• I couldn't tell in my drifting consciousness if the wailing, shrieking, and screaming was coming from me. My body felt like it was gradually being lowered into the magma-filled center of a volcanoe; the temperature steadily increasing. My mind wavered, leaving me tearing at sanity and reality, and then leaving me in darkness.

    Survival was all that was important at that moment. I knew I was being lifted but by whom or why, I couldn't tell. I continued to scream and writhe, wondering how I would make it through this one. I had gone too far this time...

    It could have been hours or mere minutes that I suffered, but the only break in the monotony was the even more terrible shock of freezing water. I knew I was submerged when my screams resulted in the inhalation of water, choking me and stifling my cries.

    As soon as I emerged, I felt the intense steam radiating from my body build up and fill the room. I gasped for air but the steam filled my lungs quicker than the room and increased the intensity of my internal burning. My hands shot out into the thick fog-like fiery steam, reaching for anything to pull me out of the pool of ice that threatened to engulf me.

    Whatever I latched onto sizzled under my touch. As I tried to pull myself out, my would-be life-line pushed me back into the now-cooling ice. I realized I had stopped screaming, then realized that being able to recognize that, I was re-gaining my sense of reality.

    But then everything stopped. I was out.