34 The Door

The Little Red Haired Girl

34 The Door

Brain knew that Body was sleeping too deeply, possibly Hypothermia creeping in? it thought. There was deep pain and numbness being relayed through the neurons and synapses and Brain tried to get Body to wake up and move its limbs, but there was no response. The Little Red Haired girl was sleeping soundly and had rolled off Body’s lap to the floor. Now was a good time to wake Body without disturbing her.

It was no good. Body was not responding.

“I can wake Body” called Spirit “I don’t like to do it this way as it is a recurring fear and dream of hers but I can.”
“Do it” said Brain impatiently.
“Then release control and let me handle it.”

Brain switched off momentarily as Spirit raised a dream Body hated, a recurring nightmare, as rats came through the broken window of the Pumphouse, hundreds of them and crawled all over Body.
Body screamed and woke up instantly, sobbing and sweating with fear, and scratching at her skin as if the rats were still there.

“At last you are awake. Calm down it was only a nightmare” stated Brain. Brain waited as Body’s heartbeat returned to normal, eyes started to focus and hands wiped away the tears. “I am in agony” sobbed Body “I cannot move.”

“Yes you can” Brain cajoled “start with moving your toes and work your way up moving everything a little at a time.” Body obeyed, and Brain received and registered the pain via the neurons. It was bad Brain conceded to itself, but was not going to let Body know its agreement. After a long time waiting, Body finally started to move.

“Is that dawn I see? there is more light.”
“No the moon has moved again and is casting more light, so while there is more light I want you to get up and examine the door window where you saw that irregular shape within the 12 squares. Stand up and investigate it in case it gives us a way out we have not seen before.”

Brain waited again, Body was painfully slow. Her pains seem to be getting worse or maybe it was all the extra work she had been doing on the house, alone in the absence of the builder or any other help for that matter and for a long time too. Brain was troubled, how were they to manage without a working Body? It was a question that weighed heavy.

Finally Body was standing and walked from the centre of the Pumphouse a few steps to the door, the window of which was lower than the other two high up on the circular walls. She looked at the 12 squares of frame and saw the irregular shape and saw it was some kind of branch or pole.
“Is it a branch?” asked Brain.
“I think so. I can’t really see what it is or what its doing there propped up against the outside of the door.”
“For goodness sake” Brain exclaimed “if you cannot see it properly use your other senses.”
Body reached as far as it could and put its sore and bloodied hands through two bottom row squares as far as up to her wrists which was all her height would allow.
“It’s been put at an angle against the door but I cannot move it.”
“Put your hands up through the next row of squares and see if you can tell where it actually meets the door” Brain barked.

Body rose onto her toes and could only just make her fingers reach the bottom of the next row of squares. she felt along the branch it was smooth and sturdy, and bent under the metal frame. It was definitely Eucalyptus judging from the smell. There was a fork in the end of it placed either side of the metal frame. “It will not budge” said Body “it’s been wedged in place because it’s bent. and in this position at full stretch, I have no strength to push it.”
” Push it. Push it down into the ground further and release the tension its been placed under.”

Body could not shift it.
“Well that tells me the door definitely opens outwards and that the branch has been placed there to wedge the door shut from the outside” Brain stated.

“You mean to say someone put us in here?”
“That’s what it looks like and I’ll give you two guesses as to who?” as Brain recalled Noswad and the last time he had been seen. His anger at Body refusing to wait for him.

Body slumped back down to the ground exhausted and in great pain.

“We don’t know that for sure” cried Heart.
“When are you going to learn? Noswad put us in here after you gave him chance after chance to redeem himself. Heart you need to put up some walls and stop being soft and understanding. He is no good and you need to accept that.” Brain was blunt as usual.

“I for one am not going to let this destroy us” called Spirit “we can get past this, we can grow stronger. There will be other people to inspire us or other creative ideas we can pursue. Just because we don’t have a partner does not make us boring or lacking in some way and I won’t allow it. There will be another way out of here” Spirit concluded “I will not give up.”

“Perhaps we need to learn the lesson from it” sighed Soul.
“And what would that be?” Brain asked sarcastically.
“That other people have their own path to follow, good or bad and we need to acknowledge that and show better discernment before we let people into our lives. Look at the whole person and how they act not just what they say, listen and hear properly for there are clues, there are red flags. Its not just about how we feel.”
“I agree” called Spirit ” and Heart is learning and healing. Lets be kinder to ourselves and be more patient, what do you say Brain?”
“We have no choice now” Brain stated the obvious.

“True” sighed Soul “but we also need to forgive people so we can move on. We need to be ourselves and not let this experience with Noswad change our giving Heart, our trust and even our childhood innocence when we retain it. Everyone deserves to be trusted unless they themselves prove to us that our trust in them is unwarranted. Unconditional love is a good thing, but at what cost? Should we lose our own identity and character as a result? Give up on ourselves and change just to fit another’s needs? No this is who we are and its a fine balance between unconditional love and loving ourselves. A balancing act that only we can define because it is our path, no one else’s.”
“So where does our path lead? and for what?” asked Brain impatiently.

“At the moment we are here to learn from our experience. We are here because of the recent traumas and constant disappointment in all areas of our life. It has brought us to this point. We all have difficult times and pivotal moments in our lives and this is our biggest yet. No one is perfect.”
“We have changes to make, and this time considered choices to make. It’s up to us and we must chose wisely. Just because we have ended up in here does not mean it is cast in stone forever.”

“Easy for you to say in hindsight but I can’t see it, and I certainly don’t see any ‘path’ to get us out of here! It may as well be written on our headstone” Brain stated as Body shuddered.
“Not until our earthly end” sighed Soul “and anyway, that will be up to others, not our responsibility.”

“They may cast it on the headstone, but it is only a point of reference and reverence for them that serves to remind them of you. It’s not necessary. Their memories of you are the key to their Heart and they can talk to their past loved ones anytime. They are always with you, as I am” Big voice had spoken and disappeared again before Brain had even told Body to take a breath and ask a question.