myself awake. The banging on the door continued as I lay on the floor, desperately trying to breathe. Was there really no air, or was my mind convincing me that there was none available in the room? It didn’t matter, I could do nothing either way.
The banging on my door increased in repetition as I suffered on the floor. I gradually rolled onto my back and looked at the ceiling as I debated my inevitable death. Was I to die of suffocation, or at Zeppo’s hand? Maybe by the hand of a potential robber that could be behind the door? The scariest thought was dying of old age as an inmate in an asylum, plagued by the fantasy that a ventriloquist dummy’s mission in life was to ruin mine.
After that train of thought, something was caught in the corner of my eye. The noose I had tied was still there. Along with a stool I had placed there just in case. That was it, I had no other option. I was inevitably going to die, I might as well take the easiest way out. It was definitely the least painful way to die. It might as well be now rather than later. I struggled to get to my feet and decided to crawl rather than walk over to the knot hanging from the ceiling. The hardwood floor I dragged myself across gave me a burn across my legs due to the smooth texture and recently added coating to give it a shiny finish. By the time I got to the stool, it seemed like the person on the other side of the door was throwing their body against it in order get it open and confront me. I was quick to stand up, so quick that I had a blood rush and almost threw up due to the intensity of nausea that my head felt at that time.
Luckily, I kept my balance, and stepped on the stool to hook the loop around my neck. I stared at the door as the banging continued. Who was on the other side? Was it really Zeppo trying to ruin my life, or was it really that robber I had heard on the news trying to get here to shut me up? I could open the door to find out. I could find out for sure. Open the door to discover Zeppo is alive, open the door to be killed by a home invader, or realize this whole episode was conjured up in my head and that there was no banging this entire time. All three of the options were not ideal and I refused to accept any of them.
I noticed a fly falling off the wall to my floor. Its crisp decomposing body must’ve been stuck there for about a week before it finally lost grasp of the wall. His death must have been painful. Mine will be painless compared to the other options. That was the last thing I noticed before I kicked the stool away from underneath my feet.
Illustration by ANNE LONGMAN
T H E E N D