Seconds from Death, Part 2: another excerpt from the memoir I’m writing

Linda Lee/Lady Quixote

If you missed the first part of this, you should probably read it first: Seconds from Death, an excerpt from the memoir I’m writing.

Seconds From Death, Part 2

I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. Oh dear God. I can’t breathe.

My instinctive reaction is to grab Carolina’s hands and try with all my might to pry them off my neck. But the harder I yank and pull on her hands, the harder she squeezes my throat. I am very underweight at this time in my life, malnourished according to the doctors, the butt of skinny girl jokes. I don’t even weigh a hundred pounds. Carolina, being a very large woman, probably weighs at least three times as much as me.

Now she has me trapped inside a tiny, claustrophobic room, far from the nurse’s station, and no one is in the hallway outside. No one knows that I am being murdered. By the time they find out, it will be too late. I try to scream for help, but without air in my lungs, I am unable to make any sounds.

I am struggling with every ounce of my strength, trying to escape from Carolina’s strangling hands, but my desperate efforts are getting me nowhere. I see pure hatred pouring out of her bloodshot eyes, coupled with a sickening glee at the sight of my ineffectual struggle. The harder I try to escape, the harder she clamps her iron grip down on my throat.

I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. Dear God, I can’t breathe!

Suddenly I realize that my vision is going dim. I can still see the enraged, perspiring face of my attacker, framed by her short, graying brown hair. But everything else is going dark.

I lose my peripheral vision first. My field of vision is rapidly becoming narrower and narrower, as my brain shuts down due to the lack of oxygen.

That’s when I know: I am dying, right NOW!

Copyright 2021 by Linda Lee @LadyQuixote

This is the cover I’ve designed for my book. Growing Up Crazy, A Memoir, is still a work in progress and has not yet been published.

24 thoughts on “Seconds from Death, Part 2: another excerpt from the memoir I’m writing”

  1. CynthiaBaileyRug March 8, 2021 / 6:15 am

    What a horrid thing to survive! Thank God you did! ❤

    By the way, I'd love to see your appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show. Do you have a link you can share or a title of the episode so I can google it?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • Linda Lee/Lady Quixote March 8, 2021 / 8:29 am

      Good morning, Cynthia. Thank you for your empathy. Yes it was horrid, and I am so grateful to God that I did survive. My three adult children, three adult grandchildren, and my 8-year-old great-grandson would never have been born if I had died at the age of 15, so yes, I am super grateful! ❤

      About my appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show… if you can find a link to a video of that show, that would be awesome!!! I have searched in the past and could not find it. I have a VHS tape of that show, that my then-husband recorded on the day the show aired. But the last time I tried to play that tape, many years ago, the end of the tape came off the spool. 😦

      The show aired in May 2000, almost 21 years ago. I believe the exact date was May 20, but I’m not positive on that. It was one of Oprah’s Book Club shows. The featured book that day was While I Was Gone by Sue Miller. My Remembering Your Spirit segment aired near the end of the show. The segment was so beautifully done — I would love to be able to see it again, and share it here on my blog. If you can find it, I will be hugely in your debt.

      Like

      Reply
  2. Dora March 8, 2021 / 7:05 am

    Heart-pounding narrative, and all the more because we know you experienced this.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Seconds from Death, Part 2: another excerpt from the memoir I’m writing – Talmidimblogging
  7. ibikenyc March 8, 2021 / 12:29 pm

    {{{{{HUGS}}}}} again.

    ❤

    I, too, would love to see you on Oprah.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
      • ibikenyc March 11, 2021 / 12:45 pm

        Any chance they could get it to you? (I mean Harpo.)

        You could also take that damaged tape to some place that deals with that kind of thing. I understand miracles can be worked these days!

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
    • Linda Lee/Lady Quixote March 8, 2021 / 9:41 pm

      I just finished writing part 3. I’m setting it to post in the morning.

      I wanted to write this entire episode in one sitting, but man.. it’s almost like I’m living it all over again. I keep reaching a point where I have to stop writing.

      I’m sorry to tell you this, but it looks like there will be four parts. I don’t mean to keep people hanging. But wow. WOW. God was working in my life even then, and I didn’t have a clue!

      Like

      Reply
  11. Renee🌻 March 8, 2021 / 8:19 pm

    You are an amazing person, Linda! To have survived all that proves it! Wow, and you were on the Oprah Winfrey show. There’s no telling how many people you inspired that day! 💜

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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