This is the result of me regarding the prompt "nonsense" of this month's Jello Forever challenge as a license to have some fun at the expense of Patrick Jane and any unsuspecting readers. Frankly, I enjoyed writing this little snippet.
Disclaimer: I'm counting on Santa. Until then, not mine.
"I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong." ~ Lemony Snicket (The Bad Beginning)
Scared to death, Patrick Jane slumps to the ground and squats in a corner of his small prison. Two minutes ago he started feeling claustrophobic because the walls, made of solid wood, seem hell-bent on crushing him. They are getting closer and closer, dwarfing the confined space more and more. It smells of rotten wood, but the piercing stench of urine also penetrates his nostrils.
How long is he already trapped in this nasty place – all alone, left in the lurch?
Will he ever see his friends again? He already misses them.
Do they know what happened to him?
Or do they not care?
Does he even mean anything to them?
All those questions are running through his mind, but he doesn't find any answers. Instead, the hunger he was able to ignore so far, becomes a very urgent need now.
Will he find anything eatable here?
As he shifts his weight to look for leftover candy in his pockets, the nauseating smell of urine hits him again and spoils his appetite.
What is he supposed to do now?
Until this morning, he felt strong. He believed that nobody and nothing was able to harm him. But now everything changed. He is vulnerable, lost and at the mercy of a dangerous lunatic. He can't remember shivering for another reason but coldness ever before, but now his body starts shaking uncontrollably.
Suddenly he terribly misses Teresa. Now he regrets teasing her this morning by hiding her favorite snack on a kitchen shelf so she was only able to see but not to reach it. Usually, the two of them are an unbeatable team and stick together through thick and thin. He can tell her everything and Teresa listens patiently. In her company he feels confident, but unfortunately she isn't here with him now. Despairingly he looks around as if searching for her, but he knows it is in vain. Nothing but old, plain blanks stare back at him.
The only way out is a small, skew hole in the wall across from him. But no, he certainly doesn't want to go there. He is too far from the ground and he suffers from vertigo.
Who knows what terrible things would happen to him if he tried to escape?
Tears start to well in his eyes as he becomes aware of the hopelessness of the situation and they slowly find their way down his cheeks. He tries to stop crying because he doesn't like to show weakness, but then he realizes that nobody will see those tears anyway. Nobody at all. He is still alone and abandoned in his tiny prison.
From outside he hears a man shouting. And then a boy screams. Does John torture him again? Patrick doesn't even want to think about this.
There is laughter.
Roaring laughter.
And then, another agonizing scream.
The noise invades Patrick's ears, occupies his mind and frightens him even more than he already is. Silently and motionlessly he sits on the floor. He wants to think, wants to find a solution to his dilemma, but he isn't able to. His brain is filled with sheer panic.
Are this ghosts, which paint shadowy patterns on his surrounding?
Are they here to get him?
The shadows deform, spread out. They are getting closer, then they take a step back again. They want to taunt him, make plans how to kill him best. One after the other the ghosts leave their hiding places and Patrick's heart races.
How many people were trapped in this clink before?
And... how many of them survived?
The ever-present smell of urine indicates that they suffered agonies as well. He cries again - silently, so nobody outside can hear him. The tears tickle his cheeks, but he is too petrified to wipe them away. The darkness assails him.
Are the walls moving again?
And then he catches his breath: There is a movement near the hole in the wall. Patrick winces. Something is there.
What is it?
Will this be his end?
The pane-less window is now partly blanketed by blackness, allowing only a few rays of light in. The increasing darkness frightens him just as much as the ghosts. He notices a globular-shaped something at the exit, but it takes a while until he is able to grasp what exactly is in front of him.
Once he is able to see, he knows that now everything is over...
"Time to go home, Patrick. You know your dad becomes angry when dinner isn't ready in time."
Amelia Jane reaches out to help her six-year-old son down his favorite playground equipment – a wooden tower with a ladder on one side. Patrick hugs his mother while his faithful Labrador Teresa excitedly jumps up and down and licks his hands.
The boy cheerfully waves goodbye to his buddies, but then grips his mother's hand when John, a second-grader and notorious rowdy, looks askance at him. Suddenly Patrick's mother pointedly sniffs and wrinkles her nose.
"Honey, did you wet your pants?"
Oops.
In the future, Patrick promises himself, he will refrain from real-life special effects and make sure that his pretend adventures really only happen in his mind.