It was all calming, slowing. The fear in my heart, the fury in his eyes, even the tension in the air. It was all settling. My pulse, the adrenaline, the entire room all coming to a halt. I saw her move out of the corner of my eye, putting her hands up in front of her. “Let’s just put the knife down…” I think she would’ve said. But he saw it too and before she had time to let one word loose he rocked back and then began to come forward, pressing the blade through the air towards her, everything in slow motion it seemed. It cut through the tension like butter. My heart beat once as I pushed off to the side, and just like that reality snapped back and gravity took hold, pushing my body down as he thrust the blade up.

I felt a hammer hit my belly, knocking the wind out of me. Time stopped then. I couldn’t breathe. I was clutching my stomach. My eyes opened wide and as I looked up I saw him backing up slowly, almost tripping. And then I saw the expression on his face; jaw-dropped, wide-eyed fear. Astonishment. A glint of light off the blade captured my attention but, instead of a silver shine, I gazed upon a red glaze covering the smooth metal. It all happened in just a few seconds. The knife fell from his hand and clanked against the floor, which started the clock again.

Where were my legs?

*THUD* I hit the ground, landing hard on my side. The floor smelled of cedar wood and dirt. My eyes became wider and wider as I clutched my stomach tighter and tighter, too afraid to look down, knowing what I would see. I realized that I hadn’t been breathing. As I tried my lungs spastically sucked in small, labored breaths, two or three at a time. It was getting cold, like someone was pumping ice water into my body from the point where the hammer had hit my stomach. It was crawling down my legs and arms, creeping up my neck, and as it reached my head everything began to blur. My thoughts were non-existent. I knew they were there they were jumbled and the more I tried to piece it all together, the more things spun and spun around.

I could hear the yelling. I could feel the pressure. The pressure and the cold. I could feel my body jerking trying to bring air in and warm itself from the cold. It felt like winter and it was all spinning. Just a blizzard of noise and the smell of cedar. Cedar and dirt.

And I Pray