Short Story - Dark Ride

It’s taken me a while to realise I’ve actually woken up. I could have sworn that my eyes were open but it was so dark that I genuinely couldn’t tell. By no means have I ever had perfect vision but you can always tell when it’s just dark outside, and when it’s pitch black.

Where am I? I remember eating and… that’s it I think. I was eating the slop that my servers dared to call “food” and that’s the last thing I remember. I can’t even remember falling asleep.

As I continue to wake up so does the rest of my body. I can feel my legs but I can barely move them. I try to take a step but it’s rubbing against something soft and bulky. I try harder to move my leg, pushing against the unknown object. It feels strong, so I push my leg harder. It still doesn’t move, but I continue.

“I know we’re cramped but would you bloody knock it off” I hear a frustrated voice reply. The voice is deep and sure.

“Sorry mate” I reply, “Can’t see anything”.

“Fair enough, just keep your legs to yourself. There’s not enough room for all of us to stretch them” the voice responds.

I feel bad that I’ve invaded someone’s personal space but considering I’ve woken up and haven’t a fucking clue where I am the guilt subsides after a few moments. He seems to have let it go which puts me at ease. It’s only at this point that I register the chatter going on all around us. I feel like I recognise the voices but with no light to match voice to face it’s might just be my imagination. I can’t actually hear what anyone is saying. There’s a bit of crying but it sounds like it’s a few meters away.

When I hear the wind I think that I am starting to put the pieces together of where I am. The floor is steadily vibrating and I can hear fast objects whizzing past. I think I’m in a van or a lorry. If we’re driving at a reasonable speed it would explain why I can hear the wind. The whizzing? Probably some cars going past that don’t want to waste any time.

Oh hello fear, didn’t think you’d be visiting me so soon. Oh and you’ve brought your friend dread along too. I suppose it isn’t a surprise that you’re here in all honesty, it’s not every day you find yourself thinking that you’ve been trapped in the back of a moving vehicle with no space to move.

It’s so hot in here. Unbearably so, and I can’t do anything to cool down on account of being effectively pinned into place.

“So… where are we?” I ask my new friend hoping for to ease my anxiety. I might not be able to change what’s going on but a little bit more clarity would do me well.

If it wasn’t so dark I’d have been able to see the eye-roll I could sense in his reply. “Does it make a difference?”

What do you do with a response like that? I write the response off as trying to come across ambivalent for his own sanity. There’s no way you’re not worried in this situation and his attempt to resign himself from concern isn’t convincing me.

“I’d say it matters. Oddly enough I’ve never found myself in this kind of situation before” I quickly retort. Probably a bit too sarcastic on my part but it’s better than screaming in pure terror. No point getting hysteric until I know there’s something to get hysteric about. That can come later.

My new friend was silent for what felt like hours, though that might just be the dread I’m trying to fight. I began speculating on what was going on around me. Nothing I could think of was positive and the longer the silence continued to more panicky and extreme my ideas got.

“We’re driving mate”. He finally responded. “There’s about 40 or 50 of us in here. Don’t ask me to introduce you to anyone cause I don’t know them and can’t be arsed to find out”.

40 or 50? Ok the anxiety is definitely hitting now. No wonder it’s so hot…. No wonder I can’t move. I’m still not sure whether it’s a van or a lorry that I’m in but if there’s 40 to 50 of us stuck in here there can’t be much room around us. Then again I can’t see anything so maybe I’ve just found myself in the middle of an involuntary huddle.

There’s a sharp bump and the floor feels like it’s pushing up at us. It’s killed the chatter completely. Wherever we are is now flooded with the sound of horrified gasps and panicked murmurs. The chatter that I can hear is far more audible now that not everyone is doing it.

“You should hear what happened to Rob, broke his bloody heart” I overhear.

I shout to ask what happened to Rob but I can’t be heard over the shouts of “WHO’S ROB!!” and “WHERE’S ROB!!”. Whilst my first instinct is to question what makes this Rob so special, I realise that things can always get worse. On one hand I’m happy that I’ve not had a distinct and separate event that discerns me from the rest of the trapped. To feel something right now though that isn’t fear or dread… I’m desperate to hear what happened to Rob.

Another bump and more gasps. Even my new friend has let out a few concerned breaths. There is no-one talking now though. The crying has also gone silent. Suddenly amongst the silence I hear a gravelly shout.

“NO-ONE’S COMING TO HELP US!!”

The area is still silent. I expect everyone like me is trying to figure out where the shout came from. I hear the same voice shout again though it’s far calmer than the terror in the previous declaration.

“I’ve been able to see outside the whole journey. There’s a hole here. We’re travelling somewhere and I don’t know where. There’s so much green everywhere. I was looking outside and we were driving beside a family, looked a friendly lot. There was a kid in the back with legs stretched out and laughing at a screen they were holding. Cute little thing. That space she has and the joy on her face… we’ve only been in here a few hours but I miss it. I couldn’t stop staring. She turned her head to look outside and saw me. She looked me straight in the eyes. I don’t know if she saw me crying and I hope she didn’t… because she turned back to her screen and started laughing again. No-one’s coming to help us, no-one cares”.

Silence all around. No-one knew what to say because what can you. We’re in the dark, cramped and have no idea what is going on. We’re not thinking positively because has this ever sounded like a positive situation?

What felt like days later, the vibrating stopped as did the wind. We didn’t have time to react before there was a sudden blinding light. Painful gasps erupted out of everyone. Eventually my eyes readjusted and I could see everyone around me. 40 to 50 seemed an understatement. Slowly but surely we were taken out of the dank space. I turned around and could see that it was indeed a lorry that we had been trapped in for so long. I don’t know how many of us had been compacted in there… and I don’t want to think about why some of us were being dragged unresponsive.

I can hear the gravel beneath me as I move my hooves across the pavement. I’ve not used my legs for what seems like an eternity, but I enjoy every single step. I’d skip if I wasn’t so heavy. There’s a building about a half mile ahead that I can already see my herd being guided towards. It doesn’t look particularly big for what I expect to be our new home. There’s quite a bit of noise coming from over there and I’m not sure if it’s laughter or screaming. We’re all being guided in that direction by a few people so we’ll find out soon.