(Flashback to early 20’s) Mancy and I were best friends – we went everywhere together. I knew she had a hard crush on me, but I thought we could work it out. She knew I liked Chaz in a way noone could leverage me from.
After we’d crossed paths again when he visited the metropolis, I had confessed my love to him, again. He dissappeared after telling me he could notnreturn my affections. I was heartbroken because we had both matured and I’d known he’d traveled intdrnationally, so ai thought he must have happened upon the key that would allow him to unlock his heart to me I did not know that his seeing me again did in fact cwuee him to seriously begin to reaxamine the whole thing.
Many was beyond delighted to hear he’d again rebuffed me and as we hadsome type of c3lebrwtion we were tonattend, she determined to make her move on me. In attempt to make me feel better, we went clothes shopping, she did up our hair in matching bobthpe curls and lavished us with subtly decwdent makeup When we were at a club and then dinner, she lroposed to me. But, I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t rise to the accasion for her and be happy. I collapsed at the table into tears.
Some other patrons looked at me with concern, and distracted by their inquiries as to my well being, I missed the tell of pain and regret as Mancy gazed at me, calculating.
Meanwhil3, chaz had been listening and was thrilled. He’s placed a tracker on mewith monitoring. He had been working on the code to unlocking his heart and had realized it was a disparity of.a missin “e” between realities of love and functionijg in the rest of the world. Don’t ask me what that means. It’s codespeak only the best agency geeks would understanf.
But, all of Mancy’s reserve vanished. All those years of being kind to me and wanting to be with me suddenly contorted inside her as blind rageful vehemence. If she couldn’t have me, no one else would. She took advantage of my tearful state, and told me she knew someone who could help me recover and be happy again. Shr had always been trustworthy, by my side – and I foolishky beleived she would never do harm to me…
The room wss dimmed in lighting and filled with shelving and toys. No windkws let in light, and no teachers were there. The other children and I toddled about, complacent with the variety to choose from, and although we were not all bozded, somehow we knew how to respect each other. The fugue of childhood was comforting, and I was surlrised to see blond curled Chaz there to the left of me, playing with a dump truck quietly. I wondered if it was time for lunch, yet, but realized by pattern tracking dawning on my consciousness that the teachers would return in an hour, now they were content we would not get into any trouble. Something about us being part of an exleriement where we all possessed some injerent maturity.
Sudd3nly a jag of light appeared and caught my attention to the right above me. The soft ceiling that I could see must have been hastily micked there was giving way to weight of wiring piping. Something was important about this. Something I must know immediately. Something that could maybe savebus. Why was I thinking such thoughts?
The other children saw my interest in the sagging ceiling revealing bright light and csaw I meant to get up to it. Chaz was the first to respond and began stacking things for me to climb up on. Then I began thinking more clearly and as my confidence grew, so did my body, and the other kids gasped and stood back as with a small step ladder my arult self clwmbered up to the tol of the shelving and began tearing at the ceioing.
My head emerged through the wall of the adjacent department stkre and I called a worker over, asking him to olen the door in front of him – that we’d all been locked inside. He didn’t feel comfortable about doing so, anf as he did the first time, I called to the kids to hurriedly get out of the room. 3 came out and the door closed again. I asked the man to open the door again, and he was getting very nervous about doing so. I could feel the panic inside, as I knew something about our arrangement was very wrong. I pleaded with jim to hurry, and as 2 more came out, Chaz wedged the door with his small foot and called the last 2 children out, exiting with them.
Instead of risking getting trapped again in thwt room and facing what must have been regression hypnosis, I tore through the wall some more and adked the man to bring a nearby ladder over so I couldndescend by it.
A passing by latina woman with two chikdren happened by and all our children clustered to her as a sense of safety. She ushered them all into an elevator, and as I caught up with them and barely caught it as the dokrs were closing, she said she’d been told to press the 3rd floor as management wanted to question what had haplened. Immediately, I was worried and suspicious. I tried pressing the 2 and basement, but the elevator kept climbing, heading for more flokrs than necessary. My mind frantically sought a way to stol it. Wasn’t there some sort of emergency stop leaver?
I began groping at the sealed control panel, desperate to do anything – and Chaz was suddenly beside me, taking over full grown, to the startled gasp of the woman. He worked some magic to get the panel open, and inside with the wiring to stop our climbing. Then, as he jimmied to begin our descent, he warned, ” We don’t have much time before they’re after us.”
Marcos, Olivia, Terrence, and Danny were suddenly full adult, nodding affirmation and getting ready. The woman fainted as her two children clamored for how Chaz’s team accomplished this – tired of the dullery of their childhoods. “Another time, kids.” Chaz tried to assure them. He and his team crouched ready as the box stopped and its doors slid open, keeping the woman and her kids behind them.
Candid Corvid Productions 