Hiyas, my story from the contest over at Bloody Disgusting. Hope people like it and maybe offer some input on what they think of it.
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The Itch At The End Of The World
I could feel a sort of itch all over, a bit on my skin, more so on my head, but inside my mind most of all. It didn't need scratched though, it needed fed. And somewhere. Nearby. I could feel a collection of puzzled itches all around me, and I wanted to get at them so badly...
I awoke with a start and tried to sit up, but I couldn't use my arms. Something had them wrapped around me, after a few moments and that hollow jangle of old buckles with rollers on the outer edge, I realized it was a straight-jacket. Had I been able to get a good look I could have told right away, but I had some sort of metal casing on my head. I could only see out below it where it didn't quite cover my nose. I could make out the white canvas sleeves, the brown leather straps with brass ringlets down the middle, brass buckles, and below that, bare feet and loose linen pajama bottoms.
As my head cleared, I managed to sit up and began to look around. The room was small. A metal cot with coarse white sheets and a rough gray blanket. I couldn't decide if the walls were almost white or almost blue, the color being very faded and having that reflective sheen you only get from countless layers of paint on paint. I could see a patch of sunlight on the floor, with a criss-cross of lines and dapples of shadow. I barely managed to lean back enough to peek out under the helm, or whatever it was on my head to see a window, complete with it's wire mesh glass, the sort you see at schools or public buildings. I could hear a whir of a camera turning or changing focus, but couldn't lean back far enough to see where it was.
I soon heard a click. Turning towards it quickly, I titled my head back and saw a door opening. How could I not have noticed that before? Of course a room should have a door. I could see three sets of legs enter the room, but more than that, I could feel their “itches” coming closer, I felt if I could just get a good look at their eyes, my own itch would go away. I tried to pull my arms free, the jacket stretched and the buckles clacked, but I couldn't get loose. I heard a gasp, they didn't seem to like me trying to get loose. Two of them grabbed me by the shoulders as yet another dragged a chair into the room, it's wooden legs protesting as they scraped across the floor.
“Please Sit,” said the third man as the first two forced me to sit down. The two men then stepped back, staying behind me while the third closed the door and moved to the side. It seemed no one wanted to be in front of me for some reason.
“So what's going on here?” I asked as I turned as best I could to at least face his direction even though I couldn't actually see him. I leaned back as well to try and see at least a little something of him, but he kept moving around as if refusing to be in front of me whether we could see each other or not.
“You are Dr. Jean Radcliffe, the American linguist, currently working with the The University of Reading in the UK, correct?”
“Um, yeah, so what's going on here?” I asked again.
“And you were on assignment in Romania, at some ruins in the Carpathian Mountains, correct?”
“Yes, I mean, you said 'were', so where are we now then, what's going on here? I asked again, my voice rising in frustration. “And can you please get this damn helmet thing off me?”
“Sorry, no, we can't take it off Miss Radcliffe, and please stay calm, there's a problem with your eyes at the moment. It's better for everyone if we keep things the way they are, and yes, including the straight-jacket, if you try to relax, it shouldn't bother you as much. As for where you are, you're at the Greek army base at Koufovouno. One of your team at the site called for emergency evacuation, the Romania army came to assist but were attacked, they called for help and their rescue team was also lost. We then came to assist the Romania forces. We also lost several people as well, but were able to take you into custody. So now you're in Greece and we're hoping to try and figure out just what happened, and we were hoping you could help us with that.
“My eyes? What's wrong with them? From what little I can see under this thing, everything seems fine. Maybe whatever was wrong was only temporary? And why the jacket? Surely this can't be necessary?”
“We took a few samples earlier while you slept and are running some tests now, we'll let you know as soon as we have something to tell you” he said. “And until we know more, we'd like to keep the jacket on you too. We don't want you getting hurt.”
“I guess,” I was pretty frustrated, but it didn't look like I was gonna get anywhere with them at the moment, I figured I may as well go along with things for now. “So where do you want me to start?” I said. “I don't really remember any army showing up. Come to think of it, I can't remember things really falling apart at all. Were we attacked by terrorists, or artifact thieves, or something like that?”
“No. Not thieves or terrorists. Why don't you start with what you know about the site before you even got there.”