Beyond The Curtains

6

Today, I'm the one up early. Sara still lays in bed, truly exhausted from yesterday. She hasn't moved an inch since she half laid down on her bed. I don't know what time is, but I've been up for a few hours and it feels like it's late morning. Maybe ten or eleven. The sun is bright with light. But my optimism isn't as bright as it was yesterday. I'm beginning to doubt the fact that I'll ever leave this dreadful place. This place is tortuous, but physically, but mentally.

Everyday I've been here has felt like the longest day of my life. It all feels like one forever ongoing day that will never end. I worry that I will forget my roots and be stuck here like another one of this place's minions. It feels like I've been here my whole life because the days are so long. That's probably how everyone here feels, well I know Sara does at least. I hope she has a family. It would be awfully disappointing if we got out of here to find out that she doesn't have a family or relative. That she is all by herself in life. That's just a scary thought, hopefully it's not true.

Sara slowly rises out of bed after a long night in hibernation. "What time is it?" She inquires, ending with a yawn. She, at the speed of a tired snail, sit up in her bed. Her eyes attempt to squint through the sun to look at me.

I look at her. I have to stare at her for a second for it to click with me that she's actually awake. "I don't know. I think sometime in the late morning." I say, walking over to her bed. I sit down on her bed, ready to discuss something that has really been bothering me. I think, hopefully, she'll understand.

Sara is now sitting up. Her face screams 'confused' as I sit down on her bed. It's warm where I sit, she must of been laying there prior to now. "Do you think we'll ever make it out of this place? Like, I'd like to think that we'll happily make it out of here sooner than later. But I'm kind of worried that we'll be stuck here for eternity," I exclaim ending with an eerie sigh.

Sara's face saddens. She looks down and her bed and starts fiddling with her sheets that she was sleeping on top of. "I don't know if we'll make it out of here to be honest. I really don't know. But it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," there she goes again, seeming brainwashed by whatever this place does to people.

I grab part of the blanket and start fiddling with it myself, not wanting to face reality's challenges. "I don't want to give up, it never is an option. But this time it feels different, I feel changed. This place has changed me. I don't know how, but I feel different. I miss my old self. It feels like I lost my old self in a short matter of days. I don't know what's going on, but whatever it is, I don't have a huge urge to change. Usually I have motivation, but today I just feel like being bored," I end with another unwanted sigh. Everything suddenly seems pointless.

Sara doesn't looks up and continues playing with her sheets, avoiding eye contact as she speaks. "You literally just explained my life," she nervously chuckles. "I've wanted to leave since you came, but if you don't care about leaving, why should I? The whole reason I got so excited was because you got me so excited. You're always so happy, it's kind of annoying," she smiles for a minor second, showing a bit of hope, but not enough.

I look her straight in eyes, even though she won't look at me. "I want to be happy, I really do. Happiness is usually so easy and exciting. But now it suddenly feels like some sort of chore," I pause, reminiscing on the past. "That reminds me, my parents used to make me do chores. But they were the good type of chores, like playing with our dog. What's our dog's name again?" I think about out dogs name. A good few seconds pass by. Then more seconds. "Hmm...That's odd, I can't remember."

Sara chuckles, "Wow, you finally get me," she grins.

For some odd reason she thinks this is funny. I've heard and experienced a lot of funny things in my mere nine years living here. And I know, for sure, that this is not funny. I look away from Sara, feeling a tingly sensation on my face. Mom, Dad, I love you. I push my hands onto my eyes, trying to prevent tears. I start to see swirls instead of tears. It's odd, whenever I stop myself from crying I always see little designs. They sometimes cheer me up. But not today, or tomorrow, or the next day. That's probably how long I'll be stuck here, I frown.