TRAPPED

Lucie beat against the wall, distressed.  “I don’t understand.”     

The world seemed to tilt below their feet.

“What is it you don’t understand?” Aaron looked at her closely.

 “That.” She pointed to the world outside.  “Why we’re here. Everything. Nothing. What does it mean?!”

“Calm down now. You’re getting hysterical.”

“Hysterical!?! You think this is hysterical?!!!!”

“Yes. I kind of do.” 

“Great. That is soooo helpful. NOT.”

Shadows shifted around them as they pause to watch the world.

Aaron rested his head against the wall. “Well, what would you like me to do? It’s not like I can change anything. Right? Can I? Change anything?” 

“No. Of course not. But how did we get to this point in the first place?”

“I don’t know.”

“Of course. You don’t know.” Lucie was ready to explode. “I don’t know. Nobody knows. It’s all some big friggin’ mystery.”

“That’s one way of looking at it.”

“I just feel trapped. And I can’t breathe. I’m suffocating.”

“Me too.”

“What if we slow down? What if we just stop?”

Aaron paused. “Stop?”

“Yes. Stop moving. Stop fighting. Just stop.”

“Good idea. Let’s close our eyes and imagine we’re in a different place and everything is alright. That’s right. We are still. We are still.”

Their eyes whipped open and they both jumped at the sound of a loud rumbling right above them. Their whole world shook and they found themselves on the ground. In the grass. In the beautiful damp grass.

Their prison lay discarded. Their captor carried away, yawning, by the rumbling one.

Lucie and Aaron looked at each other in disbelief. 

“We’re free. We’re FREE. WE’RE FREE!”

They leaped into the air, and headed for the woods, leaving a soft intermittent glow in their wake.