The Cellmate

         

{fon                    t:times}The Cellmate

          I wake up out in the wilderness camping with my friends. Waking up more tired than usual, I start to leave my tent to go see if anyone else is awake, but as I exit, I am struck by something hard. I recoil in pain. Thinking I just hit my tent, I try to get out again, being more careful, I again hit something hard. This time it made a big thudding noise, and my friends came out.
         "Are you ok?" asked my best friend out of the three; named Racheal.
          "I can not seem to leave my tent without hitting my head." I said asking for help.
          A friend of Racheal stared at me suspiciously.
          "Why in the world are you in my tent?" she asked eyeing me.
          Suddenly, the tent transformed. It starts getting taller, so I could stand up, and longer so I could pace three steps from edge to edge. Then the tent transformed into jail-like-cell. I was in shock, but not in as much shock as my friend Racheal who just stared at me blankly.
          "O- oh." Said the owner of the tent.
          "What do you mean "oh"?" I say in shock "This is your tent why, so in the world is it a jail cell?"
          Everyone looked at her waiting for an answer.
          My other friend: Myla who can be quiet said "There is no way she kno-"
          "She should know" I convince myself "Let me out, now" I say getting annoyed.
          "Sorry, I can't do that; I can make it more comfortable for you though. Would you like a drink?"
          "Yes, I want a drink" I say sarcastically. "Not to get out of this stupid place" I yell.
          "Why can't you help her?" Racheal asks curious. "she will probably fit through the bars, and if not, I could fit in and help her."
          All she did was shake her head condescendingly, as if she knew it was not going to work. She was right though, I could not so much as put a hand through because the bars would change shape blocking the area I was trying to go through. Then Racheal started to try and get in and I suddenly could not breathe. Gasping for air, Racheal did not notice as if it were invisible to her, until her friend pulled her back.
          "Look at her. Can you not see she is getting hurt?" she said not really asking her.
          "Sorry" Racheal mumbled to the ground, but I knew it was meant for me. "Maybe we should try later, in the meanwhile let us make food."
          We went through out the day and we found that they could pass me food through a hole large enough to fit a tray or a small plate through. There is no cell reception, so Myla left to go and get help. Despite everything I was still happy to be able to spend time with Racheal; it is very rare that we could hang out together.
          I know that Racheal's friend is the one giving me food and all, but I can not help but blame her. It was her tent so she must know something, and she does not even seem upset that her tents gone, that is not even considering the fact that she did not even try to help me. I nicknamed her the Faker, since somehow Racheal does not suspect a thing.
          A couple days go by without, any event, Myla has not come back yet, so we are worried for her, sleeping has been hard, I have a pillow and a sleeping bag from the tent. But there is sadly no roof to the jail cell (which is what I have been calling this, Racheal does not like that name though). It was raining last night so it is still wet.
          Then I hear a car driving up.
          "The cops!" I think as I see the car with Myla in the back "They will know what to do."
          The cop steps out and walks over to me with Myla.
          "I told you she was stuck in a jail cell." said Myla.
          Myla may be shy, but she is not afraid to stand up for her friends, that is what I like about her.
          "Thank god, some help" I say to myself.
          How wrong I was. The police officer asked me questions like it was an interrogation; "when did this cell appear?" and "Have you tried going through the bars?" I swear I could have killed him when he asked me the last one. All I did all day was talk to Racheal, mock the Faker inside my head, and try to escape.
          After explaining he made me show him. After doing so he told me to go to the very end of the cell. He said, "Okay I want to test how fast it can go" He then brought up his pistol "Can you please go to the very right side?" he asked.
          After I moved, he shot, once, twice, no three times total. The cell moved as to block the bullets from entering.
          "There is no way that the bullets did not go through" I thought to myself.
          I then noticed how the cell wall had caved in and was caving in more slowly second after second.
          "Finally, freedom" I think to myself jinxing it.
          The wall shoots back, flinging the bullets back at the officer, shooting him in the stomach.
          The three of us stand there in shock as he crumples to the floor trying to stay conscious. His co-worker rushes out, patches up the wound and brings him back into the car. She noticed that none of us are holding any guns and she knew that we are in a secluded place so there was slim-to-none chance of it being someone else.
          "What happened?" she asked calmly as to not scare us.
          Racheal and Myla both pointed at the jail cell. The Faker looked as if she was still in shock, she deserves it, but with me still in the cell she thought they were pointing at me.
          "Ah- would you like to tell me what happened?" she asked me, and I got the feeling that if I were not stuck in a jail cell that I would be handcuffed right now.
          "H- he shot the bullet, three times, I think. The wall then started caving in and suddenly it shot out, two missed, but one hit him."
          "Well, you have been awfully quiet Miss" the officer said to the Faker.
          She sighed.
          "I know why this is happening to her." She said as if it was tiring for her. "She went in the night, got up, took apart her tent, took out my spare tent, and then set it up and slept in it."
          "What? No I did not." I say confused.
          "You must not have been conscious it's a rare condition, that is not very well known because in its normal state it is invisible."
          "How do you know all of this?" the officer asks
          She sighs and looks down then I start to see bars coming up from the ground where she is.
          "My version, I can walk around, eat, have friends and talk, but mentally, I am distant. It is an invisible barrier from the outside world. The worse thing about mine is though. I can not ask for help. It goes against every bone in my body, as I start choking as you did, but even asking-" she starts to have noticeable trouble breathing, but still is. "Even this it too much for me I wanted to help you, but what help could I be if I could not even get out of a cell that I have been in for three years. It does not have to be tent you are stuck in, it could be anything, so long as it is not yours, even if after a while it becomes yours."
          Then suddenly, the cells start to change, becoming one large cell, as I feel I just understood what she had been going through this entire time, and I had called her the Faker. I feel tears come to my eyes, as the shame burns into me. She does not comfort me saying it is ok, nor do I comfort her, that she has been in pain for so long, instead we both hug onto each other, crying, knowing that we had just found someone, to be our cellmate.