Give Us This Day

I do not know why I have been taken from my companions and left here alone in the dark. I cause no harm, I do no wrong, I break no laws. I do not deserve this fate, this maltreatment. 

Although I am alone, I can sense another of our band nearby, but I cannot make out where. This is of little comfort - surely the same fate awaits us both.

The cage tightens around me with a metallic click. I cannot move.  

Instant warmth, then heat, unbearable, everywhere. No hiding place, no shadow, all around, everything turned orange by it. What is this torture? Why me, I only exist for the benefit of others, I do no harm. This torment is deserving of others.

My skin crackles, hardens, singes. It is hard to think, to keep hold. Who is my persecutor? Why am I inflicted so? What purpose can such agony serve when I know nothing? As the minutes pass, I think of this. And my brother? Is the same fate befalling my companion in this purgatory? Has he been allowed respite?     

As the minutes pass I feel more acute pain, penetrating into my very heart, heating my flesh until my very soul is on fire. I cannot feel pity for my tormentor though surely I must, for forgiveness is more than I can offer.  

And the pain and the agony and the burn worsen. I am burnt. I am gone. I am dead, my fate is here. I am finished. I am burnt. I am, I am dead. I am, I am - CLUNK - I am toast.