The Water Hole (A Conclusion)

This was requested by Jason Basaraba , a conclusion to The Water Hole , my entry into the Vocal Foggy Waters Challenge. I really hope this lives up to expectations , but we will see. I have taken a few terms from the Philip Pullman “His Dark Materials” books which will fit in with the general story.

Part one you can read here

The music is "White Room" by Cream influenced by by time having my cancer treatment here.

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The water was up to two inches now , that was in the last 30 minutes. He was six foot , he had maybe seventeen hours left , the thought horrified him.

Why?

Who?

How?

He screamed again, he was trapped , the chain would keep him there . His ankle was raw and bleeding and the salty sea water , he thought it was sea water , was stinging and making the pain worse.

His only track of time was the water rising , it was up to his knees now , his hydrophobia, instilling a horrible panic , but he was unable to do anything but scream. He was frightened and scared , like he had never been in his life. Though he had never been in this situation.

This was his Room 101 , being confronted with his worst fear , drowning , immersed in water , eventually unable to breathe , until his lungs filled up and oblivion came. But he did not want that , he wanted to live, but this was absolutely no hope , no escape situation, and the water was rising slowly.

Time was passing , the water rising , up to his neck now, it would soon be at his mouth , and then that would be it. He was almost accepting that this was it , his life was gone, he would never see his friends again , this was it.

THEN EVERYTHING WENT BLACK

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He awoke , strapped to a chair , leather straps in a white room , no features , and still trapped but now not drowning.

Then a voice from an unseen speaker sounded out.

“Mr Smith , The Magisterium has found you guilty of breaking the rules for which you were sentenced to a punishment of “Hell On Earth”. You have shown disdain for the Almighty and this will not be tolerated at all. If you transgress the rules again there will be no return for you this is a warning. You will not break the rules ever again and you will show respect for the Almighty.”

He was aghast , what had he done , he behaved like any normal citizen , he never broke the laws , always paid his way , never drank too much or smoked , even attended church every so often.

“You need to tell me what rules I have broken and how I have disrespected the Almighty, I need to know what I have done so I can make sure this does not happen again , please tell me.”

“Mr Smith , The Magisterium has found you guilty of breaking the rules and disrespecting the Almighty , that is all we will tell you and it is all that you need to know”

“But how will I know? What must I do to keep on the right side of the Magisterium?”

“Do not break rules, and respect the Almighty”

He felt hopeless , knowing that if they let him go , walking out of the door may break the rules , speaking to the wrong person might break the rules. His life was over , unless he spent it permanently praying in church , but even that may be a rule breaking scenario.

The leather straps fell from his arms and legs and a door opened in the opposite wall. He was free to go , but he was anything but free. He got up , walked , unsteadily , his ankle was bruised and scabbed , he had been there in the water hole , and would now be scared to sleep for fear of waking to find himself there because he had broken the rules or disrespected the Almighty.

He walked out of the door into a life that was over

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To the Finality