Jailbreak

Chapter 14

Jay

The mainframe of the aeroplane grates and creaks, warning signs and unceasing error messages of unknown cause squeal all around me.

I must have missed a part in the engine.

But I can't care less. I am too intoxicated with the infinite blue vault of heaven spread right before me.

I pull the control lever up with all my might, and the plane swiftly rises in altitude. Even though the ceiling of the cage is approaching rapidly, I raise my mouth into a dauntless grin.

I hear a crash, and somewhere deep in, it hits me that finally, after years and years of dreaming, years and years of suffering, and years and years of endeavour, my dream has finally come true.

It is all so bright, my eyes try to close unconsciously, but I force them open. I can't waste a single second of this moment.

The scenery spread out before me is something I could have never imagined in that dirty birdcage.

The wide blue yonder, brighter and bluer than I'd ever visualized, opens up above me. The beautiful sun, obstructed by nothing at all, shines warmly on my face. And below me, an ocean of bright crimson grass, filling the ground as far as the eye can see, waves gently in the soft breeze.

The grasslands are the same colour as Raven's eyes.

Before the grandeur of the vast sky and the boundless grasslands, all of my worries and problems seem small and pointless. I might just forget about it all, not even caring about the heated-up engine, nor whatever happens to the plane itself. Even if my very being were blasted away to some unknown place, it wouldn't be so bad. Because... I've finally gotten what I've wished for.

Because I am 'free'.

And everything disappears in a flash of blinding white light.

Raven

With a loud CRASH, Jay's plane breaks through the grimy glass ceiling of the Dome.

Direct sunlight comes shining through the hole made by the aeroplane, and the blindingly bright blue sky peers into the Dome.

And suddenly, as if an invisible wall has been broken down, everything comes rushing back to me -- the amazing, wonderful talent of dreaming and imagining, the fun, warm memories of building my dream with the ones I love, and the joy of being able to live -- it all comes back to me bright and clear.

I understand, finally, what I've wanted all my life.

Wait, take me with you--

And that moment, the plane explodes into a dazzling orange ball of fire.

The force of the explosion blows me off my feet, and I am thrown against the floor, knocked out cold.

I must have been unconscious for a few moments. When I open my eyes, I find flaming debris of the aeroplane raining down all around me, pieces of metal and plastic burning into nothingness. I stare around myself in a daze, not sure what to think, when I notice something familiar falling from the sky. It lands on the ground beside my feet, and I slowly pick it up, burning my fingers on the hot metal.

It's a pair of goggles, a matching pair of the ones I have around my waist.