John woke up abruptly. He’s not sure what it was that brought him out of slumber. He didn’t hear anything or smell anything. He turned over to kiss his wife but she wasn’t there. He thought that was kind of odd. He called out for her but there was no answer. He was going to get up and look for her but he didn’t feel like getting up. The fact was he was very comfortable. He thought to himself that this was the most comfortable bed he had ever slept in. He knew he should get up, but whatever was going on could certainly wait a few more minutes. He wanted to indulge in this comfort. He even thought of taking the day off from work.

Finally he got a hold of himself and sat up. What he saw startled him. The reason why his wife didn’t return his call was because he wasn’t at home. He was somewhere unfamiliar. He tried to remember how he got there but his memory failed. He tried to remember the last thing he could before going to sleep, but his memory failed him again. He just didn’t know where he was or how he got there.

He was in a small room. In addition to the bed he was lying in, he saw a simple dresser and a closet. A door led out of the room into a hallway. When he finally got out of bed, he noticed that he was wearing silk pajamas. They felt wonderful and he didn’t know why he hadn’t noticed it before now. He usually never wore pajamas, preferring to sleep in boxers so this was something else that was unfamiliar. He checked the dresser and found some shorts and a t-shirt. They seemed to be his size so he removed the pajamas and put them on.

Across from the small room was a bathroom. It was also simple. It contained a toilet and washbasin and was just barely big enough to fit in. The small hall opened up into a living area. The living area contained a plasma TV with surround sound speakers. John had always wanted a TV like this but could never bring himself to purchase one. John and his wife had two small children and there were always expenses that had to come first. He found the remote and was tempted to turn it on. When he finally got the courage to do it, a football game appeared. There was something odd about the game but John couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Next to the living area was a small kitchen. John found that he was hungry so he turned off the TV and checked to see what was in the refrigerator. He found some bacon, a carton of eggs and a pitcher of orange juice. When he checked the cupboard, He found some English muffins and also noticed there was a toaster nearby. As he was preparing his breakfast something occurred to him. This was the third thing in this house that seemed like it was there just for him. The bed was just like a bed he always wanted. He also always wanted a Plasma TV and when he first woke up he thought that it would be great to have bacon and eggs for breakfast. It couldn’t just be a coincidence.

He ate his breakfast at a small table. There was only one chair which meant that he was the sole occupant of where ever this place was. His family wasn’t joining him. It seemed to him that his family was probably safe at home wondering what happened to him and that he was the one in peril. The thing was that it didn’t really seem all that dangerous.

As he was eating his breakfast he heard a knock at the door. He had assumed that he was alone in some kind of cage but he didn’t know why he thought that. It was probably because of the odd things that had happened to him. He got up and went to a door in the living area which seemed to lead to the outside world. He opened the door. A women stood there. She was around his age. She had long fine straight black hair which went down her back. She was also wearing shorts and a t-shirt and she had flip flops on her feet. John just stared at her. He had seen her somewhere before but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. After a few minutes the woman spoke.

“Hi, I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood” She said in a cheerful voice as if everything was completely normal. John didn’t answer her.

“Are you ok?” she asked. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

John came to himself and joined the conversation. “I’m sorry. My name is John. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I thought you might like some cookies.” The woman said. She handed John a plate full of chocolate chip cookies.

“Thank you” John said again. He wasn’t really sure what else to say because he was still in shock.

“Maybe, I’ll see you later.” She said and started walking away. John stared at the sway of her hips and felt a twinge of guilt because he found her attractive and he was married to somebody else. As he watched her walk away, he couldn’t shake that feeling that he somehow knew who she was but he just couldn’t remember.

He watched her walk down the street and as soon as she was out of sight, he decided to take a walk of his own. Houses lined the street. Each house had a well-kept yard and looked like they had just been constructed. He saw no other people. He went up to several doors and rang the bell but nobody ever answered. After a while he started trying the doors and found that they were all unlocked. As he entered several houses, he further found out that they were all the same. The layout of each house was exactly the same as far as he could tell. The whole thing was odd. It was like he had been placed in some kind of ghost town. The woman was the only other person he had seen and somehow he was sure he would see her again.

He returned to the house he had woken up in. As he walked through the house he noticed a room he hadn’t seen before. As he entered he saw a table with an unfinished model of the U.S.S. Indianapolis.

“That’s funny” he thought, I was just thinking about putting this model together the other day.

John didn’t have anything to do. If he was in a prison, it was a comfortable one. If he was in a cage, He could not see any barriers that needed to be broken through. There was no clear purpose to focus his energy, so he focused it on building the model.

As he looked around he found some model paint. He had never had the patience to paint the individual pieces of a model, but since he seemed to have a lot of time on his hands, he decided that now would be a good time to start. He looked at the instructions and started to carefully paint different pieces. The reason he never did this before was because he never wanted to wait for them to dry. He was always anxious get on started on the next step in the instructions.

Once he got absorbed into what he was doing, he started to enjoy his task. It had been a long time since he did anything for the fun of it. For the past few years, he had focused his energy on working, and taking care of his family. His efforts left little time for any personal gratification. He felt another twinge of guilt, he was enjoying himself while his family was somewhere else trying to get by without him and there was nothing he could do about it. Without the income from his job, his family would lose all their possessions. His wife would have a nervous breakdown and his children would grow up never knowing what happened to their father.

He put down the paint brush and model piece. He had to find out where this place was and why he was there. A wave of helplessness washed over him and he fell to his knees and started crying. He didn’t deserve to be plucked away from his family. He had never done anything to anybody. He had always followed the rules of society and lived a peaceful life.

For the first time the fact that he was alone became real to him. The house had been quiet the entire time he had been there but it didn’t bother him until now. He went into the living area and turned on the TV. The football game he was watching earlier was gone and was replaced by a movie about a man trapped on a deserted island. The man in the movie was talking to objects that were not alive in an effort to keep his sanity. John wondered if he would end up like that.

There was a knock on the door. John didn’t hear the knock at first because he had fallen asleep. He didn’t realize how tired he was until he sat down. The sofa was as comfortable to him as the bed was and slumber overtook him. Now he was startled to consciousness.

He opened the door to see that the woman who had come to welcome him earlier was back. She was wearing blue jeans and regular shoes. She had a t-shirt on which seemed a size too big. John was sure he had seen her somewhere before. There was something familiar about her but what it was eluded him.

“I thought maybe we could” She paused for a moment as if she had forgotten what the next word was supposed to be, but she recovered quickly, “hangout”. Her voice sounded innocent, there was no pretense in it or hint of obligation. The way she spoke seemed familiar to John, but he still couldn’t place what it was that he recognized.

“Please come in” John responded and moved to one side to let the women enter. She entered the room and looked around. When she saw the TV, she got excited.

“Let’s watch something on TV, you pick” She said barely containing her enthusiasm.

The whole thing seemed odd to John, but he had to play along because he wanted to find out what was going on and this women was the only person who might be able to tell him. He turned on the TV and this time the football game was back on.

The woman studied the action on the screen. “Is this some kind of game?” she asked.

“Its football” John answered.

“How is this game played?”

John tried to explain how to play football. With each explanation, the woman had another question. Finally she said, “I would like to see more of this game.”

John sat down on the sofa. The woman curled up next to him and put her head on his shoulder. He looked at her a bit surprised but nothing she did seemed forced or out of character, whatever that was. As they sat and watched the game on TV, John finally realized what the woman had reminded him of. The woman sat next to him in the same way that his little girl back home would sit next to him when they would watch something together on TV. She would put her little head on his shoulder and he would put his arm around her and she would smile. John put his arm around the woman and she smiled without looking at him. She seemed content. Although she looked like a woman, John had the realization that he was dealing with a child.

Chapter Three - https://theprose.com/post/216573/the-cage-chapter-three

Chapter Two - https://theprose.com/post/215820/the-cage-chapter-two

Chapter One - https://theprose.com/post/215061/the-cage-chapter-one

After a little time had passed and nothing was said. John decided to try to pry some information out of his visitor. “Where am I?” He asked the woman in a low encouraging voice. He decided to use the voice he used whenever he was trying to coax something out of his own little girl.

“You’re here with me.” the woman replied.

“But where are we? What is this place?” He asked again in his nice encouraging voice.

“I’m getting hungry” She declared, completely ignoring the question that was put to her. “What is your favorite thing to eat?” Before John could answer, the woman got up and walked into the kitchen. On the stove she saw a pan with some chopped up ground beef. In bowls on a table she saw tomatoes, shredded cheese, lettuce, and avocados. Next to the pan on the stove there were tortilla shells. “What is this?” She called to John who was still in the other room.

John walked into the kitchen. He had a hard time believing what he was seeing. He was just thinking that Taco’s would taste good right about now. He was starting to think that maybe it wasn’t a coincidence. “It’s a Taco” He replied, “I was just thinking it would be nice to have one right now.”

“It looks good, would you make me one” after a few moments passed she added “Please?”

John made her a taco with all the toppings and handed it to her, he showed her how to eat it and she took a bite. “It’s really good.” She said joyfully. She ate the rest of it quickly. When she was done, she tried making another one herself by doing the same thing she saw John doing. When she was done she seemed very pleased with herself and handed the taco to John. “Here, I made one for you.”

John took the Taco and ate it. It tasted just like the Taco’s his mom made when he was a little boy. A flood of memories rushed through him. “Would you please tell me where I am?” John asked again.

“You’re here with me. Don’t you like me? You don’t like me!” The woman exclaimed. She broke down and started crying. It was completely irrational. He needed to figure out something to do to get back home but he wasn’t getting anywhere with the woman.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I do like you.” John said trying to reassure her.

The woman’s feelings were hurt and she replied coldly, “I need to go now”. She got up and left. John had failed to learn anything meaningful and wondered what he should do now.

John had begun to notice that things would appear based on his own preferences. He had always thought that the bed he slept on with his wife was too soft, but he never complained about it because it was just right for her. Now he could sleep in a bed that was just the firmness that he wanted. Twice, the type of food he felt like eating mysteriously appeared in the kitchen and the last time he didn’t even have to prepare it himself. Finally he had the TV he always wanted but could never afford because there were too many other things he needed to take care of first. He wondered what else he could make appear out of nowhere.

One of the other things he had always wanted was a hot tub to relieve the stress from a hectic day at work. If there was a hot tub around, he was sure it had to be outside somewhere. He went into the kitchen to see if there was a door to some kind of backyard that he hadn’t noticed previously. He was quite sure that it wasn’t there before, but now there was a sliding glass door that led from the kitchen to the backyard. As he walked outside, he could see a small fenced in yard with green grass and flowers. There was a bench swing and to one side there was a hot tub. John found the controls and turned the thing on.

The water felt really good. He didn’t realize how much tension he had accumulated until the jets push the warm water over his tense muscles. He tried to relax. He was in his own little paradise. He had no worries, he didn’t have to work for anything and it seemed he could have anything he wanted. He looked up at the sky. There was light but no sun or clouds. In fact the light had been the same brightness it had been since he first noticed it when he went outside hours ago. He reasoned he must be inside of something and that something was huge. Maybe some kind of cage. There was the woman, was she also trapped in the cage with him? Maybe she didn’t know any more that he did. Maybe this was some kind of experiment. He needed to find out what was going on. The hot tub had relaxed him to the point that he felt a bit sleepy. He thought it would be nice if the brightness was dimmed somehow. Soon after he thought it, the brightness did dim until it resembled a moonlit night. Then he thought how nice it would be if he could see stars. He was not sure when the stars appeared, but soon they were there. Finally he thought he would like some lemonade and looking over to a small table he found there was a glass there waiting for him.

John slept that night like a log. He couldn’t help it because his bed was so comfortable. When he woke up, He had the breakfast he wanted waiting for him and all he had to do was eat it. He could get used to living like this except for the guilt he felt that he could not take care of his family. He could not allow himself to be lulled into a life living for his own pleasures. He decided that he would try and reason with the woman again the next time she shows up.

He went outside and walked down the empty street. His first thought was that he would like some company. When he turned the next corner, he practically bumped into a man. This man was older and he looked familiar to John as well, like the woman did earlier. But again he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” John explained.

The man looked John over before answering, “It’s alright, no harm done.”

“Do you know where we are?” John asked hopefully.

“Of course I know where we are.” The man answered.

“Could you please tell me?” John asked.

“I will, but you’re not going to like it.” The man replied.

“Why is that?” John said losing a bit of his enthusiasm.

“You’re a pet in a cage.” The man said.

“Seriously?”

“Even if I told you where you were in space, you would never believe me.”

“I’m somebody’s pet!” John said in disbelief.

“That women you met earlier, that’s your owner.”

“It’s not right to keep somebody against their will!” John protested.

“You think because you’re self-aware that you’re something special?” the man retorted “You think that you have some sort of right to freedom?” The scene changed instantly and without warning.

John found himself chained deep inside a wooden ship. The ship bobbed up and down like a cork on the open ocean and John felt like he was going to throw up. He looked around and there were other men who were chained up like himself. The sight disgusted him. The man was standing in front of him.

“Look around you John, do you think it matters that these things are self-aware?” The man spoke with an emphasis on the word ‘things’, “You hurt my little girl’s feelings and now you are going to be punished.” After saying this the man vanished into thin air.

John had been stuck in the hold of that ship for hours. He had already thrown up twice. No one had given him any attention and he was starting to become hungry again. He had tried to think of another place to be, hoping that the cage would change his location but nothing he thought of happened. He could tell he was being punished and that the point was that if he didn’t behave he would be punished again.

After a few more hours, he saw a person. It was the woman who visited him earlier. She walked around him like she was examining him and after a few moments more she spoke.

“I see you met my father.” She said this in a matter of fact like manner. “I can also see that he wanted to teach you a lesson.” She paused for another moment. “So tell me did you learn anything?”

John wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. He thought for another moment but didn’t wait too long to answer. “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings. I really didn’t mean to.” John tried to sound like he meant what he said. He had a lot of time to think about his situation and the truth was that he felt humiliated to think that he was the equivalent of the family dog.

The woman smiled. “You’re forgiven.” She said and immediately the scene changed back to the house where he first woke up. “Now to make it up to me, take me somewhere fun”. John realized that this was not a request but that this was an order.

The first thing John thought of was an amusement park full of people. Soon after he thought about it John and the woman were standing on a boardwalk. There were different sort of games that went up and down the boardwalk along with various rides.

“This is amazing” the woman said, “What should be do first?”

“First,” John said, “You need to taste cotton candy.” They walked up to one of the vendor’s and John bought some cotton candy and gave it to the woman. When she bit into it there was a look of surprise on her face. “Wow, it melts when you bite into it.” They continued to walk down the boardwalk.

“What is that?” she asked pointing to the roller coaster at the far end of the boardwalk.

“That’s a roller coaster, these cars ride on tracks really fast and go up and down. I don’t know how to describe how it feels, do you want to ride it?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed. After the ride was over, the woman had trouble staying on her feet. She was a bit dizzy and didn’t know how to explain it.

“What did you think?” John asked.

“I don’t know if I like it or not. It was a very strange feeling. I will have to think about it.”

“There is something else you will have to try.” John said.

“What’s that?”

“Hot Dogs!” John exclaimed as he approached a hot dog vendor and bought two hot dogs.

“Thank you.” The woman said.

“Your welcome.” John replied

“I have to go now. I’ll see you later.” This time the woman vanished right before John’s eyes.

“Goodbye” he said after she had already left. He was becoming fond of her. She asked so many questions about the things that she saw and did. She was very curious but she also seemed very innocent. He realized that he would never see his family again. He would live out whatever meaningless life that was left to him here in his comfortable cage.

He spent the evening like he had spent the previous evening, relaxing in the hot tub. He made the sky dim and he also made the stars to come out again. The lemonade appears on cue and tasted as good as any lemonade he had ever tasted before that.

John woke up the next morning. He went through the motions of eating breakfast and taking a shower and getting dressed as if he had someplace to go. He went outside and with a thought he adjusted the temperature of his enclosure and the brightness of its lights. When he was satisfied that everything was to his liking, he took a walk.

He walked down the street with the rows of houses that nobody lived in. He wanted a change of scenery. He was starting to get pretty good at causing things to change and what he thought about was a park where he went hiking once as a kid. The scene changed and he found himself on a dirt path. There were trees all around and he could hear the sound of wildlife. He started following the path. The smells were just like he remembered them as well. He was amazed at how advanced the technology must be to provide him with such a realistic environment.

After walking a few more steps he realized he wasn’t alone. He wasn’t sure when it actually happened, but the woman he had spoken to first appeared to him again. She was walking beside him but she didn’t say anything.

“Could you show me where I am? “ John asked. “I mean where I am in space. Your father said I wouldn’t believe it if he told me but I want to see it. Please?” The woman still didn’t speak but the scene changed again. John was standing on a lifeless rock. A large planet was nearby. It was a mix of blue and green in color and John couldn’t stop staring at it.

“Is that where you live?” John asked again. The woman nodded but still didn’t say anything. “And I am alone inside some sort of structure on this asteroid?” The woman did not respond. John looked in amazement at what he was looking at. He had no idea where Earth was. He had no idea where in space he was himself. He could see that there was no way he would be leaving this place alive.

“Could you show me where you live?” John asked. The scene changed once more and he was inside some sort of living quarters. There was something that resembled a bed and something that kind of resembled storage, but John wasn’t really sure. He saw something that looked like it was alive hooked into something that looked like it could be a machine. John had a hard time processing the things that he saw.

“Is that you?” John asked, pointing to the living thing. The woman nodded.

John thought about the house that he first woke up in and he was there. The woman was there as well. “I had a wife and two children back on Earth.” John finally said, “I miss them very much and I’m never going to see them again.” John sat down and starting crying.

The woman wasn’t sure what to do. “Please don’t cry.” She pleaded. “I’m sorry that you will never see them again and I’m sorry for making you cry.”

“I know that you didn’t mean to, sometimes the things we do cause other things to happen that we didn’t think about.” John and the woman sat there for a long time without saying anything more.

John thought again and the scene changed. He was now standing at the edge of a cliff. The sky was dark and stormy and the wind was blowing. The woman had a puzzled look on her face as she did not quite know what was going on.

“I’m sorry.” John said, “I don’t have any bad feelings toward you but I can’t live like this.” John took a step toward the cliff. As he looked down, there were jagged rocks below. If he jumped he would surly die. The woman ran toward him and fell on her knees.

“I love you. Please don’t do this.” She pleaded. Her face was filled with horror. She started crying uncontrollably. John stepped off the cliff.

John started falling. He felt completely free. The spray from the storm hit him in the face and he let go of all his struggles. In a few moments he would be at peace.

In a few moments the end would come. A few more moments passed and the end didn’t come. John didn’t understand what was going on. A few more minutes he passed out.

John woke up strapped to a table in a dimly lit room. The Woman’s father was there, “Where am I?” John was still a bit disoriented.

“You’re in what you would call a mental health facility. You are strapped down for your own protection.” The man explained, “You have a mental illness and we are going to cure you of it.”

“What are you talking about?” John was not quite following along yet.

“We can change the part of your brain that is causing you to want to do harm to yourself. You’ll then be happy”

“But I won’t be me anymore” John protested.

“My daughter can’t bear the thought of you dying.” The woman’s father explained.

“Can she bear the thought of you making me somebody else?” John shot back “I don’t hate you or your daughter, as a creature that is self-aware, let me decide my own fate.” John knew he had no control over his own fate but he pleaded to end his life anyway.

“As your owner, I will let my daughter decide your fate.” The woman’s father relented.

The woman came into view. She was there the whole time only John could not see her. “We can make you happy.” The woman said

“I love you” John told her, “But if you change me I will be somebody else. If you really love me, you will let me die.” John was hoping that this last plea would appeal to her emotions, if she truly had any.

“I do Love you” she said sobbing as she left the room. The woman’s father came back into view.

“It’s been settled then.” HE said. He took a needle and injected John in the arm. John faded into nothingness.

THE END