Vipers

As I opened my eyes, I realized my whole fucking world had been turned upside down.

Literally.

I had been strung upside down, over a pit of  hissing, slithering, vipers.

It was hard to push out any sort of thought or escape plan as the blood rushed to my head.

The veins and muscles bulged from my skull.

I must have been there for hours because I couldn't quite focus.

My eyes created a gloss, creating a mist that fell to the snakes who writhed at my pain.

I tried to focus on my surroundings.

I wriggled my feet and hands, giving myself rope burn around my wrists.

I had to sit up, before my head popped like a god damn balloon.

I tried to swing back and forth to give me some leverage, but the muscles in my stomach weren't tight enough to help.

I knew I should have fucking exercised more.

I did my best to remember previous events but the only thought in my head were these snakes that viciously pit themselves against one another.

For a moment I could swear one was staring at me.

Trying to connect.

My mouth was dry and swollen as a I choked on a balled up rag that tasted like gasoline.

I didn't imagine my life would end this way.

I also didn't imagine my life to begin the way it had either, so I suppose this was a fitting end.

My stomach screamed bloody murder, while my throat began to close up.

Anxiety was one of my strong suits, but somehow I had actually felt at peace.

Maybe it was the circumstance I was in.

Or the memory of my father telling me I needed to be stronger.

But I had made peace with the situation.

And had hoped, what was to follow, would not be prolonged.

That someone out there would be getting satisfaction from my pain and suffering.

That the vipers would be free.

That the venom would be a quick finish.

I heard a beam above me crack, as my body jerked closer to the pit.

A bomb must have gone off because the entire building shook and pounded.

The ceiling was definitely giving way.

My body swung like a pendulum until another crack of the beams shook me toward my death.

A glimpse of previous memories flashed before me but were interrupted by another rattle of the room.

Deathly screams filled the air, but I could not make out my location or theirs.

If I could cry blood, I would have.

My body, a flailing, useless artifact.

 Feeling the consequences of the last bomb and my body hanging by a thread from the ceiling, I tried to think of my greatest accomplishments.

Something to be remembered for.

The thing I was most proud of.

And all at once I remembered where I was and what had happened to me.

I was....