What did it see when it looked at me?

            No one who was taken from this box has come back.  I didn’t know, or perhaps I didn’t want to know, how it was that I found myself here.  It was dark, so dark that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.  Periodically, a blinding light would shine from above and when it finally receded, those who were left would breathe a sigh of relief.  Originally there were twenty of us.  Our names didn’t really matter; just the fact that we were not alone was enough to calm most of us down.  We’ve searched the walls by feeling the perimeter and have not been able to find an exit.  I had felt my way to a corner, thinking that whoever or whatever has been removing the others would be less likely to find me if I was huddled away in a corner.  I sat down to try and think when the bright light erupted from above again.

            Throwing my arms over my head I attempted to see what was above me when I was scooped up out of the corner.  Without thinking, I tried to flail about so that whatever had a hold of me would let me go, but its firm grip assured me that there was no escape for whatever was going to come next.  It took several seconds to be able to begin to make out my surroundings.

            Some sort of giant was holding me up.  Its thumb and index finger held me on either side of my ribcage in a miraculously gentle, yet unmoving way.  I yelled at it to return me to my family, and when it didn’t respond I began to flail around again.  My frustration turned to terror when it hoisted me up near its face.  That was when I saw what was in its other hand.

            The giant had some sort of bent metal rod with a barb at the end.  My blood ran cold when it began twisting me around, looking me over.  I don’t know what it saw when it looked at me but I could tell from its eyes that it didn’t consider me as anything but a hunk of meat.  Again I yelled, this time with panic in my voice.

It repositioned its grip, pinning my arms against me as it brought the metal rod closer.  My screams went silent as it seemed to gently place the barbed end on my right shoulder.  Darkness started to swirl in my eyes as I could feel myself losing consciousness.

            Pain erupted throughout my shoulder and I was instantly reawakened.  The barbed end had pierced the shoulder and lodged itself into my right clavicle bone.  As I screamed, a look of frustration shrouded the giant, and with a jerk it dislodged the barb and started pushing the rod further into my chest through the gap between my clavicle and scapula bones.  My screams immediately died out with a cough that brought forth blood.  I couldn’t catch my breath.  The rod must have pierced one of my lungs.  I prayed that I would pass out but ever increasing amounts of pain seemed to hold unconsciousness at bay.  I began to feel pressure in my abdomen, below my rib cage, and to my horror, the giant gave a twist of its wrist and the barbed end erupted from my middle. 

My whole body was shaking as the blood was pouring out of my wounds.  I knew that there was no surviving what just happened to me.  I looked up at the giant and he gave a satisfied nod.  Satisfied?  How could any creature feel all right after shoving a curved piece of metal though another living being?  Apparently the rod was attached to some rope because as abruptly as he scooped me out, he dropped me and with a jerk I was suspended in midair.  My arms and legs hung limp from my body, each one giving random twitches. 

No sooner had I began to wonder what other monstrosities would be done to me before I died of blood loss, when I was whipped through the air.  It was as though I was flying and for a brief second I thought my speed would rip the rod out of me.  Then I hit the water.  I skipped several times on the surface of the water before I was plunged into its depths.  I felt very weak.  I couldn’t even close my eyes.  Several seconds later I stopped sinking and within moments I felt a tug on one of my legs.  Everything was cold and I didn’t even feel the pain anymore.  I could see a flash of movement to the left of me, but couldn’t turn my head to see what it was.  I was getting sleepy now.  The end was coming.  The last thing I saw was teeth.  It was then that I realized what it was the giant saw when it looked at me.  I was not a living creature, but bait.