Small amounts of food were slid through openings in the wall for both lunch and supper for both groups. However, Group 1 was not let out of the cage for all of the second day. The sanitary conditions of the cage soon decreased greatly, as they soon had to give in to the yearning of their bladders and bowels, designating a corner of the cage as the bathroom.
“I think I need to throw up,” said the younger woman in the cage.
“Just use the bathroom, would ya?” said Harry. The woman kneeled over the bathroom corner.
“Very attractive,” Harry said, staring at the woman’s rear end while she was losing her lunch.
“Oh, shut up,” the woman said after she had finished, wiping her mouth on her shirt sleeve. “This place makes me sick.”
“I can tell,” Harry said, looking at the pile of vomit.
“You must have a stronger stomach than I do.”
“Blondes,” he said, shaking his head. She scowled.
“Excuse me? What does the color of my hair possibly have to do with my weak stomach?”
“All you girls are the same. Can’t handle the heat. Or in this case, can’t handle the stench. Always melting under the pressure.”
“What do you know about pressure? You’re a construction worker! I know about pressure, buddy.”
“How would a cute little thing like you know anything about pressure?”
“I’m a journalist, and in that business, we need today’s news yesterday. I have bosses breathing down my neck for every story and article I write. Everything needs to be done now and it needs to be done perfect. Do you have bosses at your throat telling you to hurry up with the next stretch of pavement?”
“Well—”
“Oh shut up, seriously.”
“You know, you’ve been quiet so far, and I liked you a lot better that way.”
“Well I’m sorry,” the woman said, “but you pinched a nerve.”
“That’s understandable, being that you’re a blonde.”
“Listen here, I don’t need your chauvinist pig-head right now, I’ve got enough on my mind.”
“Like what?”
“Yeah, and I’m going to spill my guts to you.”
“Why not?” Harry said. “Have you got something else to do, somewhere else to go?”
“I think I’d rather talk to the wall.”
“Makes sense. It’s always good to talk to something that’s at least as smart as you and –”
“You don’t even know me!”
“I know enough.”
The woman crossed her arms and turned away from Harry, who had a wide smile on his face.
The six members of Group 2 searched every crack and crevice of the living and sleeping quarters, looking for a way out. A secret passageway maybe, or even just a sight of sunlight. Something to give them hope. But none was found.
Maria walked up to the glass and looked at Harry, and he was staring right back at her from his seat along the back wall. She smiled, trying to make contact. His facial expression didn’t change. She waved, he didn’t move. He leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes.
Maria sighed, and then tried to get the attention of the skinny man in the cage. He seemed to look near her, but never at her. No matter what she did, she couldn’t get the attention of anyone in the cage. Have they been told to ignore us? she thought.
“It’s a one-way mirror,” Bishop said from behind her. “They can’t see us.”
Maria scowled. “Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Another mystery.”
She nodded, peering into the cage. “We’ve got it made compared to them.”
“Well, at least we can’t smell them,” Jendy said, sitting on the couch and playing with her hair. “I mean, come on. Gross.”
“That’s the least of my concerns right now,” Bishop said. “I just wish we could help them out of that tiny space they’re in.”
“So they can what, be trapped here too?” Jendy replied. “I say, let them keep their smell in there, cause I don’t want it out here.”
Bishop frowned at her.
“It wouldn’t really be much of an improvement,” she said, “were they to be out here instead of in there.”
“They’d have a toilet and some more room.”
“So?”
“Maybe you should have been in there with them!” Bishop snapped.
Jendy gasped.
“Me? In there? Without a toilet and a soft bed? What are you crazy?”
“Do you think you’re some kind of princess or something?”
“I just know that I deserve better than they do.”
The other five members just glared at her. And Bishop snapped.
“It’s all about you, isn’t it? Let me guess. Rich parents. An only child. Never had a job. Never lifted a finger. Always got what you wanted. Every ounce of you has been spoiled. Well sister, it’s time to wake up and smell the crap, cause you’re in it.”
With that, she started to cry, and Bishop rolled his eyes.
“What a brat,” he said, walking back into the sleeping quarters.
“Calm down, Bishop,” Sally said, putting a condoling arm around Jendy.
“Calm down? Don’t you see where we are?” he said, his voice loud and aggravated. “We’re locked in this, this, this prison of sorts, for who knows how long. We can’t get out and we can’t contact anyone. I bet this was all part of their plan, we’ve been kidnapped!”
“Get a hold of yourself,” said Sally, calmly. “Getting upset won’t help anyone. I’m sure all this will be figured out soon and—”
“Yeah, okay, thank you, Mrs. Feathers,” he said sarcastically. “That may work on a four year old, but this is real life, not some kind of childhood dream world.”
“Well excuse me for not being a rabid pessimist. There’s always light at the end of the—”
“The tunnel? This is the type of thinking I’d expect from a preschooler, but a student, not a teacher! There is not always light at the end of the tunnel, not in real life!”
“Okay everyone, just calm down,” Alan interjected. “Fighting won’t help us—”
“Okay, Pastor Alan, I don’t need any more sermons, they’re not helping.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Do you think your God is going to save you?” Bishop looked at Alan, then at Sally. “Neither of you know the first thing about real life, about reality. I suggest you both wake up and smell the roses. Before winter is gone and the garden is dead.”
An awkward silence filled the air, and for several moments, everyone just stared at Bishop. Some with angry eyes, some with sad eyes, some with fearful eyes. Bishop looked at each one of them before turning around and walking into the sleeping quarters.
“He thinks we’re gonna die,” Jendy said. “Die. In here. You think we’ll get out, don’t you, Sally?”
“Of course, dear. We’ll be let out. Why would they leave us down here to die?”
“Somebody’s idea of a cruel trick, maybe,” said George, who had been sitting against the wall near the locked door. “Maybe we’re the experiment, and someone else is watching us.”
“I can’t imagine such a study being ethical,” said Alan.
“Well, the study we thought we were doing wasn’t ethical either,” George said. “But big corporations will do anything for a paycheck. I’m sure the government’s involved somehow.”
“The government? Why?”
“They’re always involved. Everything’s a conspiracy. The moon landing, the JFK assassination, September 11, the government loves to create a story. It loves the publicity, and the sympathy. Or the glory, depending on what it is they’re conspiring.”
“And why would the government put us down here?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure people will die to protect that information. It’s the way the government functions. They need something, they just generate it. It’s easier with physical goods or currency, but it’s still done with sympathy, anger, and hate. We’re just rats in the government’s maze of lies and deceit.”
Sally shook her head. “Do you always overanalyze things?”
“Do you always underanalyze things?”
She stared at him, before turning the other way.
“The government has all of us right where they want us, and most of the time, we don’t even know it. But they’re always watching,” George continued. “But not in my house. It’s spy-proof. I can do whatever I want in there, and the government hasn’t a clue. At least I don’t think they do. Next I’m going to spy-proof my car.”
The others started to ignore him.
“Someday, you’ll discover it; you’ll see everything the government has their hand in, all the places they’re meddling in that we don’t know about.”
“George, please—”
“You don’t even want to know the connection between Richard Nixon, a Russian butcher, and a band of gypsies that live in
Maria pushed the bickering away from her mind and closed her eyes. She thought of her children. She even thought about her ex-husband. She missed
And with that, she started to cry. Not just a few tears, but the waterfalls were unleashed. Large teardrops fell from her eyes, splashing on the wooden floor below. She fell forward, landing on her knees, then falling to the side and curling up in the fetal position. She wailed loudly and constantly.
Sally rushed over, putting a hand on her side and consoling her.
“I know it’s hard, dear, but we’ll all make it through.”
“That’s right,” said Alan, kneeling down beside her. “We must have faith.”
“I know…” said Maria, amid her continuing weeping. “It’s just… this was my big break. I’ve been through Hell, and this was supposed to be the end of it. All my troubles were going to be over.”
“Because of money?” Alan said.
“I really don’t care about money. But I had just recently started turning my life around. I had stopped the drugs, the drinking. I had been living on the streets, but I saw the potential for improvement, the hope for something better, which is something I hadn’t seen in years. The money could have been used to get myself back on my feet and show the world that I am a good mother. It could have helped me get my kids back. Now I’m stuck in this place, for who knows how long. And I bet nobody even knows I’m missing. Nobody ever knew where I was anyway, before I came here, I was just out on the street somewhere. In here I’m trapped, and out there I’m not even missed.”
Alan nodded sympathetically.
“Maybe there is a greater power at work here. A greater power than Mr. Boss,” he said.
“Like who? Or what?”
“Something higher, someone who sees everything from a different perspective. Someone like—”
“Preacher!” yelled Bishop, stomping across the floor towards him. “I said no preaching! We don’t need any false hope or hypocritical religious teachings here. We need to use our brains, not our hearts, to get us out of this place.”
“Sometimes, our minds get us into trouble, and—”
“Oh shut up, would you?” Bishop snapped.
Alan stared at him.
“I know you don’t think hope and faith have its place, Bishop, but what good does yelling and being upset do?”
“At least I’m not deceiving myself.”
Alan shook his head, and stood up.
“I know what you need, and its—”
Bishop’s fist slammed into Alan’s face, launching him backwards and into a table. He fell to the floor, blood pouring from his nose. Maria and Jendy screamed, and Sally ran over to see if he was alright. He stood on his knees, for a moment looking dazed, before finding Bishop’s blurred image in his field of vision.
“This is the line that you preach?” Alan said, holding back his anger. “Disagree with a guy and punch his lights out? This is the world you want to live in?”
“At least I’m punching the lights out of something that is real, not praying to some figment of my wishful imagination.”
“They’re setting all this up; they’re pitting us against each other,” George said. Everyone stopped and look at him. “It’s all part of their plan, to create this type of tension and hate. And we’re falling for it.”
A noise came from the cage. It was the sound of running and splashing water. The six people in the cage gasped as water starting pouring into it from holes in the ceiling. The small opening that was used to send in food had been closed, and the cage area started filling up.
Screams came from both the inside and the outside as all twelve of them panicked simultaneously. The water rose to two feet high, then three feet, then four feet. The human waste that had been in the corner of the cage started to float in the water.
“What is going on?” Alan screamed. “Mr. Boss, these people are dying!”
“And you’re going to watch them die,” Mr. Boss’ voice came over the speakers.
“How can you do this?” Alan yelled.
“Because I can,” Mr. Boss said.
Alan and Bishop banged on the glass, but it wouldn’t budge. The water was now six feet high, and the six members of Group 1 were floating up toward the ceiling. Seven feet. Eight feet. Nine feet. Soon only a foot of air was available. Their screams could barely be heard by those outside the cage. Those outside stood there silently, watching the legs of those inside kick to stay afloat.
Six inches of breathing room. Four inches. The young woman’s small body sank into the water, her eyes closed and air streaming out of her lungs.
“Ally!” Harry screamed from above, peering down into the water at the sinking woman. At that moment, the water stopped flowing. The hole at the bottom of the cage opened, and water rushed out of it and another drain on the bottom. Harry’s hand reached down and grabbed on to Ally’s arm, pulling her up and allowing her to breathe.
The water fully receded, and the six of them lay on the floor, exhausted. The six outside could only stare inside, hands over their mouths. Two minutes later, six plates, each with a piece of rich chocolate cake, slid through the opening in the cage. None of them were touched.
1 comment:
Another chapter, another mystery...
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