Chapter 1
Amanda sat at her typewriter trying to figure out what to write.
It had been four months since she’d last written anything and the writers block was getting to her.
She had tried everything; typing on her phone, her laptop and even handwriting. Nothing seemed to get her out of the slump she had fallen into.
She resorted to buying an old typewriter from an antique shop to try and get the creative juices flowing but her mind was stuck in a limbo.
Her brown curls began to stick to her neck. It was not even that hot but the sweat had wet her hair.
Amanda looked at the side table next to her bed. The scissors were there still but they wouldn’t be used this time, it would go too far.
It was a cycle. She’d try to write, fail, get overwhelmed, feel like a failure and with trembling hands, pick up the scissors.
She was never strong enough to do what she actually wanted so her resort would be slicing off clumps of hair until the tears took over.
The fridge began to hum again, it was in her living room but her one bedroom apartment was small enough for her to hear it.
Aside from the en-suite bedroom, the only other rooms in her home were a small living room and a kitchen you’d walk into after opening the door.
It was empty too. The living room had a medium fridge as the only furniture and her kitchen had a small gas canister she would bed over to cook on.
Amanda was ready to call it a day but the sound of her failure was loud in her mind and the fridge felt like it was getting louder.
The sweat was trickling more and, the sound of laughter from her neighbors house began to irritate her.
‘What do they have to be happy about all the fucking time’ she thought with a sneer.
Now her shirt was wet from sweat. It was summer but the rooms were cool.
Her skin began to itch and so did her scalp.
Amanda could bear it no longer. She got up and scrambled to the drawer.
‘This time I’ll fucking do it!’
Shaking, Amanda walked into the bathroom with the scissors in her hand, she caught the sight of herself in the mirror.
‘Is this what I have become?’ She tried to stifle her sobs but the tears came anyway.
She had become a mere ghost of herself.
She had always been slender but this was beyond acceptable. The skin clung to her bones and her grey eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
Her hair, that used to be shoulder length was now disheveled and terribly cut.
The bathroom was a mess. Amanda would obsessively clean but she couldn’t be bothered to put things away and now the woman couldn’t stand the sight of anything anymore.
The scissors slipped from her hand and she knocked over several bottles of body oils when she bent to pick them up.
This sent her over the edge.
She flung the pair at the door and tore off the shirt that began to feel suffocating against her skin.
“I’m done. This time? I’m really done,” Amanda said aloud.
She undressed. Completely naked, she began walking towards the scissors but she slipped on oil from one of the fallen bottles and slammed her body onto the bathroom floor.
Amanda couldn’t see very well when she got up and her head hurt terribly.
She groggily made her way to her bed and opened the drawer once more, this time pulling out aspirin.
The bottle was the last thing she saw before her body gave out and she landed on her bed, the sound of her fridge dying out as she drifted out of consciousness.
When Amanda woke up, she was still naked, but not in her room. There was the faint smell of sulpher and a the sound of shuffling next to her.
“It’s a good thing you’re conscious now,” a voice came from next to her.
There was a man on the bed with her. He was also naked.
Amanda’s head didn’t hurt anymore and she could see clearly but she couldn’t make out any features on the mans face.
There was no door in the room just brown walls, a wooden floor and the bed she was on.
She bolted upright,angry and terrified.
“We haven’t done anything, I was just prepared for when you’d wake up,” he said, gesturing to his erection.
Amanda began to scream,thrashing at nothing until, in a burst of anger the man put his hands around her throat and began to choke her.
She fought back scratching and clawing until she somehow overpowered him and threw him against the wall.
She felt cold metal against her thigh, her scissors were on the bed with her. She grabbed them and ran towards the now trembling man and stabbed at his body, not caring where it pierced.
“Wait! Please! I thought it’s what you wanted! Stop! I’ll take you back!” He howled.
She pulled away from him,scissors pointed menacingly at him still.
He was not bleeding but he groaned in deep agony.
“How did I get here?” Amanda heard her voice ask even though she had not opened her mouth.
“I brought you here, I’ve been watching you, we’ve talked,” he stared at the scissors in confusion.
“I’ve never seen you a day in my fucking life and I never want to, you got that?!”Amanda waved the scissors at him and he slowly nodded his head.
She somehow felt calmer and, suddenly, she could hear the fridge again.
When Amanda woke up, she was on her bed, in her apartment, naked with the asprin next to her.
Her head wasn’t aching anymore and the sun had set, she had been asleep for over three hours.
She sat back down at her type writer, whatever she wanted to do was overshadowed by the story she had to write.
Amanda clicked away into the morning, not noticing the fading smell of sulphur.
