Shivering, Barbara opens her eyes, though it does little to change her view. Something….someone? steps on her foot, and she recoils at the pain of it. It’s dark – too dark – this isn’t nighttime dark.
It’s cold and the air is thick and hard to breathe. Everything is shaking and it’s crowded in here. A strong lurch to the left sends her stumbling 3 steps, into a soft wall of startled exclamation - which shoves her back to the right where she hits another soft wall full of chirrups. She braces for another corrective shove, but finds herself instead enveloped and held tight, suddenly secured against all of the chaos. She collapses into this stranger and begins to cry, suddenly realizing she’s afraid.
Barbara opens her eyes again to small beams of light, her view jostling with the floor, the light beams bouncing erratically, making it hard to see anything other than shapes – all dark, huddled together and crowded – not a lot of empty space in here. She remembers that she’s being held – hugged – and her body stiffens. Slowly, she looks upward until she meets the smiling gaze of a stranger. She jumps, taking two steps backwards, then tumbles as the floor shakes again.
Just then, light from above – a lot of light, it’s blinding! The floor upends and she tumbles further, seemingly forever, end over end until she lands in a soft bed of cedar.
“OOF!” she says, covering her ears against the frenzied cacophony of everyone around her jostling to get themselves upright - panicked and stepping on each other. She lays there for a minute, glad to be warm and out of the dark. “OOF!” she says again as someone hurries by and steps on her outstretched leg. She sits up with a start, bending her knees and tucking her feet beneath her to take in the scene – there are chicks everywhere, running about in no certain direction, stepping on each other and crying out in pain, confusion, and….fear probably.
Everyone is about the same size - no real outliers or obvious leaders. It’s a single room…facility? with a weird orange glow and a buffet featured in the center. Some of the chicks are already in line or eating, while others seem to be looking for friends or familiar faces. No one looks quite like her, she notices while scanning the room. The contrast is off – the tops of their heads blonde, while hers is more platinum - she’s lighter overall. She sees someone looking at her – staring. Smiling.
Barbara looks away quickly - left, then right, sure that someone else must be standing just out of view – someone who warrants the attention of this stranger. She’s nearly alone now, the buffet proving popular despite any of these circumstances. She swallows hard and stands up, trying to appear brave.
Taking this as invitation, Astrid swoops and is standing inches from Barbara in a blink.
“Hi!” Astrid leans close, eyes wide. Her eyes are so dark Barbara can only see herself looking back, so she looks away – all directions, suddenly overwhelmed. She takes a small step backward, recomposing herself and lifting her eyes again to meet this unfamiliar gaze, still fixated on her.
“Hello,” she musters, shrinking back into herself. She looks around again, seeing everyone else in clusters throughout the room – some still at the buffet, while others have settled along the wall to relax after getting their fill. “What is this place?” she asks, looking back at herself again in those dark eyes.
“I, uh,” Astrid blinks quickly, finally breaking her gaze and looks around, “don’t..uh, know.” She spots the buffet and perks up, any concern or confusion gone from her mind, “Hey, are you hungry? There’s food!”
“No..what?!” Barbara is immediately frustrated and turns to…well, she doesn’t really know what to do, so she stops. She reluctantly turns back to Astrid, “so you don’t know where we are, and you don’t know anyone here?”
Astrid looks around, black eyes darting from group to group before returning to rest on Barbara, “Oh, I know everyone,” gesturing casually around the room, “but I don’t know what this place is,” she looks up at the source of the orange glow and trails off.
What is wrong with this chick? Barbara wonders and sighs impatiently. “Can you help me or not?”
“Help you what?” Astrid asks, snapping back to reality. Her face is changed, it’s pinched in confusion.
As she opens her mouth to answer, she realizes - she doesn’t know. She doesn’t know where she is, where she came from or what she needs – she doesn’t know anything. Except how she feels – and she feels like she needs help.
“Help you what?” Astrid repeats, face still pinched.
“Never mind,” Barbara answers under her breath and pushes past Astrid to get something to eat, “just forget it!”
As Astrid watches her go, her gaze drifts back up to the soft orange glow. She likes it, it’s warm! - but she’s getting sleepy now. She yawns big and wide as she tucks herself in right where she is, as good as spot as any, and curls herself up to sleep.
Barbara nears the buffet and is disappointed to see it’s been fully picked over already, food spilt all over the floor and wasted. She gets what she can reach and gives up – she’s not very hungry anyway and finds an empty space near the wall to sit down.
I wonder where that girl went, scanning the room as she settles in. The orange light dances off of everything – and everyone. She feels warm and her eyes scan more slowly and drift higher with each passing. As her gaze meets the source of the glow, her eyes slip closed and she drifts off to sleep.
Barbara awakens again, trapped. She struggles with her whole body, but barely manages to wiggle. Something is covering her face – and the rest of her. It feels slick and smells awful but seeing no other options – she bites at it but can’t get a grip. It moves when she pushes against it to bite but doesn’t give enough to free any part of her body to fight. She keeps biting and biting - in a frenzy now, to no avail, and she’s feeling faint and too warm, I’m SCARED!
She’s lost all sense of direction and feels like she is floating – upside down, now, she feels like she’s going to be sick. Her stomach gurgles a threat and her muscles tighten –
-and she’s falling! She lands with a soft ‘thud,’ rolls to her side and covers her head.
A bit of shuffling and the lights go out. In the dark, she can hear rustling and a brief whimper. Barbara sits up and scoots backward until she meets a wall, then tucks her feet beneath her and starts to cry softly.
The room has an industrial feel and only a few windows – where no one can reach. It barely feels like a room at all, the floor is spongy, and the walls move when pressed, and now the whole thing is moving – distant lights cross the windows and the floor shakes and bumps.
Barbara has lost count of how long she’s travelled, and forgotten why she thought it might help to know. Lights pass the windows again and the ceiling opens to more lights just before the whole room goes sideways, sending Barbara scrambling to the new floor with a grunt. She rubs her eyes and looks out the…door? to bright light and grass. Everyone is rushing out, but she stays behind, still scared.
“
Hey! It’s okay, come on. We’re here!”
“Hey! It’s you! Who are you? Where is here? What’s happening?” Barbara puts her head in her arms and begins to sob.
“Don’t cry – we’re here.” Astrid moves to Barbara and lifts her head in her hands, “You don’t have to be afraid anymore,” she takes Barbara’s hand and leads her to the door – the whole world opening wider with each step. The grass! The sky! “We’re free!”