Caged In

Chapter 7

Skye left, and it was just Blake and Alyce in their cage. They would be in there for three days together, and so far there was just an awkward silence. With nothing much to do, Alyce spoke up. “Hey Blake?” she whispered.

He sat up, shifting his body to face Alyce. “Yeah?”

“Do you ever wonder about what it’s like on the other side of the wall?” she asked slowly.

“Yeah. All the time.”

“Well, what do you think it would be like?”

“Either pure happiness or pure torture, knowing this guy.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. What if it really was just pure happiness? Then, what if it was just pure torture? She shuddered.

Blake noticed. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” she lied. Because now she was really worried. What if Slate and Skye were being hurt in there at this very moment? Or worse; what if they were dead? Alyce brushed it off. She had never been in a situation quite like this before. Clearly she was overanalyzing. Slate and Skye are fine, she thought.

“Okay,” he said. “Well, if you feel bad…” he trailed off. “Never mind.”

“Okay. Well, thanks anyways.”

“For what?” he said, looking confused.

“For talking to me.”

He smiled, then turned away slowly. There was something about him. Something different. And Alyce liked it.

                Two days passed by, and it was Alyce’s last day on the boring side of the wall. Her stomach was growling, and just as she was about to start complaining, the man walked in with breakfast.

                “Thought I’d switch it up on the last day, Alyce,” he said. He slid in a plate of the usual, eggs and bacon, for Blake, and slid in another plate stacked high with pancakes. Alyce’s mouth dropped. How in the world would she eat all of them? “Enjoy,” the man said and left.

                “Um, how am I going to eat all of these? There must be like 15 of them.” She looked over at Blake’s plate. It was so small compared to hers. She slid the plate closer to Blake. “Take some,” she said. He picked up two pancakes and dropped them onto his plate. 13 for me, she thought. “Sure you don’t want more?” she asked.

                He laughed. “No, that’s fine. You know, you don’t have to eat all of them.”

                “True,” she said. She looked down at the plate and grabbed a pancake. She stuffed it into her mouth. She was hungrier than she thought. There went the second pancake, the third, the fourth. She lifted the fifth one to her face, took a bite, and then dropped it. “I think I’m done. You sure you don’t want any more?”

                Blake looked at the pancakes. “Maybe just one.” He lifted the pancake that Alyce had bit off of and took the one under it. “Thanks,” he said and then bit into the warm pancake.

                “No problem,” Alyce smiled.

                The day drug on and felt as long as weeks once used to. Alyce had drawn so many pictures that her notebook was almost full. The pictures were mostly Skye, Slate, and her brother, Blake. But one of them was a detailed picture of Blake, the boy who was sitting next to her in the cage. Her friend. It was of him looking to the left, staring at a blank wall, which is normally what he did during the day anyways. There was just something about it that made it special though…but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

                That night, Alyce fell into a deep sleep. Many dreams wandered in and out of her mind. There was her mom and her brother, crying. Alyce shifted a little bit in her sleep. There was Blake, her friend, crying about his family. Again, Alyce shifted. And then, there was an image of a big truck coming towards her. The picture zoomed out to show her father driving a car. The truck was coming towards her father, full speed. The image slowed and panned to the side. It sped up again, and the truck hit her father’s car, totaling it. She saw her father’s eyes close and she knew he was dead.

                Alyce shifted, trying to wake up. After many seconds, her eyes allowed her to open them, and she realized she was screaming. The next thing she knew, she was in Blake’s arms, trembling. “Sorry,” she said through her tears, but she couldn’t move.

                “It’s okay.” Blake released her, and said, “Just try to go back to sleep. Alright?”

                “Okay.” She noticed some concern in his voice as she lay back down.

                The next morning, she woke up with the old man’s face right in front of hers. “Wake up,” he mumbled. “I’m moving you into the other room.” Alyce sat up and turned to Blake. He was already awake, with his sketchpad and pencil in his hand, drawing something. She slowly stood up and sighed. And with that, Alyce walked into the next room, following the man, and discovered what it was going to be like on the other side of the wall.