Free Falter by Haven Cage

eyes slowly. The tunnel blocked the harsh hospital lights overhead.
    “Hissss. Click. Click.”  
    A smoky shadow hovered above me. Another hiss rang in my ears. Fear lumped in my throat. I instinctively turned my head to search the room for help, but the damn head guard stopped my movement.
    “Nevaeh, are you ok?” Doug’s voice bellowed over the intercom again. “We are almost done. Please don’t move.”  
    “I need to get out of here.” My voice shook.
    “Give me just a minute more. If we stop now, we will have to redo the test,” Doug insisted.
    “Please, hurry,” I begged.  
    Tears began to trickle down my temples. My skin crawled as the eerie sensation of evil energy twirled around me. My stomach roiled as the being’s ill intentions seeded in my mind. The good memories I focused on moments ago were now darkening under the phantom’s attempt to infiltrate my thoughts. With each sign of weakness I let surface, the being latched onto my emotions even stronger and pried its way a little deeper.  
    It was clear that the thing making the noises wasn’t going to leave me alone. Worse than that, the machine trapped me with it. I forced myself to ignore whatever it was and pretended I hadn’t heard anything.  
    I squeezed my eyes shut and slowed my breathing so I wouldn’t pass out from hyperventilation. No relief came. My body was so rigid that cramps developed in my limbs. I impatiently waited for the intercom to tell me I was allowed to get off the table.  
    A ghostly laugh startled me. It called my name in a playful, sinister tone that made me cringe.
    My eyes flew open, and a face stared back at me. It wasn’t human. It was something dark and morbid. I blinked hard hoping the thing would go away, but it didn’t.  
    The phantom looked very flat and had no body, as if someone had cut the face off a skull and hung it above me. What features were discernible in its nearly translucent form contorted and shifted out of place then back again.  
    My stomach twisted when it smirked at me. The bile in my throat held back the scream struggling to escape.
    “Hisss. Click. Click.” The sound erupted again from its stationary lips—almost in a questioning manner this time.
    “Go away,” I shouted.  
    The lingering haze shifted from smoky-grey to brownish-red. Its eyes sharpened. The smirk morphed into a disturbed grimace.  
    Suddenly, it sprung toward my face. I squeezed my eyes shut so hard it hurt. There was nowhere for me to go. The cries I held exploded out from my mouth. I thrashed my arms and legs against the table violently, shaking the machine around me.
    “Get me out,” I demanded. “Get me out!”
    “Nevaeh, calm down. We’re done...we’re done. I’m coming. Hang on,” the tech said, alarmed by my behavior. His heavy footsteps hurried into the room.  
    The table carried me out of the hole. When the brightness of the overhead lights shined through my clenched eyelids, I felt safe enough to open them. I groaned, feeling the ache that settled into my legs and arms from the beating they took. And there was a strange burning sensation on my forehead.
    The tech’s calming eyes came into view as he lifted the cage from around my head. “What’s going on? Are you ok?” he asked, his forehead wrinkling with concern.
    I jolted up, throwing my legs off the side of the hard slab beneath me. “No, I’m not ok! Do I look ok?” I answered, my voice shrill and agitated. My shaky hands reached for him, clutching his shirt and holding onto him like I was drowning. We nearly toppled over as I pulled at him to get myself off the table, unable to escape the machine fast enough. Air flooded my lungs as I sucked in breaths faster than my body could tolerate.  
    After a minute or two of the tech reassuringly rubbing my back and cradling my trembling shoulders, the atmosphere began to lighten. My breathing finally slowed.
    I peered up at him, embarrassed by what I’m sure looked to him like a fit of