When I opened my eyes I saw nothing but black, and for a short time I thought that maybe I was dead. My feet were cold and my left hand was numb, almost ghost-like. I think I must have been passing between being awake to deep sleep because the next time my eyes opened I saw a faint light shining on my stomach. I realized that I was being pinned down by something heavy and large; rocks of some sort. I brought my right arm up to my face, but It was in a sleeve of fallen rock, not crushed but being held against whatever I was laying on. I was able to slide it out after a bit of wiggling and suddenly it came free and flew up to my face. From the small spot of light about my stomach I pushed against the hole and to my delight the rocks came free. I quickly began moving my feet to help free some debris and check to make sure my feet were still working, thankfully they were. The light grew brighter as I pushed off the rocks to reveal my bedroom, bathed in morning light and as a smile crept across my face, I realized that I could not move my left hand. Eventually I cleared enough cement and drywall off to sit up on my bed. Still wearing my boxers from the night before I leaned on my left elbow and saw what I had feared to be; my hand was completely pinned under an enormous block of cement.
The sheets were soaked in blood from my hand and I immediately began to feel light headed. I took a moment to lay back down and after a moment of deep breathing, I pushed on the rock. I realized that my hand at this point was dead, because the rock came off fairly easy but I felt nothing in my hand. As the rock rolled off I saw that a sharp iron bar, embedded in the cement was threaded through my hand and out my finger nail, the mangled vision of what was once my left hand made me vomit and although I tried my hardest not to, pass out.
When I woke this time I had the briefest sense of ecstasy, my thought that perhaps I had been dreaming, but this was not the case. The smell of vomit and dried blood filled my nostrils, and what was left of my hand after the cement rolled off the bed taking pieces of it, was no more than a bloody stump with tendons. I quickly sat up and dizzily walked to my bathroom, nearly stumbling on pieces of cement and broken glass, the bathroom was in shambles, and my cabinet was on the floor, I threw it open looking for anything to use. I grabbed the towel next to the tub, shook out the debris, and wrapped my hand up in the white rag. Looking through the cabinet I realized this isn’t what I needed, I needed to cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding. The sweat poured from my brow as I turned my attention to the adjoining laundry room. I stumbled in and lifted the door which was now on the floor, and grabbed the iron that was hung on the back of it. I realized the chances of having electricity would be small, but I plugged it in nonetheless and to my surprise it worked. The iron started getting hot and I was sweating blood at this point. I quickly ran to the sink, plugged it, and ran the water; it was still on. Then back to the iron, I began pacing nervously, and when the iron was ready it was now or never. I dropped the blood soaked rag covering my stump, grabbed the iron with my free hand and pressed it hard against my bloody stump. The pain was absolutely immeasurable; and the worst part was the iron ran out of heat and I had to plug it back in to get it hot again. As I sat there with my half burnt stump, so close to passing out, waiting for the iron to re-heat, I realized I was crying, not just tears streaming, but full out blubbering.
After the second time using the iron I ran to the sink and stuck my stump in and after a few seconds I blacked out. When I woke up the sun was setting and I saw the space that was once my apartment; I can’t be bothered to describe it right now, but trust me it was beyond repair. I managed to find my laptop in the rubble and although the screen is a bit cracked it works fine, and what’s more the router in the basement seems to still be broadcasting, so I’m looking for others. Will post more tomorrow, but for tonight, I think I’m just gonna read about what’s going on, and maybe sleep a little.
6/12/2012 10:00am roughly
- Ron
TheLiriValley 