I awaken in the cold factory. I can’t think. How long have I been asleep? The loud clatter of heavy machines fills the air. I can’t move. I am lying limp on a conveyor belt. I see others lying beside me. “What is happening?” I wonder anxiously. After lying like this for a while, I feel the belt begin to move in a slow, jerky motion. “Help!” I scream, but no one seems to hear me. I fall uncontrollably, twisting and turning for what seems like an eternity. The fear is bubbling up inside me like a shaken up soda can. Abruptly, something breaks my fall. It’s so dark, I can’t see anything. I realize that I’m in a box with the others. We are about to be sent off somewhere, but where?
When the light seeps into my pitch dark box, I struggle to see where I am. There are so many of us packed in here. We’re crammed in like sardines in a can! What do they want with us? I hear a whirlwind of sounds. So many noises are coming at me at once; it’s so hard to think. I’m lifted out of my cardboard cell, and suddenly, I feel a rush of warm air. I feel light as a feather and a little dizzy. In an instant, I’m floating above all the others still in the box.
There is so much going on. Wow! Are those giants? I feel so tiny and confused. I hear the sizzling of a frying pan, some giants are laughing, one of the smaller ones is crying. That delicious aroma! It smells so good in here! I’m put in front of a desk where I can watch giants of all shapes and sizes walk in and out. There are many more like me by the desk now, too. Here I sit, day after day. I hear voices. “Smith, party of four.” What does that mean?
I see the bright and beautiful sun rise every morning, and see the sky fade from blue to orange to black every evening. What a glorious sight! I’d love to go and see that up close one day. But it seems like that will never happen. The same cycle repeats. I start to relax a little, and enjoy my surroundings. In my new world, I find it entertaining to listen to the giants talk and laugh. I find out that the smaller ones are called children. I like the children with their toothless grins and the bubbly way they talk. “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” I tell myself. But then, one of my kind goes missing. I wait and watch the sky change color day after day. He hasn’t returned. Neither have the other five that have been taken. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I fear the day I am chosen by the giants. Why do they let their children take us? Another couple of days goes by and I watch my friends be taken away. I begin to wonder if I’ll ever be chosen? What happens if I’m not chosen for too long? Do I just stay here on the desk, or do I suffer a more terrible fate? I sit another week before my greatest fear is realized. The terror stabs me as one of the children points to me. I am chosen.
It is late in the day when my fear is realized. I thought I was home-free for the night. I try to hold onto a glimmer of hope that it is actually someone else who was about to be taken. Alas, that is not the case. Call me selfish if you want, but I just don’t want this to be the day that I meet my demise!
Before I can object, I am grabbed. This is it, I think solemnly. It’s the end of the road for me. I am squeezed so tight that I think I will burst. The child carries me in one hand, and holds onto the giant’s hand with his other. It still holds onto me extremely tight as he brings me into a black box with wheels.
“Get in the car,” I hear. Oh, this is a car. I never saw a machine like this at the factory. I can’t tell what’s going on the entire time, but I keep shaking from the vibrations of the car. If this is to be my last day, what a relief to finally get to see the sky and feel the cool breeze. I spend most of the time trying to decipher what the bigger giants are talking about when they say, “Someone needs a diaper change.” Is that a metaphor for killing me? I start shaking like a leaf. I am just trying to push back the thought that I could die at any moment. When the bumping and vibrating stop, they whisk me away into a tan-colored building, and I think that THAT of all places is where my life will end.
However, when I enter, nothing bad happens. Turns out giants LIVE there, and not just the three that kidnapped me! There are two more small ones, and one bigger one. The small ones squeal with delight when they see me. They play with me, and they love me! They try to see how long they can keep me from touching the ground! Oh, how I love the games we play! It tickles when they throw me in the air. I love it there! I can’t believe THIS is what me and the rest of my kind had feared for so long! Oh, if only I could go back and tell them that there is nothing to worry about.
I stay in the building with the giants for many days. I lose track of time because I am having so much fun! One thing I don’t like, however, is when they rub me on the top of them in a weird fuzzy mess. I feel so warm! I feel a buzzing and a bit of a shock. What was that? Oh, wait. It’s me. The giants put me on a wall and I stick! WOW! I could be a superhero! Sticky-man!
After staying with the giants for a while, I learn I am in a “house.” I am learning so much and having so much fun! Unfortunately, all great things must come to an end. The children take me outside of the “house” to play one evening. Everything is fine for a bit, until a huge gust of wind whisks me away.
I am yanked out of the grasp of the child. I am caught up in the breeze, tumbling uncontrollably. He can’t get to me. He screams, and I watch helplessly as his tears began to fall. I started to ascend to who knows where! Up and up I go. I feel so upset and angry. I am scared and helpless. There is nothing I can do except watch the life I have come to know and love fade away. I know this is the last I’ll see of my newly found giant-friend.
I want to be saved! I want to go home! As I keep climbing and climbing upwards into the sky, I think all hope is lost for me, but then my eyes feast on the most beautiful sight. I see bright flashing lights on the ground that shimmer like stars! The world below me is stunning. The horizon is the best part, though. It is the dark orange color that I dreamed of seeing up close back when I resided on the desk. I think that this must be Heaven! It is so beautiful! If this is where I’ll stay for the rest of my life, I am okay with it.
I float there for what seems like hours when I begin to feel … odd. As I rise above the fluffy white clouds, I can see forever. This is the world I had longed to see. The sky is a mesmerizing deep blue that stretches on forever. Wait, what is that strange sensation? I feel like I’m growing. How is that possible? The pressure is too much to take. The higher I rise, the greater the pressure grows. Everything is so beautiful, but I am feeling worse and worse. How long will this last fo-
*POP*
Inlandia: A Literary Journey 