Flight (new version)

Chapter 5: The Release

Something was grasping his throat. Its grip felt heavy like stone and crushed against his neck, sealing off the flow of oxygen. Max flung open his eyes and grappled at his throat to pry off the Thing. His fingertips brushed flesh, but it was only his own. Nothing else was there.

Choking and wheezing, Max sat up and continued to clutch at his throat, trying to massage it, to do something to make the invisible Thing let go. Whatever it was squeezed tighter like a snake coiling around its prey. Something hot seared Max's throat and he tried to cry out in pain, but no sound escaped. The hotness burned its way down into a dark space in his gut, and the Thing continued to squeeze. Max's body heaved, his heart shuddering erratically against his chest. The gray walls of the shack turned a fuzzy black and a distant ringing droned in his ears. He had sat up when the Thing first began to squeeze, but now he could feel himself falling back onto the floor, the blurred ceiling spinning nauseously before his eyes.

A bright light suddenly flooded the black. The fire inside Max burned with a scorching intensity, as though trying to get into something it had been locked out of. A strangled scream tried to force its way past the Thing but was once again cut short.

Go to the Land of Green and Gold, a quiet voice spoke. It seemed to echo in Max's head from far away.

Release.

The Thing let go. The fire dissolved. The light receded, and the room stopped spinning.

Max remained on his back, sweat soaked and body trembling as he gasped in breath after breath after breath. More sounds of desperate gasping drew his attention, and Max turned his head to see that the other slaves were also gulping in mouthfuls of air. Lucy, Hannah, and Mary were all still on their mats. George's mat had been flung away from the rest and the phoenix was now sitting up against the far wall, eyes wide with the remainders of panic. Mary moved to kneel next to Hannah who still seemed to be struggling to breathe, rubbing the old dryad's back and pulling back the graying hairs from her face. Lucy sat frozen on her mat, tears running down her cheeks.

Lucy!

Max sat up and motioned for her to come. The little girl immediately crawled into his lap and merged her trembling with his.

"What," George managed to croak, "was that?"

"I don't know." Mary frowned. "I feel different though. Lighter."

Max frowned as well.

She's right. I do feel lighter.

It was as if something heavy had been taken out of him. Like something that wasn't supposed to be locked up had just been set free.

"That voice..." Max mused. He glanced at the others. "Did you guys hear it too?"

George nodded stiffly, for once agreeing with him. "It said to go to the Land of Green and Gold. What's that?"

All eyes turned to Hannah whose breathing had finally returned to normal. The old slave didn't seem to notice them. Instead, she stared down at her dry, wrinkled hands, eyes wide in wonder.

Lucy buried her face into Max's shirt. "I'm scared."

Max stroked her back. "I know. I am too."

"Well. We're all alive," Mary pointed out.

George snorted. "For now. What if it happens again but doesn't stop?"

Lucy whimpered and Max glared at the phoenix. "Could you at least try to be positive? You're scaring my sister."

"Good. I don't care."

"What?"

"Calm down!" Mary urged before Max could get up and strangle George. She rested her honey-gold eyes on Max for a moment, then turned to George. "I don't think it'll happen again. I, I can't explain it, but it just feels right. Plus, someone instigated this—probably whoever told us to go to the Land of Green and Gold. They wouldn't try to harm us if they didn't want us following through with their instructions, right?"