#4. My Last Breath

It all started with a dare amongst friends. It was meant to be innocent; harmless. It wasn’t their fault, at all.
At first, they started with small dares. You know, streak around the neighbourhood, piss on old Mrs. Perkins’ mailbox. Just funny things.
Matt, who had been humiliated by being dared to knock on his new girlfriend’s door, naked, wanted revenge on Zack. And, the only thing he could really think of, was to force Zack into the abandoned prison.
It was no secret that Zack feared that place. It sat on top of a hill, gated by wrought iron bars. It just terrified Zack.
And it took all four of the guys to drag Zack into the prison. He wouldn’t go on his own free-will. He would have preferred the penalty for not completing a dare, which was eating a tuna, ham, mayonnaise, and what-ever-else-you-could-find-in-the-house sandwich. But, Matt refused to let Zack off that easy.
Zack had been hopeful when they found the front door locked. The gates had been chained with a rusted padlock. Easy to break, but the front door was dead bolted.
Johnny had suggested they climb through a window, but felt stupid after looking up, and seeing the windows at least ten feet above their heads. Jimmy said he’d try the back door. No-one stopped him. Brian, who hadn’t said a word the entire way, just stared at something in the distance. Zack wasn’t really paying attention. He was scared, frozen to the spot.

Jimmy returned only minutes later, shaking his head. The back door had been locked as well.

‘Come with me.’ Brian said, stalking off in the direction he’d been staring at for almost five minutes. Matt gripped hold of Zack’s arm and dragged him around the building.
Brian led the way, stopping at a pair of wooden boards on the ground. Matt looked at him, wondering why the hell they’d stopped there.
Brian kicked one of the boards with the toe of his boot, stepping back when a rather large spider scurried away. Jimmy jumped back, and Zack tried to, but Matt held him there.
Brian kicked the other board, revealing a small passage way. The hole was dark, and impossible to see down.
‘Remember when that prisoner escaped in ’93? They never filled in the tunnel.’ Brian smiled, stepping on a smaller spider that crawled out.

‘Where does it lead to?’ Matt asked, trying to look down, but their only light source was a street light, a few meters away.

‘A cell.’ Brian answered simply, shrugging his shoulders.

‘Who’s going first?’ Johnny asked, eyeing the hole. Jimmy held his hands up, and walked backwards. He would have preferred being shot in the knee caps.

‘I’ll go.’ Matt said, handing Zack over to Brian like a child. Zack tried to free himself of Brian’s grip, but was unable to break the stronger mans grip.
Matt slipped down the hole, feet first, a yelp leaving his lips as he skidded down. There was a thump then a mumbled from Matt only seconds later.
‘Whoever the dude was, he wasn’t very practical with this. This things in a fuckin’ “V”.’ Matt complained, as he looked up. The hole wasn’t all that wide, and he felt cramped in.
‘You’re gonna have to wait until I get out. There’s no way more than one of us is going to fit.’ Matt called back, before reaching up above him. There were slight indents in the dirt wall surrounding him, almost like a ladder.
While Matt made his way up into the prison, Zack was pleading with Brian, nearly on the verge of tears.

‘Please, Brian. You know I hate this place.’ He whispered, trying to pull the older mans hands from his arm.
Brian felt bad for Zack, but not as bad as he would when Matt knocked him out for letting Zack go.

‘Sorry, Z.’ Brian frowned.
Matt gave a yell down the tunnel, letting them know it was okay for the next person to go.
‘You next.’ Brian said to Zack, pushing him forward. Zack just dug his heels into the ground, refusing to go any further.

‘Hurry up! It’s creepy in here!’ Matt yelled, his voice echoing. Zack shivered, and fought a little more.

‘Zack won’t go!’ Brian yelled, struggling to hold onto the smaller man. Johnny had grabbed hold of Zack, too, trying to push him. Jimmy, who didn’t want to be anywhere near that hole, stood guard, incase Zack managed to make it passed the other two.

‘Shove him down!’ Matt yelled again, stepping on about twenty spiders as he stepped away from the hole. The place was just full of them. Webs plastered the cell doors, like a new sort of plaster.
It took both Brian and Johnny to get Zack into the hole, and that only happened because Zack tripped, and fell down. Brian was down only seconds after, worried that Zack had snapped his neck, or broken a leg. Though, he’d had only grazed his arm.
And, Matt was right. There was really no space for two people. Brian was still half in the outwards tunnel, while Zack was standing in the in tunnel.
Zack wasn’t moving. His heart was pounding far too hard in his chest, and he wasn’t even technically in the building he feared so much.

‘Zack, just go. The sooner we get in, the sooner we leave.’ Brian whispered, his back already cramping from the tiny space he was in.
Zack looked up, his hands shaking. It took him a moment, but he finally reached up, gripping into the dirt wall. Brian wasn’t far behind him, waiting until Zack was at least half way up before making his climb.
By the time Brian had made it from the tunnel, Zack was already cowering in the corner, with Matt sitting across from him.
Johnny was with them only minutes later, finding it easier than everyone else, since he was shorter, and was able to fit in the hole nicely.

‘Jim isn’t comin’. He’s freakin’ out up there.’ Johnny said as he climbed out. Jimmy’s fear of spiders was as well known as Zack’s fear of the prison. And that annoyed him. He was forced into his fear, while Jimmy was allowed to sit back.

‘Lets explore!’ Matt grinned, gripping Zack’s arm again. He had no doubt he was going to have a large hand print bruised on his arm when they finally got out.
The cell door was unlocked, like most of the other cells. After the escapee, the prison had cleared out, the inmates moved to another facility. There were many floors, and probably a billion spiders. Most of them were tiny, black specks that moved with you stood near them. The larger ones were in their webs.
Matt wanted to go upstairs, and see the other cells, but Johnny complained.

‘Once you’ve seen one cell, you’ve seen ‘em all.’ He whined, already bored of the place. Sure it was creepy, but that was about it.
There was nothing left, other than spiders, mice, webs and a few bones of small animals. If it wasn’t for the moon, they would have been plunged into darkness, and left to navigate on their own.
‘Lets go there.’ Johnny said, pointing towards a door that was half open. The door handle was missing, and the frame chipped, like someone had kicked it down.
Zack was all for going upstairs. He figured, once they got bored, they’d leave, so when Johnny pointed out that door, he wanted to murder his midget friend.
Matt was the first through the door, which meant, Zack was too.
The room seemed empty, except a large chair in the middle of the room. There were cuffs on the arms and legs of the chair, to hold someone in. It had a cap hanging above it, connected to a large, metal box, which had leads and chords running into the wall, where a rusted switch was.

‘Cool, electric chair!’ Matt laughed, dragging Zack over to it.
‘Wonder if it works.’

‘Nah, this place hasn’t had power in years.’ Johnny said, running his hands over the switch. Matt grinned, something twinkling in his eyes. Zack didn’t see, he was too busy looking around, expecting a ghost of an ex-prisoner to pop up, or maybe a zombie.
Zack was squinting into the dark corners when Matt practically threw him into the chair, locking the cuffs down. Zack screamed, when he realized what was going on. He was kicking too hard for Matt to pin his legs down, so he was left like that. Matt brought the cap down on Zack’s head, still grinning madly.

‘Let me out!’ Zack screamed, tears pricking his eyes. Brian was left on the sidelines, unsure what to do. Honestly, he didn’t want to cross Matt. This was his revenge, and he knew how vengeful Matt could be.
‘Fucking hell! Matt!’ Zack yelled, trying to rip his hands out. The wood was splintered on the chair, and the cuffs were already pulling free.

‘Throw the switch, Igor!’ Matt cackled, sounding like a mad man. Johnny hunched over, letting out his own maniac-like chuckle, before slamming the switch down. Both Matt and Johnny laughed loudly, but were cut off by Brian screaming.
Johnny took one look at Zack, convulsing in the chair, and dived for the switch, slamming it up.
Matt and Brian were ripping at the cuffs around Zack’s limp wrists the second the switch was up, dragging his body from the chair.
Brian could see Zack breathing, but only shallowly. His chest rose and fell too fast, and his pulse was slow.

‘Call and ambulance!’ Brian yelled into the silent room. No-one responded. Johnny was frozen, his hands still on the switch. Matt was just staring at Zack, too many thoughts running through his head.
‘Matt!’ Brian roared, his fingers still on Zack’s pulse. Matt snapped out of his daze, tearing out his phone.
Everything seemed to blur from then. Matt had left the room, trying to find a way out. Johnny had gone with him, while Brian stayed with a slowly dying Zack.
Zack’s skin had drained, his breathing slowing down.
‘Come on, Z. Stay with me.’ Brian whispered, laying don next to his friend. Tears were rolling down his face freely.

‘B… Bri…’ Zack managed to breathe out, his chest aching. He couldn’t feel anything but the uneven pounding in his chest. It hurt, and he wanted it to stop.

‘I’m sorry, Z. I should have stopped him! Please, just stay with me!’ Brian cried, gripping onto Zack’s hand.

‘Can’t… Hurts… Love you.’ Zack rasped, his breathing slowing even more.

‘I love you too, Zack. Just, hold on, and I’ll make the pain go away. You just have to hold on, ‘kay?’ Brian sniffed, placing a hand over Zack’s heart. He couldn’t feel it muscle beat, and it scared him. If it wasn’t for Zack’s breathing, he would have thought his friend was gone.
Brian only took his eyes from Zack when he heard someone running.

‘Ambulance… Here. Now!’ Johnny huffed, pointing down the hall. Brian nodded, looking back down at Zack. His skin was whiter, almost opaque. His chest no longer rose, and his hand had gone limp in Brian’s.

‘Zack?... Zack!’ Brian screamed, gently shaking the smaller man. Zack’s head lolled from side to side, but made no movements. Hr tried gripping Zack’s hand, but received nothing in return.
A team of medics made their way in, shoving Brian out of the way, to get to Zack.
Brian just sat there, frozen. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t remember leaving the prison, or even the room, but he found himself, hours later, at the hospital, surrounded by a team of nurses and police. His brain had clicked back on half way through the conversation, and he wished it hadn’t.

‘We were just playing. We didn’t know it’d work.’ Matt sniffed, explaining to the police why Zack had been in the chair. Johnny nodded, agreeing.

‘Thanks for your time. And, we’re sorry for your loss.’ The cop said, closing the notepad he’d been writing on.
The police filed out, while the nurses left.

‘He’s gone.’ Brian whispered, his whole body numb. His hands felt frozen, like they’d been on ice for hours.
‘He’s gone.’ He whispered again, unable to grasp that his friend, his best friend, was gone. His mind just played Zack’s last words over and over, in a loop.
With his last breath, Zack confessed his love. He didn’t want to die with his secret, he wanted to be freed.
‘I’m sorry.’ Brian whispered, hoping his words somehow made their way to Zack.

Say goodnight,
Don't be afraid
Calling me as you fade to black