Kay-Lee Steps out

Finally, Freedom

How long has it been? How long has she been in here? She wonders if she has ever been outside. Her eyes have become accustomed to the dark, this dry little space is all she knows, she knows every bend and corner, every scratch and dent, and she has felt it all, seen it all, she knows it all. This closet, devoid of light, has been her home as long as she remembers. Not that she has a lot to remember, it's all one big blur, her past and her present, she can feel time passing, but how much she doesn't know.

Through the small keyhole that sits at chest height, she has seen another person, another world, one which is slightly bigger than her own, but just as lonely. She cried out but was ignored. She banged and bashed and bumped and knocked but was not heard. She tried opening, even breaking down the barrier between here and there, but made no progress. After spending a lot of time watching this person enter and exit this other space without noticing her even once, she gave up. Light would drip in through the keyhole and illuminate her surroundings, not enough to warm her or make the entire content of the room around her visible, just enough to tease her and reminder her that there exists another world out there, where she is not allowed.

She has learned all she could about this person, though she still hardly knew him, and has seen that on occasion he would reach towards the closet. She would sit with anticipation glaring through the gap, awaiting the day he would open the door. As if he was scolded over even thinking of opening up and exploring the contents of his own room, he would pull back, and continue his lonesome pattern of sulking. She could tell when he was in a head space where he would notice something, she knew by now when she should try to get his attention.

She looked through hole again, as she has done on so many other days, and there he sat. He looked as if he was missing something, she knew this look well. He is not always calm when he enters his room, at times he rages and screams and yells, he lets it all out and she hears it all, she feels it all, she feels his emptiness. Why could she feel what he did? This was the time to act, as when he feels like this, he usually notices things, anything, that might fill his void.

She knocks violently on the door, but he doesn't stir. She yells and begs, "Please, please let me out, I am right here, we can be friends, please just open up". He seems to have noticed something, but it doesn't take long before he shrugs it off. "Typical man, he isn't even paying attention" she sighs as she drops back to her seat, her back hits the wall. She loses hope of this being the day she gets to leave this place.

She looks at the light beam that flows through the keyhole. "Right, he will notice, he usually does after all" she mopes. Sarcastically she knocks two more times and then pleas for release with a hopeless voice.

"Why?" she ponders, "Why can he not notice me? Why am I in here? Is this how things are supposed to be? Maybe I was put in here for a reason? I don't want to be in here..."

"Help, let me out, it's dark in here, please open the door" she cries to herself. She hears a shuffle outside. 'He must be leaving again, good luck Chris, I hope you have a great day' she wishes him off. Even if he was not aware, he was her only friend, the only person she knew, and she really wanted him happy, if only she could tell him that. 'Why wish for what cannot happen?' she gives up again.

The hinges creek as the door slowly opens. A long thin slit in the frame opens up through which light seeps in, then it grow, until a giant portal of light stands visible before her. She pushes herself to her legs, her back still firmly held against the backing board. She springs a leak and tears build up in her disbelieving eyes. "The door... it opened, the door is open. What do I do now?" She known this space and only this space, she feels excited and yet scared, would she be able to function outside her familiar space?

"Is a-anyone... w-who is there?" a see-saw voice on the other end asks carefully. She knows this voice. He opened the door. He heard her. She is no longer alone.

Deep breath.

She takes a big step out, the floor sinking down much lower outside the dark room, she holds herself upright by placing her hands on the cupboard doors she knows so well. Her eyes slowly adjust to the tremendous brightness that now engulfs her. Her eyes open wider. A bleak, clean, empty room lies around her. The room is much bigger than her space, but just as empty and just as dull. This space which should be decorated with happy memories and living thoughts, is empty. The white walls practically beg to be covered, yet they lie bare. She sees a face looking at her in shock. There he is, and finally he can see her, and she can greet him.

"I... I have seen your face, you look familiar, I feel like I have been around you forever, but I... I don't know you. Who are you? What were you doing in my closet?" he stutters surprised.

She smiles. A tear runs happily down her cheek. "Hello Chris, I am Kay-Lee, and I know you, and you know me too, you just don't realize it yet" the worlds from her own mouth surprise her. She feels lock after lock popping open in her mind, she feels how her head is filled with knowledge, with raw data that still needs to form information, she knows all the answers, she simply cannot remember all the answers at this time.

"And as for why I was in that closet, I think you put me there, you were told to. It's okay now though, please just don't put me back" she finishes her sentence.