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Wrapped in a Carpet Roll and
Sinking in the Sea
Emriana squirmed and
thrashed, almost insane with terror. She did not want to drown. She did
not want to die. She wanted to breathe, to live, to see the light of day
again.
Please! she cried out to no
one. Please!
The water closed over her
face, and Emriana was forced to snap her mouth shut, to stop trying to
cry out. She felt the pressure increasing, pressing in all around her.
She continued to kick and buck, shaking back and forth in a vain attempt
to wriggle out of the rolled-up carpet.
At last, the girl felt
herself jerk to a stop as the weights attached to her bindings must have
finally settled to the bottom. She floated, almost weightless, feeling
her body trying to bob upward, back to the surface, which seemed to be
as high overhead as the heavens right then.
Upward!
With her buoyancy lifting
her weight free, Emriana realized she could reach the dagger at last.
She groped for it desperately, already beginning to feel her chest
aching from a lack of air. Her fingers closed around the hilt of the
knife, and she jerked it free, brought her arm back around to her side.
Once more, spots were
beginning to float in Emriana's vision as she shifted her wrist the
slightest bit and jabbed the tip of the dagger into the fabric. She felt
it give, and with that tiny bit of hope to cling to, the girl began to
saw, trying to rip a gaping hole through the carpet and free herself.
Her hand plunged through two
layers, then three, but it wasn't going to be enough. Her air was gone.
Her lungs were about to burst. She couldn't do it. Then her hand came
free and she could feel the cold water as she cut a bigger hole and
began to extract herself from the rug and its bindings, but spasms were
shaking her. Her body was fighting against her, trying to make her
breathe. Her head broke free of the carpet, but all was dark, all was
fading.
The last thing Emriana could
feel as unconsciousness overtook her was losing her grip on the dagger
and feeling it sink away. |
