Confined

Ria stepped into the room quietly, leaving the darkening outside for the old, stuffy dorm room nearly empty of furniture brought on from the absence of money. Rebecca sat at her hand-me-down desk in the corner typing vigorously on her laptop, only stopping to turn in her seat and greet the girl as she set her things down on the couch parallel to the desk.
“What took so long?” Rebecca questioned, watching as Ria walked casually towards the kitchen left of the desk and grabbed a drink from the fridge, answering as she walked, “Sorry, my class ran late.” She returned to the living room and stood behind Rebecca, looking over her shoulder at the English paper she was in the middle of typing, despite the fact that it was due tomorrow morning.
“It doesn’t matter, the point is that you’re here,” Rebecca replied with a smile, turning back to the laptop and continuing where she’d left off mid-sentence. Ria, frowning slightly, set her drink down on the desk next to the laptop and said uncertainly, “So, we’re still going to the show tonight?” Though she’d tried hard to mask it, the fear was still noticeable in her voice.
“Of course we’re still going!” Rebecca answered in an obvious and almost annoyed tone, not looking from her laptop screen as she typed away, desperately trying to meet the deadline. Ria knew Rebecca had been planning on going to this for weeks but now that it was actually the night of the event, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. “Practically all my favorite bands are playing, I wouldn’t miss this for anything!” Rebecca insisted after a few seconds of silence, pausing only from her typing to take a sip of Ria’s drink.
“And you’re not scared of...” Ria spoke timidly before her voice faded away, not wanting to even think about what she was having to remind Rebecca of. There was only a moment’s pause between them before the other girl answered in a firm voice, “He doesn’t control me, Ria.” Both of them remained in an uncomfortable silence afterwards, Ria watching with an ever-growing feeling of anxiety as Rebecca rushed to write her paper in the small amount of time they had before it was time to leave for the show.
Ria’s phone ringing suddenly finally broke the silence, and she pulled it from her the pocket of her jeans and answered it, hearing her mother’s voice on the other line. “I remember you mentioning something about going out tonight,” She began, and Ria listened to the worry in her voice. “But I just heard there’s a big storm headed your way. It seems pretty dangerous, and I don’t want you and Rebecca being out in the middle of it.”
“Oh alright, thanks for letting me know,” Ria answered before hanging up, secretly relieved that her mother had insisted they stay home instead of going to the show. With a sigh she put her phone back in her pocket and looked towards Rebecca saying, “See, he’s already trying to stop us, and we haven’t even left yet...”
The other girl turned from her laptop again, looking back at Ria and replying, “I can’t be controlled like this anymore. Every time I try to go somewhere, I’m stopped somehow.” She spun back in her seat, saving what she’d completed of her paper and turning off her laptop, resolving the fact that it was impossible to finish her assignment now, and that she could complete it tomorrow before class. Once the laptop screen had gone blank, signaling that it had turned off, she stood and finished with a determined tone: “I can’t live like this anymore.”
A white flash of lightning, then a loud crack of thunder rippled angrily though the dark dorm room followed by a gust of strong wind then the first of the rain beating harshly against the windows, signifying the beginning of the storm. As a result, the dim lights around them flickered on and off for a second, before eventually giving up and going out completely. Ria’s eyes fell to the floor as Rebecca grabbed her coat from where she’d thrown in on the couch and slipped it on quickly. She collected her cell phone, some money to get into the venue the show was held in, and her car keys, then once she had successfully persuaded Ria to grab her coat, the two of them were out the front door and walking in the pouring rain to Rebecca’s car.
“Oh my god,” Ria yelled frantically, having reached the old vehicle waiting in the parking lot seconds before Rebecca only to discover that the entire exterior of the small black car was marred with long, angry scratch marks. Any other pair of college students would have just assumed it had been a prank by fellow peers, but neither Ria nor Rebecca had a doubt about the true source of the damage. Once Rebecca realized the extent of the destruction of what had happened, she checked to see that her tires had been slashed as well, preventing her from leaving for the show.
Ria stepped back, pulling Rebecca with her and shaking her head as she murmured, “He really doesn’t want us to go tonight, Rebecca, please let’s just stay home! There will be other concerts.” But despite her desperate pleas for them to just remain in the dorm where it was safe, Rebecca pulled her arm from Ria’s grasp feeling more determined than ever to defy the force that was working so hard to keep her from even leaving her home. For months she’d been kept, in some way, from being with her friends and her family or going to social events because something would come up to prevent her keeping her plans. She couldn’t stand being trapped like she was any more, Rebecca was going to the concert tonight even if was mainly in spite of whatever had been holding her back for so long.
“Don’t be such a wimp,” Rebecca protested finally, then after glaring at the girl for a second she turned and marched quickly in the pouring rain back to the dorm building behind them, ducking through the rain pouring from the extended eave of the roof and onto the small walkway wrapped around the building and all the doors to the dorms. She moved past her own room and onto the door next to their own, pausing in front of it before knocking loudly to get the residents attention. After a few seconds of waiting patiently, a man a year or two older than Rebecca and Ria answered the door, an excited smile breaking across his face when he realized who had knocked.
“Hi Eli, Are you going to that show tonight?” Rebecca grinned flirtatiously, using the fact that he harbored feelings for her to her advantage in hopes of achieving what she wanted. “Yeah I was just about to leave, why?” he replied curiously, glancing over at Ria who had stepped up behind Rebecca, shaking quietly due to the coldness of the rain as well as the terror brought on from the discovery they had made involving the car.
“Could Ria and I tag along with you? My car isn’t starting...” Rebecca questioned as she looked back at the girl trembling behind her, hoping that Eli wouldn’t take notice of the increasing fear on her face as she slowly realized that Rebecca was willing to put the man in the way of danger if it meant getting to the show. Eli seemed not to be aware of the uneasy mood surrounding the three of them, and nodded saying, “Yeah of course, just let me get my things.”
Eli closed the door leaving the two girls to wait under the eave of the roof, then a few minutes later returned with his coat on and his car keys in his hands. He coughed lightly as he locked the dorm room door, putting his hand to his chest as his face reddened and scrunched up in pain. Rebecca watched him closely as he straightened his back and walked towards his car in the parking lot, knowing full well what the cause of his sudden pain was.
Once the three stood next to the small old car Eli unlocked the back left door, motioning for the two girls to take their places in the back seat. They climbed in quickly out of the heavy rain and wind, Rebecca first then Ria second sitting behind the driver’s seat where Eli got in a second later, closing the door and cutting off the noise of the storm. Contrary to Rebecca’s prediction, when the man put the key in the ignition and turned it the car rumbled to life as it normally would have. She’d been half expecting this car as well to be useless in her goal to get to the show, but was pleasantly surprised. Happy with her plan so far, she smiled at Ria sitting next to her in the cramped back seat, though the girl didn’t return it, and whispered: “I told you, nothing controls my life.” The other girl glared at her as Rebecca shrugged out of her coat and stretched as best as she could in the small interior of the car. She could feel Eli’s eyes on her in the rearview mirror ahead of her as he drove to the location of the concert, but avoided his gaze and pulled out her phone to text people saying she was on her way. His face was red and sweaty, and the whole way they drove he was coughing fiercely into his hand.
“It’s to the left, right?” He asked as he pointed to an upcoming turn a few feet down the road, glancing back at Rebecca and awaiting an answer. She nodded her head, her eyes turning from her phone for only a second before she looked back down to finish replying to a text message she’d just received for someone already at the concert. There were very close to the venue the show was being held in, and just when Rebecca felt herself get excited about actually making it to the event like she’d planned, the car jerked to the left suddenly causing Ria to be thrown across her lap with a surprised scream. Once she had recovered from the shock of being thrown against the door of the car, Rebecca’s eyes flew to the driver’s seat where Eli was slumped over to the side shaking violently, his face covered in sweat and more red than it had been since they started driving.
“Eli!” She screamed frantically, trying to reach forward and grab his shoulder and shake him to snap him out of the seizure he was in, but Ria still laying across he lap blocked her from being able to lean forward enough to get to him and before she knew it there were bright headlights flooding into the dark car, nearly blinding her with their light, and then an ear-shattering crashing noise ripping through the vehicle, followed by the powerful impact of their car colliding head-on with another.

When Rebecca finally stirred from her lapse of unconsciousness, it was only the splitting pain in her head and the aches of her entire body that reminded her of what had happened to where she’d woken up like this. She remembered Eli, and the car racing and swerving dangerously forward, and another vehicle coming straight for them, and of course the impact. The car was dark and eerily still, but flashing lights of different colors flooded into the backseat where Rebecca lay, only exposing some of the after effects of the crash. She couldn’t see Eli in the mangled remains of the front seat of the small car, but could see billions of tiny shards of glass from the smashed in windshield as well as what appeared to be blood.
Rebecca had no idea how much time had passed by while she’s been unconscious due to the crash, but Ria was still in the car, only still unconscious as well Rebecca hoped, with a few gashes on her face and arms, drawing a fair amount of blood which leaked onto the material of the back seat and painted the shards of glass around her. She could see cop cars outside, barricading the lane where the crash had occurred as a crowd began to build, but the vehicle appeared untouched. She didn’t understand what was happening, and her mind felt way too clouded to make an attempt to figure it out. Instead, she forced open the back door of the car on her side and climbed out, dizzy and disoriented with everything that had occurred.
With the realization that she could walk, Rebecca snuck away from the crash scene as best as she could, hoping no one would spot her. She was cut up about the same as Ria had been, on her face and arms, and had spots of blood on her clothes. The rain had slowed to a light drizzle, and Rebecca walked away from the scene, looking up to the street signs to navigate her.
“It’s here somewhere…” She mumbled to herself, only vaguely caring if people noticed that not only was she covered in blood and cuts but was talking to herself as well. Rebecca wondered for a while, searching through the daze the crash had put her in, until finally she came upon what she’d been working towards. The venue where she show was being held had already opened its doors, and already Rebecca could hear music pouring from inside the small building. She didn’t care about Ria or Eli or the crash, she just wanted to go the she concert, to prove that she couldn’t be confined by this force. Regardless of the fact that everything tonight had been an attempt to keep her away, she stepped forward anyways to the ticket booth to purchase her way into the building.
Once past the small entrance which sold drinks and merchandise, the venue mainly consisted of a large dark room with tables against the stone walls and a long black stage in the very back. An enormous crowd was already gathering around different areas near the stage, collecting together with friends and sharing their excitement about the bands performing. When Rebecca entered the room through the heavy soundproof door, only the opening act was halfway through playing and she smiled as she navigated through the crowds of people all relatively her age, having been unable to see a show for so long.
The people around her cheered at the end of the song as Rebecca found a location that was ideal, close enough to see the bands performing and safely away from the mosh pits forming already to her left. The group of four men up on the stage began their next song, and Rebecca closed her eyes as she felt the bass from the speakers vibrate her whole body. It had been so long since she felt this free, the feeling was overwhelming her as the crowd around her cheered loudly and the music pounded.
“I’m free...” She murmured to herself as she stood in place, feeling the warmth of the cramped room surround her. It was hot in the venue as people slam danced around her, and only after Rebecca opened her eyes again did she realize that the incredible warmth was beginning to feel like it was suffocating her.
Slowly at first, she felt a tight grip form around her thin neck and before she knew it there was a painful pressure pushing down all around the area cutting off her ability to breathe. Rebecca struggled against the grip, gagging helplessly as the room became swelteringly hot and everything around began to spin. The crowd of people around her continued to dance or cheer, not even realizing her condition, and the music went on pounding through the amplifiers with no sympathy. Rebecca tried to pry at the clasp around her neck to no avail, and after choking helplessly in place for a matter of minutes she fell to her knees knowing that she had never really been free to begin with. Only after she left out only last defeated gasp did the immediate people around her notice the slumped over figure on the ground, though it was much too late to aid the cursed girl in any way.