Thinking Outside the Box

 

Waking up in the shadows, it should feel cold—but it didn't.

Lily didn't feel cold, hot or numb—she felt nothing. A shiver from the absence of the sun, the tingling of goose bumps from the cold air blowing against her bare skin or the coursing of blood through her veins, anything. There should've been something, but her sensations were just, gone.

She wasn't sure what kind of existence this was, it was like being trapped in a dream, or a nightmare.

Her surroundings looked vaguely familiar, a large wooden box. She could distinguish that the walls were made of wood.

Exhausted, she closed her eyes. It took so little for her to become tired. She strained her mind, attempting to recall anything from her life before this, but her thoughts wouldn't cooperate.

God how she wished she could think clearly. The fog that clouded her mind ate at her sanity, or what was left of it. Trying to think, but her mind did not feel like her own. She clutched her head with her translucent hands and wailed like a banshee screaming into the wind.

Why could no one hear her? Who was she hoping would hear her?

Him...she was calling to 'him'. Where is he? She thought. Who is he?

She had so many questions and no one to ask.

How long have I been here? Lily pondered. Time was a luxury she did not own. Time didn't exist in this place. Moment after moment was the same as the last. No sunrise, no sunset...just gray.

She huddled in the corner, that's all she knew. There was no door, no windows, and no escape from the hell of the wooden box.

Nothing ever changed—until the rose appeared.

Out of nowhere, there it was. The floor was stark and barren one moment, and then rich with the essence of a bright red rose. Just lying there, a long stem red rose.

For anyone else, it may have been taken for granted, but for Lily's deprived senses, it was a glimpse of Heaven.

She slowly moved toward the new anomaly on the floor, careful not to move too quickly, as it might disappear.

Hovering, she examined it carefully; to be sure she wasn't imagining it. Finally, she allowed herself to believe it was real. She bathed in the richness of its color, its energy and beauty. Lily was sure she'd seen a rose before, but she'd never appreciated it more than at this moment.

The way each velvet petal hugged the one before it, as though protecting the center blossom from harm. She admired its elegance as it lie still upon the floor. Trying to touch it but failing because of her semi-transparent hands.

From then on, that's how she told time; with the appearance of the roses. There would be long periods where there was nothing, just existence within the realm of shadows. Then, after many moments of sadness and loneliness, another rose would appear on the floor in front of her.

It continued that way until four roses lay upon the floor. When the fifth rose appeared, Lily finally saw who was delivering them.

A man.

A dark-haired man appeared before Lily, holding the rose gently in his hand. It appeared to Lily that he was crouching on the floor of the wooden box. He was very tall.

She slowly moved closer to him, examining his handsome face. He did not seem to sense Lily's presence at all. Looking closely at his face, she realized that she'd seen him before, he was very familiar.

Reaching out, she tried to touch him. For just one moment, as her hand came in contact with his cheek, she felt something. A vibration. He seemed to have felt it too. He moved back as though startled, his hand upon his cheek.

For a moment, he paused and looked around the box, confused. Lily moved closer to him, inspecting his face, trying to place where she'd seen him. Feelings stirred within her as she stared at his features.

He glanced around the wooden box as though searching for something. Finally, he spoke and Lily heard him.

“Hello?” He said aloud, his voice trembling.

“Gabe.” She whispered excitedly, “I remember you, you are Gabe! How did he get in here?” Lily wondered as she had searched high and low in this box for a way out.

Standing closer to him, she realized she could think clearer. His energy was feeding her with nutrients, nourishing her soul. Her mind suddenly flooded with information of her past, her life.

Sadness overwhelmed her as she was bombarded with all the memories of her former existence. So much love, they were so very much in love, and now, it was all lost. Visions flashed through her mind at lightning speed, images of her and Gabe in Greece, getting married, making love and then—falling.

Her accident.

Gabe sat on the floor beside the ghost of his love, not knowing she was there. They sat together, there on the floor of the wooden box, crying the same tears of shattered dreams.

“Wooden box?” Lily thought to herself, finally coherent within her own mind. “I'm not in a wooden box...I'm in the tree house!!” After all this time, she was elated that she could think properly again.

Suddenly Gabe stirred. Placing a fresh red rose on the floor of the tree house, he said aloud. “Happy Anniversary.”

He turned and opened the trap door to the tree house, then descended down the ladder. Lily, afraid that her amnesia would return if he left, followed him out of the tree house.