All The World’s A Cage

I was trapped. I just knew it. There was no escape.

The long and narrow walls gave the illusion of space, but they were closing in on me, forcing me into thoughts of dying a slow and tortuous death. The breath escaped my lungs, and my heart raced faster than I could ever run.

I pressed into the wall behind me with my back, giving me the steadiness required to put my feet up the wall in front of me. Though I pushed with all my strength, the invisible force aiming to take my life closed in on me. No windows to break. No trap doors, as far as I could see.

The shape of the white room changed as it enveloped me – first a rectangle, then a square. Then the pattern repeated, as though it followed a script of its own. I was losing air to breathe, and my own space to exist. I screamed, then instantly remembered no one could hear me. Tears welled up as I recalled my last memories of my girlfriend before they captured her and the post- apocalyptic world I had been rescued from. The men in camouflage and sturdy boots told me, as I was carried off in handcuffs, that my resistance was pointless, and that my submission was just a matter of time.They tossed me into a cage large enough to fit a gorilla, and told me I was the last of my kind on the planet. Terrified of my fate, they reassured me as they removed their helmets that I was perfectly safe. They smiled at me, then turned to climb into the cab of their truck.

They’ve already had to move me twice, because I wasn’t being a good girl for them. I attempted once to escape through the only window in the cold, dark cell they put me in. After I failed, they moved me to a place located right next to a guard, so he could keep an eye on me. I often saw him peering through the peephole in the door. I guess he was making sure I wasn’t going anywhere. The chains around my feet took care of that problem. I kept waiting for his interest in me to go away.

As the walls moved closer to me, I recalled a poem I’d written as a child. I recited this to myself as I fought the walls surrounding me:

do not fear what you cannot see
relinquish all that you are to me
what you believe in may scare you the most
when your life has been led by a long-lost ghost

drifting in and out of your life
destroying the dream to be more than a wife
remember the truth in your own little mind
that a world exists you cannot now find

As I recited this poem out loud, the sound waves from my voice bounced off the enclosing walls. I dropped my feet, and succumbed to my fate.

I heard gears grinding to a halt, and the sound of male laughter echoing outside the room. The deadbolt turned, and a guard I hadn’t met before poked his head in. “How’s it goin’ in here?”

I roused from my sleep, threw the covers off, and sat up immediately. I counted the pictures on the wall – five to be exact. The white-washed walls gleamed with cleanliness, and were, thankfully, still. Sunlight poured in from both windows, creating a display in front of me, as though two actors were missing from the ready spotlight.

“We have breakfast for you. Oh, and your family is waiting to visit. Whenever you’re ready, I can send them in.”  He handed me the script I had been waiting for. “You need to memorize these lines first. Remember, the cameras are on.”

He placed the tray beside my bed. After walking out of the room, he closed the door, locking the deadbolt from the outside. ⚢

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