Chapter Three

            The world around Jed grew cold as he remained trapped in the white trash bag in the back storeroom of the coffee shop. He struggled against the white walls of the trash bag but they were much too thick for him to break through. The afternoon drifted into evening as Jed could only helplessly climb the mountainous piles of garbage trying to reach the top of the bag.

            The temperature was dropping quickly as the storeroom wasn’t heated and a thick metal door kept the storeroom separate from the rest of the store. As Jed continued to climb his limbs began to grow tired and weak.  He dug his fingers into a well past ripe banana peel. His fingers dug into the peeling as he pulled himself onto the inner shell of the peel. Jed lay sprawled out across the peel breathing heavily. He looked down at the peel and dug his fingers in the soft spoiled gooey left over banana. His stomach churned in disgust as he brought the substance to his mouth. His tongue began to gag before he even put the banana in his mouth. After chocking down several mouthfuls Jed began to sit up looking at the spoiled peel in the dim light.

            “So this is what my life has become” Jed mumbled to himself as he stood up and started to climb for a couple of seconds before jumped back down realizing something. He spun around a few times trying to find the source of the dim light, as light had to come from somewhere.  Then he spotted it overhead, a small insignificant hole that the average person wouldn’t see but to Jed it was the size of a window.

            “I’m saved” Jed happily screamed as he made his way towards the opening with a cheerful bounce in his step. As Jed reached the opening he could feel renewed energy flowing through him. As Jed pulled himself out of the bag he began to slide down the length of the garbage bag. Everything whirled by him at dizzying speeds as he darted his head from left to right, then all the fun stopped as Jed exploded against the concrete floor knocking him unconscious.

            As Jed lied unconscious his body begun to shiver as the cold concrete floor stole away any body heat that he could muster. The temperature continued to fall as the time passed. The heavy metal door begun to open, a blast of warm air entered the room for a moment but is quickly engulfed by the cold air.

            Erin and Stacey turned the lights on as they entered the cold storeroom. Jed continued to lie motionless on the floor. The dark black Doc Martins and the Buffalo shoes of Erin and Stacey both stomped about the store room as they grabbed the garbage bags one by one and tossing them into the dumpster outside.

            Jed started to awaken, his eyes struggled to open. The first thing he saw was a plume of smoke above him as his body feverishly shivered. The smoke quickly dissipated above him, then reappeared. It took Jed a bit to realize the smoke was his breath, as the smoke continued to rise up Jed begun to see black daggers pushing their way through the smoke.  Jed frantically pushed his body up forcing is his aching joints to bare his weight. The black daggers came down to quickly on poor Jed. He dove to the ground covering his head with his hands expecting nothing less than death.

            Memories from long ago didn’t stream through his mind, the thoughts of his family and friends weren’t speeding through. No thoughts of good and bad times. As Jed came face to face with death all he could see was regret.

            The daggers beat down against the ground covering him like a blanket on a cold winter’s day. The ground trembled about like bowl of Jell-O. Shaking roughly, devastatingly but not losing form. As Jed tried to stand up he found something hard against his back; the pressure increasing greater and greater by the moment, the black daggers pressing at him from either side. As the black daggers press against him almost putting Jed into a bare hug. He began to gag while his head flailed banging roughly against the hard rocklike surroundings while his body fought for air. Jed recklessly tried to move his arms enough to wiggle or press the daggers away.  Jed faintly cried out help me as the utter blackness consumed him.