I threw my eyes open only to be greeted by the surrounding darkness. It was so dark that my eyes might as well have remained closed. I found breathing to be a difficult task. This was partly due to the lack of air around me and the growing panic that had quickly engulfed me. I gasped and wheezed in my pathetic attempts at filling my lungs with more air. My eyes moved wildly in a search for ay source of light and any indication of where I was. It didn't take but a few seconds for me to realize that I was lying flat on my back. But where I lay was at the moment a mystery to me. My legs were stiff as they stretched out before me and my arms lay crossed over my chest. As I moved my arms off of my chest I realized that I was tightly enclosed within some sort of box. Along the walls of this small box my fingers ran across soft padded material. My fingertips determined that quilted into this material was a pattern of diamond shapes. This material seemed so elegant and it lined, as far as I could tell, every wall and the bottom of the box but not on the ceiling.
Echoing inside my chest and my ears was the continuous and very frequent pounding of my own heart. I had held my breath for a moment to help conserve the air of the box. I found myself to be in abundance of panic as I reached up with both hands. My hands stretched out above my head and pressed against the low ceiling of this box. I no sooner concluded that this ceiling was actually a lid to the box whence I lay. This lid no doubt was hinged. Again I pressed against the lid but with more force. However this did no good in moving this wooden covering. Still again I attempted at making it budge. I feared then that something on the outside was blocking the lid from opening. Enclosing both hands into fists I then pounded on the lid above me in hopes that another person was near by. I pounded and pounded harder still, causing great pain in my hands.
It was then when I decided that in order to be really heard I needed to combine my pounding with the sound of my own voice. Moving my jaw I then let my mouth fall open. At first in my attempt to let out a shriek my voice had failed to come forth. I closed my mouth and held my breath before I tried again. Opening my mouth once more I let my trapped voice explode in a surely deafening yell. Banging my fists hard against the wooden lid and shouting for help, I continued in this manner until my hands grew numb and my voice became raw. My eyes were about to close again after using up most of the remaining little air when my ears suddenly picked up sounds from outside of my box. I lay still, now unable to move and feeling dizzy, and then I listened to the outward sounds. There were sounds of voices, although seemingly muffled, and there were sounds of what my oxygen deprived brain thought to have been scraping. In my stupor I continued to listen and then saw some light come in through tiny cracks of the box.
The lid of the box was then pulled open and air began to rush in. Above me I saw dirt being removed from around the sides of my box. I now was able to take in deep breaths of fresh air and my vision was beginning to clear as light surrounded me. Hands reached in the box and grabbed me, pulling me upright into a seated position. My eyes blinked as I tried to make sense of my new surroundings. My body felt weak and my head was still slightly dizzy as I sat propped up by the hands. The sun which was accompanied by a gentle breeze kissed my skin. Very near by but unseen I heard the twerping of birds. Before me I saw two unfamiliar faces looking at me full of concern, bewilderment, wonderment as well as other emotions. Those of the aforementioned were some of the same emotions that of which I experienced at the moment. I still was unable to fully make sense of the encompassing scenery and even the situation.
My chest rose and fell with ease now as I was able to breathe freely. I looked upon the two figures before me as they helped me up and out of the box and onto my feet on the solid ground. They spoke to me and got me to speak back in short and timidly quiet sentences to make sure that I was alright. They had me drape my arms around their shoulders and they held their arms around my back for support and the continued to talk to me as the three of us slowly moved forward. My legs felt painfully weak and they trembled with each step these men made me take. Still the unknown men spoke to me and questioned me whether I felt that I needed to stop and rest before moving forward some more. I quietly declined any offers of rest so we continued to trek forward still.
Soon we had traveled many and countless feet until we had reached a stone bench near a gated metal linked fence. There at the stone bench we stopped and the men instructed me to have a sit. As I did as I was told I looked towards the direction whence we had come. There came to my horror of the realization of this previously unknown location. Tombstones as well as numerous types of plants, many with flowers upon them, were scattered on the ground. There in the short distance were mounds of freshly dug up dirt. Surrounded by the dirt sat an open casket next to a now empty grave. At the time of my previous entrapment I had feared and tried to deny the idea that I was inside my own grave. I did not want to believe this to be true as I lay there struggling to achieve freedom from the box.
I began to lie down outstretched over the length of the bench not removing my eyes from the sight of my own newly unsealed grave. While lying still, once again with slight dizziness returning to my head, I started to ponder how and when I had managed to bring myself to become buried within that horrid casket. How could such a mistake of determining my state of death be made by others? How could I have endured this premature burial without other realizing their mistake? What events had occurred to lead my friends and family to believe that I was in fact deceased? My mind was now swamped with such questions and thoughts before my eyes closed once again.
Once more my eyes had thrust open only to discover encircling darkness. Right away my heart began to race at such pace that I feared it flying through the walls of my chest. Panic overtook my body as once again I gasped and struggled to breathe. Pure silence enveloped me inside the darkness. I quickly learned that I was back in my original frightening position upon my back with my arms crossed and legs outstretched before me. I felt paralyzed as I lay there unable to think through the familiar and very fearful situation. This, I thought, was all too surreal. Had my unearthing only been imagined out of wishful thinking? Or had I merely been placed into yet another coffin in a different locale? Keeping my breath still inside of my chest I flung my arms upward toward the lid of the coffin. My fingers pressed against the smooth wood, pushing the lid up ever so slowly. The hinges of the lid produced an almost painful creaking that seemed to echo throughout the entirety of the surrounding room, or perhaps ghastly tomb, where the coffin rested. Upon hearing this creaking I paused and clutched my eyes closed tightly. It was unknown to me why I had been frightened by the sound.
A pain in my chest had formed right before I allowed myself to let in more air into my lungs. I had forgotten that I had been holding my breath this whole time. The previous bout of paralysis had overcome my body once more as my fears heightened. Within my ears I heard loud and rapid pounding. This pounding reminded me of that of someone rapping against the outside of the casket with a hammer. However I learned that this sound was only my beating heart. Surely, I thought to myself, that if someone was just outside the coffin right then, they too would have heard this pounding. I tried to steady my rapidly beating heart as well as my overactive nerves but to no such victory except only momentarily. Once more I held my breath, keeping my eyes closed to shield myself from the darkness; I attempted to push open the casket lid with my hands. That very same creaking occurred but pause I did not. My eyes remained tightly closed, preventing me from any gruesomely terrifying sight that may have been awaiting me.
In my mind as I ever so slowly nudged the lid open I pictured various scenes of Transylvania from centuries ago. Dark images of vampires creeping out from the depths of their coffins and arising into the darkness of the night swam through my vivid imagination. I pictured that at that given moment that I would appear in that same manner of those rising vampires. Visions of the like had often enticed me however at this moment they mainly made me ill. Slowly, possibly a little too slowly, the lid came open and I brought myself into sitting position. Even still my eyes were remaining closed. I still had refused to open them for I had not yet worked up the courage to gaze upon my surroundings.
The expectations that I had of what awaited me on the outside of the coffin were of very grim scenery. I envisioned an eerily quiet and, with exception for the casket and me, empty funeral parlor or perhaps some sort of stone-built burial tomb that stored other caskets which held the decayed remains of the deceased. Chills ran through my bones from these much imagined thoughts. Keeping one eye closed I cracked my other eye open to briefly survey the area before me. Sweet relief filled me after what I saw with that one open eye. My other eye opened and I continued surveying.
Both relief and now bewilderment ran through my body with what I saw. This casket was actually placed in a friendly and familiar setting much to my surprise and much opposing to my previous thoughts. I began to breathe steadily as my eyes peered throughout the lavish living room that I had treaded so many times prior to this occasion. Many a question had entered my brain whilst I sat there in my own coffin. These questions I found would go unanswered unless somebody upon whom I could ask came around into my presence.
There I sat in my casket, examining every precise detail as I thoroughly thought. Strangely and yet not so strangely I felt no need to leave the newfound comforts of this cozy casket. The very same material I had observed before was divinely padded, providing the softest plush cushion beneath me. It seemed to me that the longer I sat upon this cushioned material the more comfort I felt in it and that I found it harder to want to leave the coffin. As my fingers caressed the quilts within this material my ears had tuned into a new and quite sudden sound. Uplifting my head I drew my attention towards the direction of this sound. Somewhat quiet although just loud enough to spark my interest came the sound of low rumbling of some sort. There upon the wall nearest the coffin rested the large metallic decorative symbol that was most frequently used by me and my dear friend. To my eyes' surprise I took notice that this beloved symbol was about to drop downward off of the wall. Even much more to my eyes' surprise this metallic, and very possibly heavy symbol appeared as though it were to drop upon me. Surely it would have crushed me and left me to lose consciousness and even more dreadfully; my life. Fear drove me to want to protect myself. Any other person in my situation would have leapt out of the coffin but my own terror inside me, as well as the desire to stay amongst the comfort of the previously mentioned material, had prevented me from leaving. Foolishly I instead lunged my arms forward and up over my head in an ill-fated attempt at shielding my head and body from the falling symbol. This large metal symbol fell onto me at last, knocking me back down into the casket and leaving me with only darkness.
I sprang up fully seated upright in my bed feeling the warmth and wetness of fresh sweat escaping my pores. The light in my bed room was dim but still allowed me to be able to see. My heart was pounding quickly but a few deep breaths soon calmed its rapid rate. Upon the back of one hand I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Gazing at the nearby clock my eyes then focused on the time to learn that it was still far too early for this Finnish body of mine to rise for the day. At my bedside sat a small table cluttered with numerous empty bottles as well as one half empty bottle of my favorite beverage of choice; all of which I had left there from the night before. I knew then that as I sat gazing at these bottles that the contents of these very bottles had been the cause of the previous wildly frightening scenes I had recently endured. These scenes, I had to quietly explain to myself, were merely terrible nightmares and nothing more.