We All Fall Down

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     I open my eyes and see that Marcus is still asleep, but it is dark outside now. I debate on whether or not I should go back to sleep or wake Marcus up. It is not until I feel my stomach rumbling that I decide to get up.

      "Marcus," I say and shake him, "Marcus," I say again, louder this time, continuing to shake him. "MARCUS!" I scream now since he still hasn't gotten up. I look at his chest, which is still moving.

      "What?" he says so quietly that I almost miss it.

      I smile in relief before speaking, "I need food, and water. We haven't eaten or drunken anything in a long time," I say to him.

      "Okay," he says and opens his eyes, sitting before standing up. "Look," he says and points to a pile of food set up about ten yards away.

      I know that it is a trap, yet my hunger gets the best of me. I start to walk towards it, my stomach growling louder and louder with each step.

      "Aria, stop!" Marcus says, annoyance in his voice.

      I stop and turn back to him, "I'm so hungry, and I think I see water in there. Even if it is a trap, we need food, and especially water."

      Marcus doesn't respond, instead he jogs to catch up to me, his hunger and thirst getting the best of him too.

      This is a trap, you will regret this. I think, but ignore my conscience, continuing to walk towards the pile of food and water until I get five feet away.

     Marcus stops and looks at the pile and then around it. "We shouldn't be doing this," he says to me and I know that he is right, but I ignore him.

      I continue to walk towards the pile until I reach it. As soon as I reach the pile I grab an apple and eat it, scarfing it down in less than a minute. "Here," I say to Marcus and throw him an apple identical to the one that I ate.

      "Thanks," he says and eats it; both of us completely forgetting that the food may be poisoned.

      Marcus reaches the pile of food and scarfs down the food with me; eating chips, fruit, vegetables, and eggs, savoring each bite as if it will be our last.

      Once we fill up on food, we each grab a bottle of water from the top of the pile and drink it before grabbing another one and stuffing them into our pockets.

      "We need to go," he says and looks around. "Something feels off."

      "Yea, hold on," I say and put a hard-boiled egg into my other pocket. "I'm ready."

      "Okay, follo-," he starts, but stops when a cage surrounds the pile of food, with Marcus and I still on top of it.

      "Well this isn't good," I say and grab the metal bars of the cage, shaking them, trying to find a weak spot in them, but failing to do so. "At least we have food and water," I say, trying to stay on the positive side.

      "Yea, we do, but what if this thing starts closing in. The bars aren't big enough for us to squeeze through," he says.

      "We need to get out of here, but take some of this food and water with us."

      "Okay," Marcus agrees and puts some food in his pocket. "Any ideas on how we are going to get out of this?"

      "Um," I say, unsure of what to do. "We can try to pry the bars apart," I say to him and grab two bars, and try to move them to the sides. The bars don't move, instead they give my hands blisters.

      "That won't work unless your secretly superman," he says and looks at the top of the cage, which is covered by a big metal slab, but not completely connected to the bars. "I know how we can get out," he says to me and smiles.