The Drowning Collection

Byron lay on the floor of a room, he stirred from his deep sleep and slowly moved to stretch his body. Then his eyes shot open, it was dark and he was surrounded with water, looking around in the dark gave no indication where he was. Sitting up he realised he was also naked, no clothes or anything around him, the only sound he heard in this dark place was water falling. Getting up he tried to stretch his hands and feel for the ceiling; there was none and the dark was absolute.

He called out for help and tried to bang on the nearest curved wall, nothing, all it did was echo back. He began to follow the wall and try and find a seam or anything to help him understand where he was, the place was round and parts of the wall were either metal or concrete. The darkness within this room did not help him navigate nor understand his isolation. Trying to remember where he was last drew a blank, all he could remember was clocking out from his job at the pizza joint and walking home.

The water falling into the room was slow but steady, he felt the cool water slowly rise above his ankles. He tried to jump and check higher up the place, this resulted in a rising panic in him. There were not opening and neither was there any light to help him understand what was going on. He began to shout for help and banging on the walls, the panic in his stomach rose like bile and in the midst of his panic attack he realised that the water falling into the place had increased.

The rate of water falling had increased, this heightened his panic and he began to scream even more for help. The was began to rise even more, reaching his thighs now, Byron stopped and began to cry. He cried out asking was he being tortured, the falling water slowed and it went back to it earlier rate. Feeling around for the walls, movement was slower on account of the water and he was running out of energy. Tears and spit dribbled down his cheeks and chin as Bryon tried to understand what and why was this happening to him. Flashes of his life flooded his mind and he almost fell back from the weight, he had made mistakes in the past, but this punishment was too cruel even for that.

The temperature of the water began to rise, what was cool felt like it was slowly warming. Bryon realised this when he stopped feeling the coolness in the water, he lowered his hands into the water and felt the warmth. The water was heating up and soon the thought of being boiled alive resulted in another panic episode and the renewed energy to shout for help. Someone was controlling the water and temperature, this was certain, what was not certain was why him. The thoughts of who this could be now overwrote his memories, checking the temperature of the floor then the walls. He ran his hands slowly down the wall, passing the concrete section then to a metal part that was hot. He hands flew back instinctively, the metal part was heating up.

The water height was past his mid section now and climbing up his stomach, Byron leaned on the wall, making sure not make contact with the metal section, and looked up. There was nothing to see and the sense that he was going to die made this whole situation feel hopeless. Something clicked into his mind, he realised that there must be a place where the air must be escaping if this room or chamber is being filled with water, with that renewed sense of hope he tried another tactic.

Squatting down and into the water he tried to use the extra momentum the water would give to jump higher and see if he could reach for the ceiling, wherever it was. Bracing himself while he squatted, the was past his head and then with a push he jumped. He could not gauge how high he had jumped but was high and still no ceiling. He tried again a couple more times then gave up.

Another idea came into his mind, the water could help him reach the top and maybe there could be a way to escape this deathtrap. He began to shout again while listening for the falling water to increase in volume, the amount of water coming in rose and soon it was past his shoulders. He felt the weightlessness bought about the rising water lift him up and he tried to keep shouting. As the water rose the temperature also rose, after a while he could hear this feint hum when his ears were under water. It was as if he was in a factory of some sort, he swam to the wall and tried to listen but there was no sound only what he heard when underwater. He tried to reach out again and finally after so long felt the ceiling.

It was smooth, there was not handle nor seam to let him know where the door could be. He tried running his hands everywhere he could reach and there was nothing, the water temperature had risen to the point where steam was steadily rising and his body ached from all the exertion. His balls were the first to pain from the heat then this legs, slowly the pain spread throughout his body. He felt his muscles tighten from the heat and his chest contracted, he did not have the energy to find anymore. The water finally reached a point where he could not keep his head above water and Byron finally let go and let his body fall, the sudden rush of hot water into his mouth and throat gave him a jolt of adrenaline but even that was too little. The water began flooding his lungs and began to choke, while more entered his stomach which forced him to gag under water. The pain he felt while all was happening racked his mind, the water temperature kept climbing and finally Bryon felt his consciousness fade and he stopped moving.

A figure watched the limp body of Byron slowly bob underwater as it boiled, he placed a hand on the console before him and checked the temperature of the water. It read 85 degrees, well below the last one managed to push past. This was an interesting subject and he actually thought of possibilities of how to escape. The figure noted down the time and temperature in a notebook and stood up. He stretched his hands and back, taking a moment to allow the rush of dopamine to fade before looking up. Above him hung a large plastic back, in it was another body vacuum sealed in a state of suspension. He marvelled at his past subject, she was slightly overweight but really fought to the end. The pain of being boiled alive was etched on her face and the figure studied every minute detail in complete ecstasy.

Detective Ibanez leaned against the wall breathing out plumes of mist, winter was the worst season to work in and this time was no exception. Her hands dug deeper into the jacket for warmth and face was numb from the cold, the street was covered in snow and looked like it was going to snow again soon. She turned to look into her car, Jared was on his phone listening to the to the person on the other end deeply. She wanted to get back into the warmth of the car but she needed to also keep an eye out for trouble. The street was quiet, this time of the year even the junkies had better sense to stay inside.

One he was done Jared got out of the car and joined the detective, he pushed his hands into his jacket and stood next to Ibanez. “That was Charles from the city records, I had asked him to cross reference the history of the building with what you found. Seems that place had been condemned for the last 6 years, only thing was that its stuck in limbo because the owner’s family are fighting over ownership. The city was also dragged into the court because there are no complete records of ownership. The records were either lost or never existed to begin with. I sure hope your CI is right about this place.”

Ibanez looked at her partner and smiled, “he better be, this was the first time I tapped him since I turned him. We need to close this case or there will be more bodies scattered around the city and the mayor will be dinning on our heads.”

Jared nodded and unholstered his pistol, he looked at Ibanez and replied. “So who’s leading the charge?”

Ibanez unholstered her own pistol and led the way, they slowly moved closer to the building. It was a squat 4 storey apartment building, all the windows were covered with board and the front door barred from the outside. The walked past the front and into an alley on it’s left and made their way to the back. Ibanez kept her eyes focused on the snow ahead of them to see if there were any tracks and then to the windows of the neighbouring building. The snow was untouched which meant that no one had been here in a while, thinking her CI had given her the wrong info she felt a light tap on her shoulder. It was Jared and he was pointing up, she followed his gaze to find an open window and a hand shot out to pull the rope. Soon clothes emerged from the window, who would dry clothes out in the middle of the winter. She looked down to Jared and he was gone, she turned ahead to find his walking ahead of her. He wasn’t walking more like staggering forward. She whispered his name, seeing no response she more closer and tried again, placing her hand on his shoulder her hand flew back. It was wet with blood and this caused Jared to fall forward.

Before Jared landed his body turned to dark ash and the world around Ibanez did the same, she turned around in panic trying to understand what just happened and found herself in complete darkness. She tried to run but tripped over something and fell forward, her pistol flew out of her hands and disappeared. She fell on to water and then realised she was completely naked, the overload on her sensed caused her to scream and curl up. The only reply she got was a slow trickle of water falling.