Sam woke up, feeling disoriented and restrained. He tried to move his legs but they hurt badly, and were pierced by something sharp. His mild movement triggered a flash in the room. A very small and outdated TV was turned on, and the infamous puppet doll appeared on the screen. With a sinister and distorted voice, it said “Hello, Sam! I want to play a game!” Sam’s eyes widened in pure horror and disbelief as he felt that the whole world was falling apart.

The sudden shock confused the man, making him unable to focus on the television at all. After spending most of the time trying to fight his way out of the device, he finally was able to catch a few sentences the puppet was saying “…have 60 seconds to get the key and free yourself, but your legs will endure pain from the industrial needles. Saw blades once destroyed your life, but they can save your life this time. The question is: would you let them do so? Make your choice, Sam!”

The room fell silent again except the heavy breathing from Sam. Then, after a few seconds of peace, the timer started. The already wounded man panicked, panted, and wanted to give up. The sound of the circular saw blade running made his whole body shudder in terror. He had one minute to unlock himself from the device, otherwise, the blade would cut through his heart. Oddly enough, it was the longest minute Sam ever experienced as his whole life started to flash before his eyes.

Sam was raised by a single mother to whom he owed the whole world. After graduating from high school, he started to work as a construction worker. And then, he met Jenny, his beloved girlfriend. But the faces of the two most important people in Sam’s life soon faded away from his mind. The accident hit him. The cold and sharp saw blade cut off his right arm when he was working. And it was too late to reattach the limb back when he got to the hospital. Of course, this was a tragedy, but might not be too big of a tragedy to some people. However, to Sam, his whole life went away with the arm.

He remembered how Jenny kissed on his forehead, avoiding eye contact with him. As Sam sensed the guilt in his lover, he closed his eyes, trying hard not to show any emotions for what Jenny had to say next: she decided to move to another city alone. “Was it because of my arm?” With his eyes still closed, Sam asked. “No, you body will always be perfect to me. But it was your heart that changed.” the woman answered with a sorrowful tone. Sam felt betrayed but he couldn’t blame her, whom at least stayed during the crisis.

Instead of getting back on his feet after the accident, Sam spent too much time pitying himself. Beneath all the toughness on the outside, the broken man admitted that he just wasn’t that strong. In the end, all his insurance and disability benefit were used on gambling as he hoped that luck would come after something so unfortunate. However, fortune never came. Sam eventually lost his janitor job and became a pathological gambler.

Then, he remembered how he stared at the TV screen blankly after a fight between him and his mother. No, it wasn’t even a fight. It was only Sam quietly looking at his mother sobbing and complaining. It used to pain him so much to see her like this, but he stopped caring or shedding tears. Being a loser or a coward didn’t bother him anymore. Hurting the only person that loved him didn’t disturb him anymore. The man’s heart was filled with numbness. Or maybe he already experienced enough pain, and nothing could ever hurt worse.

Sam’s mind went back to the trap, 20 seconds left, the metal arms dragged him closer and closer to the saw blade. For a second, Sam told himself that he deserved to die, and he caused nothing but pain to the others. But as the saw blade almost touched his chest, survival instinct suddenly hit him hard. The desperate man suddenly started to to kick himself away from the blade with all his strength. A loud scream escaped from his throat as if he finally declared a war against his tragic life. The thick and sharp needles stabbed into his legs, but he didn’t care.

Moving away from the blade, an inch by an inch, Sam finally reached the key using his good hand. With 3 seconds left, his legs were bleeding badly, and the pain was unbearable. Will he make it? Will he free himself from the trap of death, and from his own hopeless life? Will the cold and sharp saw blade ever change his life again, only in the opposite direction?

Credit
Story, profile layout by me. Idea inspired by the Saw film series. Images from the Saw film series.