When consciousness returned, he found himself lying on the ground. The warm smell of manure and hey drifted into his nostrils. It was a relaxing familiar smell, filled with good memories and sunshine. He wanted to lie there forever, just like that. But there was a bad memory lurking at the corners of his mind, like a very recent dream. Only he could not recall it to mind. There was urgency in the memory, making his heart palpitate and causing adrenaline to fill his veins.

He got to his knees and looked around. He was in an old but solidly built barn. There was a funny feeling in the air, and everything looked blurry. It took him a moment to realize that the room was filled with smoke. He could see it wafting through the air in wispy gray streaks, like ghosts. Queer beams of light played lazily across the ground.

And then the bad memory surfaced.

Panic hit him so hard that for a moment he couldn’t even breathe. Adrenaline skyrocketed through him, filling his brain with static. In two strides he was by the door of the barn. He grabbed the latch with his hands and yanked. Even though he could tell in a moment that it was locked, he kept on pulling it. He tried to yell for help, but the yell stuck in his dry throat. When it finally came out it sounded raspy and high pitched, hardly audible. He let go of the latch and ran to the opposite corner of the barn. It was hot there, really hot. The air seemed to tremble. Or maybe it was melting with the heat.

He couldn’t breathe. Too much smoke.

He felt the wall with his hands, carefully feeling along the wooden panels with his fingers for a weak spot, trying to stay calm. He went faster, faster, scanning the walls, until he went around the whole barn.

Any sense of calmness deserted him, then. Desperate now, he kicked at the wood, screaming for help as loud as he was able. The wall wouldn’t give and met with fierce resistance, but he kicked anyway, ignoring the pain that shot up his leg.

When he couldn’t kick anymore, he dropped onto his knees with exhaustion. He gasped in breathe. The air was a bit clearer down there near the ground. He could see the smoke circling above his head; see the light that danced around, the shimmering of flame.

O my God, O my God, O my God... he repeated again and again.

O my God, they locked me in a barn and set it on fire...

O my God, it’s so hot and I can hardly breathe...

O my God, I’m about to die...

There was an inexplicable sensation of calm, just enough to give him strength again. He tore the bottom of his shirt into a strip and tied it around his mouth, ready to try again.  Crawled along the wall, he examined the wood. And then he noticed something that he hadn’t seen before: a knot hole. Light--- pure, pristine daylight--- seeped through. He pressed his lips around the hole and sucked in air. It tasted sweet, less polluted than what was in the closed walls of the barn.

God, I have to get out... he pleaded.

And then, standing and holding his breathe, he began to kick at the knot. To his extreme relief, a piece broke away, nearly the size of his head. He dropped to his knees again, sucked in more air, and kept on kicking. Another piece broke away. He stooped, put his head and neck through. The wood stopped at his shoulders. He hunched them and began to wiggle like a worm. For a moment the sickening realization that he might be stuck brought about a new wave of panic. But, little by little, he slipped through. The wood scraped at his skin and tore at his clothes. After his chest his hips came easier, and then his legs slid without a problem.

And he was free.

The air never tasted so sweet: better than anything he had ever known before. Behind him, big orange flames licked at the roof of the barn and ugly black smoke wafted into the air.

He was so relieved that he nearly laughed. His legs were shaky, like jello. But he forced them into a trot, and then a run. He ran all the way across the field to the woods and collapsed at the root of a large oak tree, away from the smoke and heat and flame.

O my God! he cried again, this time in complete thanksgiving.