Delilah was working harder than ever in her seemingly confined world. She bent down again, making her back scream in pain. Her thick gloves made her hands wet and slippery; the gloves slid off her wrists and she slid them back on. She looked up and stretched her back, making quite a few bones pop in the process.
“Nothing different seems to happen here,” she muttered to herself bitterly as the morning announcements finished. She grumbled and continued working after wiping away a concerning amount of sweat off her forehead. She continued working for a while after, taking occasional breaks to stretch or get water. Then something out of schedule happened.
“ATTENTION AREA 23. INSTEAD OF WORKING FOR TEN HOURS A DAY NONSTOP WITH THE ONLY BREAKS YOU GET BEING FOR LUNCH, YOU WILL BE WORKING FOR FIFTEEN HOURS A DAY. AND WE CANNOT PROVIDE LUNCH FOR YOU ANYMORE. YOU WILL NEED TO EAT A LARGE BREAKFAST AND WAIT UNTIL DINNER,” the announcement system blared. The announcement closing tune played, indicating that was all the news.
Delilah felt something bubble up inside her. It felt red-hot and ready to explode. She wanted to, needed to get rid of it. She wanted to scream, punch the Hoallies, or kick something around. How could they do this? The farmers of Area 23 worked hard enough. She never noticed before, but the working conditions were horribly harsh as it was. They couldn’t leave until the day was over. They had to work nonstop for ten hours, and now fifteen. A word came to her head: angry. She realized she was angry. She was so angry at the Hoallies for doing this. But she stood there, quivering in her red-hot bubbly feeling, restraining herself. Something told her that showing her feelings wouldn’t help the situation.
She pulled out the intertwined rings from her front pocket, making sure nobody was watching, and felt their comforting hardness and warmth in her hand. She felt herself calm down, and heard her mother’s voice in the back of her head.
“But, beyond the walls of The Confined World, where we live, lies The Unconfined. A utopia, said to have magical creatures living in it. Things called dragons. Something called magic. And the people are said to take whatever form they choose. It’s said to be a sanctuary for all who enter. And it’s clean, and beautiful. The grass is soft and green, and there are lush areas everywhere. The sky is blue and stars shine every night. It’s said to be wonderful,”
Delilah inhaled sharply. She slowly looked around, making sure nobody was watching her quietly slip the rings back into her pocket (only after she gave them a kiss, as she did every time she looked at them and put them away). She made it appear as if she was finishing stretching, dramatically pulling her arms above her head, then leaning forward, backwards, and side to side. She bent back over and continued pulling weeds. Then she tilled the dirt. Then she planted seeds. She continued acting as normal for the entire, painfully long day. However, she was barely present. She performed the tasks mindlessly, stuck inside her own head. A plan had formed in her mind, and she mulled on it the entire time she was working. By the time the day was over, Delilah was starving, exhausted, and shaky. There was scarcely any light peeking through the thick smoggy air, and she was stuck blindly searching her way to her room.. But, she managed to maneuver her way back to the concrete box. When she arrived, she got the same feeling of…sadness. And hopefulness. But she touched her pocket containing the rings, and that reminded her that she wouldn’t be in The Confined World for long. She felt at peace, and waited for Brisi.
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“Bri! I have something to tell you,” Delilah exclaimed upon seeing her roommate. She rushed over to the door and whipped it open. Then she snatched Brisi’s arm and yanked her inside the room.
“Lil! What’s gotten into you?” Brisi asked once they were inside the dark box of a room.
“You know the announcement today, right?”
“Yeah. I hate it,” Brisi responded bitterly.
“We can get out of here, Bri! We can escape!” Delilah cried. Brisi recoiled, looking horrified at the mere suggestion of leaving The Confined World.
“Lil! You can’t talk like that!” Brisi hissed. “We can’t escape! It’s not allowed!”
“But– Bri! It sucks here! We’re forced to work for so long, without any breaks, and we’re expected to be happy?” Delilah asked, using a new emotion word she just learned. “I don’t think it’s right. We should escape. Like, next week or something.”
Brisi stared at Delilah in shock.
“Look! I’ve gotten it all planned out and everything!” Delilah cried. “First, we snatch a whole bunch of food from the gardens and put it under our jackets, or in a safe space or something. We do this for a week, sneaking around and stealthily placing potatoes, or carrots, or beets, or anything behind the planter boxes, or behind a tree, or even in here! Then, on the day of our escape, we pack up all of our food and clothes in these scratchy sheets, wrapping them securely so nothing falls out. Finally, we quietly walk out of this Area, and all the other Areas, and go into The Unconfined! We can be safe, Bri! We can be happy!”
“The Unconfined?” Brisi asked. She began to say more, but her eyes went suddenly blank, as if all the emotion and feeling had been sucked out. Her expression warped from concern, fear, and confusion to a dull stare.
“I need to report this to the Hoallies,” she said blankly. Her voice was monotonous and contained no emotion.
“B-Bri?” Delilah asked, taking a step back. She felt something new. Something in her stomach, causing her to try and make herself smaller. “What happened?”
“I need to report you to the Hoallies. Stay put.”
She walked stiffly towards the door, paying Delilah no heed. She opened the door and walked out, not even bothering to close it.
Delilah began breathing heavily. Her thoughts raced, her hands shook, and her heartbeat began to quicken rapidly.
“What do I do, what do I do?” she asked herself. She was… she stopped to think. She was panicking! She paced around the tiny room.
“Okay. Bri is acting weird. She’s going to get me caught by the Hoallies. I’m going to be stuck here forever!” she cried. She felt like she could barely breathe; she sat on the floor and curled into a ball. She pulled the rings out of her pocket and stared them down, and felt a wave of peace fall onto her. She looked at the tiny gemstones winking at her. She took a deep breath, then stood up. She placed the rings back in her pocket after giving them a kiss, as she always did. Then she picked up the rough bedsheet and placed it flat on the floor. Then she wandered around the room, trying to find anything she would need to escape.
She picked up a water canteen and placed it on the bedsheet. Then she picked up an extra jacket, two extra shirts, and two extra pairs of pants. She looked around the tiny room, realizing there was nothing else she could take. Everything was bare and empty. She took the bare necessities, because that was all she could take. She securely tied the bedsheet into a sack, enclosing the clothes and water canteen. Then she turned to face the door.
This wasn’t allowed. Sneaking out past lights-out was a severe crime in The Confined World. But Delilah had to do this. She needed to find The Unconfined and escape the torture. She had to find it, for herself, and for her parents. She stepped out the door and began to walk, quietly, to a better life.
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