I closed my eyes, and visualized a dark damp room, filled with decay and littered with hundreds of skeletons. I could imagine eyes peering from every corner of the room. I could sense the fear and sadness of the dying prisoners who filled the dungeon. I took a step forward, a loud crunch under my shoe finally made me open my eyes.
Expecting to see the crushed
skeleton of a comrade at my feet, I slowly lifted my boot and breathed a sigh
of relief at the sight of the big squished beetle. I peered into what I thought was an empty
cellar. The cement walls were covered
with a green fungus-like growth. The
clammy stone floor was slick with puddles of filthy water which had escaped the
desert by leaking in through one small heavily barred window. We were forced into the dark, wet cell.
Diana got to her feet and then helped me up.
"Look Devin, it’s Jonathan Fisher!" exclaimed Diana pointing to the previously unseen occupant of our dungeon quarters.
Indeed, she was right, it was Jonathan. His brown hair and tan skin showed him to be in fairly good condition as he sat against the hard wall, apparently sleeping. His right leg was held at a very odd angle.
I walked towards him. My footsteps echoed on the hard cement floor. Standing next to him, I jabbed Jonathon in the shoulder with my finger. When he didn't move I jabbed him again. This time Jonathan grunted and then fluttered his eyelashes as he woke up. He stretched, then looked at Diana and me. Jonathan appeared very confused, like we were strangers to him. And he glared as if to say, “How dare you wake me up?”
Finally Jonathan spoke, "Who are you?" he questioned in a raspy voice.
"Don't you remember me and Diana?" I asked.
But Jonathan looked as confused as ever. He seemed to search his memory for traces of Diana and I, but had no recollection.
"I don't know who you are at all," he replied.
"Do you know who you are?" asked Diana.
"I think my name is Shut-up Butthead because people keep shouting that at me. Jonathan replied. “What's your name?”
Diana and I tried to keep from cracking a grin but soon tears started streaming down our faces. Suddenly we burst out laughing. Jonathan looked at us as though we were crazy. We finally gained control of ourselves.
"Jonathan, your name is Jonathan! O.K.? …And my name is Devin…. And she is Diana… We are in a dungeon, in the middle of a desert, and in the middle of a war… You are one of the soldiers in this war… And we have to get out of here so we can save our country… You especially have to get out of here so you can see your wife and your two kids, Jake and Noel, who miss you a lot," I explained slowly to Jonathan.
But it was no use, Jonathan looked as confused as ever.
Diana pulled me into a corner to talk. "He obviously lost his memory during the explosions or some other trauma."
We turned to look at Jonathan, who was playing with his fingers. "I knew that, Diana! It was rather evident!" I told her.
"Well you sure didn't look like you knew. To change the subject, what's our plan to get out of here, wise guy?" Diana asked kind of bored.
"I don't know, I thought you had a plan." I told her.
"Well I thought you did, so what are we going to do now? There's a war going on out there and we’re stuck here in this dump. How in the world are we going to get out? It isn't like we have a shovel with a dirt floor so all we’d have to do is dig a tunnel!" yelled Diana.
"I know, I know. But the only way to get out is the way we got in, and that's going to be tricky. How can we escape without being noticed by the guards? They watch this place like hawks," I reminded Diana.
"So lets use that pea brained mind of yours combined with my strong intellect to think up a plan. O.K., Devin?" Diana smirked.
— © Rebecca
http://www.sfpnn.com/rebecca.htm