Within the walls

She woke up. But there was something amiss. It was all light when she had gone to sleep but now it was charcoal-dark.  Almost too dark. Eerie. It must have been a long nap otherwise how can a 3 o'clock afternoon suddenly turn into 12 o' clock dreary nightlike. It certainly didn't feel long though.  Must be one of those days she had fallen on her bed after incessant all-nighters without realizing what they were doing to her body.  She tried to look for the switch to light the room but couldn't find it. Even tried grabbing her glasses from the side-table but  the table was not within her reach either. Everything was out-of-place. Only thing she was sure of was the hard floor she was on. With every passing moment it seemed more and more like a ground than her bed. 

What was happening? She shouted, yelled but the energy seemed to disappear in the dark. There was no one that could hear her. She felt a chill in her bones. What she had only heard of was finally taking over her body. She had survived the attacks in Syria, Iraq and this was scaring her! She got up gathering all what she had. She tried to find the walls of the room. How can there be nothing to guide her? This was far above mysterious. It was turning into horrid.  She would throw her hands around to find things but they would only beat down the air. She was not able to hold on to anything. 

Out of desperation, she ran in the dark just so she may hit against a solid thing. Was she even in a room she was still baffled. If she had been outside, she could have easily spotted the north-star. She was good at recognising direction. But with no moon no sun no light she had given up on looking for the star. She must be going crazy. But there was no time to think of that until she had found a real solid ground for time and space simultaneously. Thank God... she ran into a wall. Though she hit it face up but the adrenaline rush was too high to notice that.

"Finally!", she sighed. "So it must be some room." she took a long deep breath. 

She started running along the wall to find a window while one hand touched the wall at all times. If not a window there has to be a door. 

She started counting the ninety-degrees turn. Four points. So it had to be a room. She still hadn't found her portal so she kept counting. Fifteen... Sixteen... Seventeen.... 

"How can this be? What kind of a room is this? Am I looping around?"

There was no door or anything that could provide her access out of the place. The fear of incomprehensible made her blood pump up and down fast. She could literally hear it. With no interference, no clink-clank from surrounding, no ruffle of leaves, no chirp of bird, no traffic outside, her heartbeat and the bloodrush were the only thing she could listen to. The air was falling short for her to breathe. The fright of the situation was contributing significantly. She was losing her breath and could feel the drops of sweat dripping along the length of her body. 

"Was it even a room?", she was exasperated. The waves of fear were hitting more continually. 

She forced herself to remember what she could of the last time she was sure. This did feel flukey but all the physiological implications were real. May be she was kidnapped and put in a dungeon. But she could distinctly remember she had come home from work and in no time, she was under blankets. Did something happen after that?  She leapt against the wall may be she could befall it. But it was a vain attempt. 

She was in a room without any entry. How could this be possible? Did someone build a room around her while she was sleeping? Did she sleep that long? Never a claustrophobic she was feeling it singing into her. She was buried may be. Did she die? There were so many thoughts each making her more and more nauseated. The air grew thinner and her breaths were intermittent. Now the darkness also started growing down on her. She was certainly going to succumb. Anticipating a terrible end she gave herself the last try and started pushing the wall. 

"You have to budge. No you have to. Move. Please help. Please ... ", she murmured. The tears wouldn't stop. "There is no other way... Please..." and she was out of air. 

That's when she felt a little twitch in her leg. There was a clear disjunct between her leg and the twitching. And she woke up in sweats drenched from top to bottom.

Based on the quote -  All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.                                                                                       - Edgar Allen Poe.