I’d finally fallen asleep, after a long day, when light suddenly flooded the room.

Growling, I opened my eyes to see who had turned on the light switch….that was when I realized the light was coming in the window, not from outside. Crap, I thought, I must have forgotten to close the blinds.

I rolled heavily out of bed and moved to the window….as I reached up to close the blinds, I realized that they were already closed…the light was so bright that it showed right through.

My head still in a fog, I blinked at the window, confused. How was this possible?

With a snap, the blinds shot up, and my mind cleared in surprise.

I tried to back away, but I was frozen–my mind told my legs to move, but they refused.

“Stay where you are!” a voice commanded from outside the window.

I couldn’t move if I wanted to, I thought. I strained even to move a finger…it was impossible. I was completely paralyzed.

I heard a creaking above me, and suddenly something large crashed through my ceiling (from the sound). I saw dust swirl around me, and suddenly felt the urge to cough, though my throat refused to comply.

Before the dust settled, I heard rustling move towards me…whatever had fallen through the roof was now approaching me. I saw a gloved hand put a small device on the windowsill, the arm covered in a long sleeve. One finger remained on the device, and I saw a red light flash on the device. When the light turned green, I suddenly collapsed in a heap.

Gunshots rang out, and bullets whizzed through the air where I had stood just a moment before. The penalty for avoiding a lock beam was death–the authorities assumed that if you tried to escape, you were dangerous, and a threat to the stability in the region. Whoever had placed the anti-lock device on the windowsill had just branded me a terrorist for life.

***  To be continued ***