Refuge
by Ava Barez

          I don't know how I got there. How I came to be surrounded by so much darkness. Whatever light was present was glimmering away high above. The air was as still as air could possibly be, almost suffocating. The deep green mangled rooted trees surrounding me reached up endlessly towards the distant sparkling. The silence was so heavy that it took over me, almost causing my eardrums to burst. Looking around, there was nothing familiar. Just as I'd taken in my surroundings me I heard rustling. A rustling that produced intense anxiety that took over. Without thinking I knew all I could do was run. I ran as fast as my legs would take me until I saw the well. A deep, grey ancient well covered in overgrown ivy. My only choice was to jump in and let myself fall into the depths of the well filled with stagnant water.
          I couldn't breathe. All the air I took in when I was jumping into the well wasn't leaving my body and everything inside was weighing me down. The small pocket of light from above began to flicker and fade, slowly becoming a distant memory. The well's heavy stonewalls seemed to be closing in, suffocating me further and further. I hoped that they would swallow me whole so I could just disappear, but then voices shattered my thoughts. Whoever was out there was getting closer. The voices sounded strangely familiar, but I couldn't figure out who they belonged to. The mere thought made my stomach clench; it felt as if my insides were going to be torn apart. The rustling up, out and above broke through, but somewhere a calming repetitive hum began to quiet all the chaos; the voices began to fade allowing the ringing to take over. The hum was strangely soothing and I began to accept the darkness that filled the well, hoping it would keep me safe, but in the seconds that followed all those feelings of invulnerability disappeared and the humming began to fade into a disconcerting howl. As the howl began to take over I felt all I could do was surrender myself.