That infernal itching! You wish you could just reach up and scratch it. Scratch it until it quit itching, or until it bled. Whichever comes first. Your eyes begin to burn due to the beads of sweat that burst out due to anxiety. Are the walls going to quit moving in? Are they going to crush you? Are they even moving? Maybe it’s just a hallucination. Kind of like a bad acid trip.

Your shaking has become uncontrollable, not that you’ve had any control up to this point. Your mind is racing so much faster than you ever thought possible.

Your chest hitches a painful breath and you begin to hyperventilate. Before too long, you can’t breathe. The white walls begin to darken. Your eyelids begin drooping. And before long, You’re surrounded in utter darkness.

For the first time in too long it seems, you are calm, relaxed. Finally, the itching is a long distance away. It’s unnoticeable.

You notice something even further in the distance, though. A small light, only as big around as a ball point of a pen. It moves back and forth, slowly, hypnotically, rhythmically.

So very, very slowly it begins to come closer. But time has no relevance to you wherever you are. By the way, where are you? Have you given that any thought? Have you tried standing up yet? Are you still bound by that jacket? Can you hear anything? Have you tried listening for anything? Can you speak? Maybe you should try. Go on, give it a whirl. Say something. Anything. It doesn’t matter. There’s no one else here. Or is there? You’ll never know until you look around.

You try to say something, but no sound comes out. You clear your throat and try again. No luck. Looking around you, you notice there’s nothing to see. You’re surrounded in blackness.

Slowly, slowly that little light comes closer, growing progressively larger. You feel around, trying to find some way to stand up. You see that there’s no physical you. Your mind is the only part of you in this place of utter isolation. You’re stuck, stranded, going nowhere. And still, that light keeps coming closer. You can’t meet it in the middle. You can’t run in fear from it. You must just wait for your destiny to come to you. You still can’t control what’s happening to you.

Now you feel something. But what is it? It’s your ear again. Its itching is becoming maddening quickly. But you have no ear. You have no physical self. How does this work?

The light has come closer still and has become progressively brighter all along. The light brings intense heat. You begin noticing these things all at once and begin to lose the remaining part of your sanity. Your eyes burn severely again. You can’t handle much more of this. When will you wake up from this nightmare?