On a door [Original]

[paganpaul]

Title: On a door

Prompt: A man has a terrifying dream in which he is being sawn in half. He awakes to find himself in the Indian Ocan, naked and clinging to a door, a hotel keycard is clenched in his teeth. Write what happens next.

Rating: Should be fine

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: Read at own risk

Completed

Word Count: 800

Summary: See prompt.

---

He was getting as cold as the water surrounding him, but it felt a lot worse than that. His jaws were aching, but he was not sure if spitting out the card that he held between his teeth was the appropriate thing to do.

His hands were going numb. The door he was holding on to was just a little too wide to hold comfortably, but letting go was not an option. The waves were too high, washing over his naked body. He was certain that letting go one hand would mean he'd be in the water instead of on the door and then his obituary was not far away. Although, he through with a grim grin, either option could mean that the words towards his memory were going to be spoken soon.

What the hell had happened... He fought his fear and the cold. The last thing he could remember was that he had been in a dream. A really bad one too, as in it someone with a large handsaw was going through great effort to saw him in half. That was as far as his memory was cooperating.

A large wave made his door jump and come down onto the water with a thump. A jolt of pain shot up from one of his knees. At least it had been a dream, he was certain now. His other half was still with him. Not that it did him any good at this moment. The less of him was here, the better off that part of him would be, he was certain.

Another wave washed over him, wind making the experience more intense than he liked.

After a while, he was reaching the point where he was thinking maniacal thoughts. He was going to stand up on the door and look around. Maybe there was a ship or a plane nearby. If so, he could wave and hope that he would be saved from his precarious position.

The man waited until, for his feeling, the water around him was not so wild. As he let go one hand, sweat was forming on his forehead, even as he was cold through and through. So far, so good. He let go the other hand, arms bent slightly, ready to grab out in case things were not as good as they appeared.

Good. He knew now that he was going crazy, for who in their sane mind would be idiotic enough to call anything about his situation good?

Still, as long as things were the way they were, he was determined to go on. He inched his hands towards his body. The pain that shot through his nerves as the abused muscles were suddenly forced to do other things than hold on to the door, was excruciating. But he made it. He slowly pushed himself upwards, pulling up first one knee, then the next. He was finally in a position that could be called sitting. It was a wobbly kind of sitting, but that was okay.

The water around him was still relatively calm. The worst choppiness of it seemed to have left for now. Slowly he dared to take the card from his teeth. Holding the card between his shaking fingers, the man started to get up. Unstable, as his legs had been mistreated as much as his arms, he stood, hunched down, balancing like crazy on the door beneath his bare feet. He quickly glanced around. Nothing but water. "Oh my god," he moaned as he fell onto his knees again. "I am doomed. Lost. Finished. I am all alone here. On this door, in whatever bloody ocean this is."

Then his heart jumped. Shock coursed through his body. The door was moving more violently now, bouncing, as if a large fish was bumping against it. Were there sharks here? Or whales? As the thought of ending like fish feed flashed through his mind, the door jolted upwards so wildly that the man lost his feeble balance and was thrown off the door. He was flung into the cold dark water and as the strong currents around the door sucked him downwards, he realised what was happening, what had happened. Only it was too late.


The door swung open upwards and two heads looked out of the hole.

"Are you sure he was out here?", asked the first person.

"Positive. I tried to stop him, but the drug on the card he had in his mouth was overdosed, I guess. He knocked me out and when I was coming to, he was gone. I would have sworn this was the only place he could have gone to," the second one replied.

"Looks like you're wrong, man. Come, lets lock this down and go look for him."

The door closed and disappeared from sight as waves washed over it.