Trapped

Trapped. N.d. Photograph. New York. Daring to Hope. Web. <http://melissaspoelstra.com/trapped/>.

The man was awakened by the sound of his bedroom door creaking open.

After a brief moment of indistinct mutters a calm female voice said, “He’s here.” Another woman rushed into the room and upon sight of the man, let out a paralyzing cry. The woman rushed towards the man and collapsed next to the bed. Tears streaming down her face, she pressed her head on her man’s chest. “No, no, no,” she whimpered. The man recognized her by the distinct smell of her perfume, and was comforted by her presence. He tried opening his eyes, which he felt were oddly stiff. He couldn’t open his eyes. He tried moving his eyes in order to find any source of light in the room, but they didn’t respond. “I’m sorry miss, but you must leave now. We have a doctor coming in to evaluate his current condition,” the woman, who the man now presumed to be the nurse, said. The woman got up with her fingers still lingering along the man’s lifeless body. “Wait, what condition?” the man was on the verge of saying, until he came to a shocking realization. He was incapable of speaking. He tried to make himself utter some words, any words, but realized that he wasn’t capable of doing so in any way. It was like trying to breathe underwater, impossible.

The door closed and the room was filled with an uncanny silence, only to be broken by the raindrops hammering against the window of the ocean-side hospital. An immediate feeling of fear began to creep over the man’s body. He tried to move, but he was bound to the bed, with no chance of moving. He was incapable of comprehending his current state. He felt as if he was lucid dreaming, only he wasn’t in control of anything, but merely his thoughts. Horrified by his condition, the man desperately sought answers for the many possible explanations for what had happened to him. In the midst of the man’s horror inspired pursuit for answers he sensed a quite irritable prickling feeling on the side of his body. He began to stretch out his right arm to the area of his body where he felt the itch. He had the impression that the itch was within arms reach and it was now a matter purely for his fingers to take care of. After some time, he felt that it was odd that he couldn’t feel anything around the area where he was convinced his fingers were. Suddenly the man felt as if his blood had turned to ice. A terrifying realization presented itself to him. He didn’t have his right arms nor did he have his fingers for it. A grim thought came across him. He desperately attempted to move any and all of his limbs, trying to sense any motion that would spare him from the impending feeling of utter terror he was about to experience. “Someone, please help me. I can’t move, I can’t speak, I can’t cry, I can’t scream, I can’t…” He said faintly, while hearing the sounds of the ocean waves crashing on the shore.

The room’s door was opened and the doctor accompanied by the nurse walked in. The doctor completed a swift evaluation on the man who was lying before him, wrapped in bandages. “What did the woman say about the option of euthanasia?” the doctor asked the nurse, while keeping his eyes on the clipboard in front of him. “She said that she doesn’t want him to live in this state,” the nurse replied. “Understandable… Well let’s go get the injection ready,” the doctor said languidly and left, accompanied by the nurse. “They’re talking as if I’m not here. No, I’m still here!” the man screamed in his head. He was left speechless, with no direction as to what to do next. After a few minutes, he felt that his body was uncomfortably laid out on the bed. His upper part was too heavy whereas the lower part of him was light as a feather. In an effort to try and somehow even out the weight, he tried move his legs, forgetting that they were no longer there. The man immediately noticed his mistake and again felt discomforted by the dreary reality he was facing. In order to keep his mind off of things, he decided to imagine a series of peaceful beach sounds. The next day veterinarian, Dr. Patterson came into the room where the injured dolphin from SeaWorld had been placed. In his hand he carried a lethal injection of barbiturates, which he would soon inject into the male dolphin after its trainer had given him permission to do so.