The Doors are Gone

     “I am not mad, Jonas Barry,” she said, still staring forward. “I am only different.” She could have been laughing, but he didn’t want to assume. Assuming hadn’t helped in life thus far, for the first thirteen years. He was sure it wouldn’t help in the next thirteen.

     The room was absolutely square, more square than a room could usually be. Jonas looked hard at the walls, and had the feeling that this room was not part of Madame’s house. But how could that be? Such a thing was unexplainable. The walls were white, reflecting the yellow lights on the ceiling with intensity. Perhaps it was just the reflection that made the walls seem to shimmer, and move up and down. As if the perfectly square room were floating in the center of the house, a different kind of place than the other rooms. Jonas wondered, if Mimi, or one of the men with the names like his were standing outside the door, if they could see…

     Jonas’s mouth opened wide and he let out his lungs very quickly. Of course they couldn’t see, because the doors were gone. “Madame?” he asked, but he sounded like a thirteen year old boy that was scared to be left alone. He didn’t like that. Madame smiled and stepped close to him, putting her heavy arm around his shoulders. He was surprised that though her arm was slender, it was heavy.

     “It will be all right, dear boy. You’ll see your mother in one of these lives,” she said. That didn’t help him.

     “Where are the doors?” he asked. “I would like to leave.” The walls were smooth, shining, seemed to be made of light. A low hum was beginning, and rose to shimmer in his bones.

     “It’s too late, boy,” she said. Her face was no longer tender, but set, as if determined to do something. There was nothing in the room to do. “We’re going to be taken up. I need you to remove your shirt and shoes,” she said. Jonas only stared at her. She bent down and flipped off her boots. Jonas looked at her stockings, and his stomach began to squeeze tight. He thought of his mother, and wished she were on the other side of the light, waiting for him. The hum was very loud, and he gripped his head and tried to keep his thoughts in it. Madame leaned into his face and kicked at his feet, and he pulled off his shoes. The light was hot, and he followed her motion and pulled his shirt over his head. The heat came over his skin in waves, and he looked away from her bare, bony shoulders as she dropped her over dress to the floor. He stood up straight for a moment, but then a rushing whooshed past him and he crouched to the floor, afraid he would swept up and smashed against the wall.

     Roaring, roaring, roaring, all around him, pulling at his shoulders, his hair straight up, and then it was all gone.

     *

     “Oh my, Silla. What a funny play you have!”

     “It’s not my play. I only found it on the hill. I don’t know what to do with it. Should I touch it?”

     Jonas felt something flat rubbing his shoulder. His eyes were opened, and he felt as if he’d never closed them. He blinked to make sure he could. “Oh, I think the play is awake!” a little boy shout/whispered. Jonas rolled onto his back and looked up into the faces of two very small boys. He thought they were boys. Their hands hung at their sides, flat, with very short fingers at the edges of their wide palms. Their hair was bright blue, and standing up straight and bristly. Jonas stared at them, and his arms twitched without him telling them to. The boys scuttled back, their black eyes widening. “Oh, oh,” the one on the right said, putting his hand over his face. “Oh my, it really is quite a play, Silla.” Silla stepped close again, smiling and showing a mouth of sharp teeth.

     “Wake up, play. We’re ready for you,” he said.

     “I’m not a play,” Jonas said.

     “Waaah!” the one on the right said. “Don’t wake it, Silla. Put it back!”

     “I won’t hurt you,” Jonas said, sitting up. The blue haired boys ran backward, even Silla looking frightened. “Could you tell me where Madame is?”

     “Waaah!” they both screamed, turning and running with their paws over their faces. The hill Jonas was sprawled on was steep, but just when Jonas was worried that they were going to fall, they both made a little leap and tucked into balls and rolled off, disappearing into the orange sun-shadow below.