Fiction|Fantasy|Writing Challenge
New Beginnings
56 of 💯 — Only the selected are permitted a new beginning.
“Mamma, I’m scared. I don’t want to go.” Thomas murmured from behind his mother, tugging her dress as they slowly moved with the line of parents and children.
The red lights lining the corridor to the facility strobed with the gravity of the situation. “Keep the line moving!” A voice from somewhere ahead called; urgency heavily laced their tone.
“It’s going to be okay, Thomas. It’s not safe here any longer.” Squatting to his six-year-old level, she gently wiped streaming tears from his cheeks. “Do you have Sprinkles?”
Thomas nodded as he showed his mother the fluffy, white mouse in his small hands.
“Good. Now keep him hidden in your pocket. He’s not allowed to go through.”
Thomas held the small creature to his nose as the two friends nuzzled noses before gently placing Sprinkles back in his jacket pocket.
“That’s my good boy.” His mother stood, shoulders squared, as the procession slowly moved along, Thomas clung tightly to her hand. When their turn was next, she handed him his fishing pole. “Maybe you’ll get to go fishing with some other children after you get through.”
“And pick up sea shells, Mamma?” She smiled lovingly at her son as she nodded, her throat tight with emotion. “You’ll be able to hear the ocean in the shells.” Thomas stepped closer to his mother, as apprehension overtook him that their turn was next to leave the toxic planet that was their home.
When it was their turn, the compliance officer grabbed Thomas’s hand firmly, forcing him to follow. “Mamma! Help me, Mamma!” Thomas wailed through his tears, struggling with all his strength to return to the safety of his mother’s side while she stood rigidly in place, tears now glistening on her cheeks.
“You won’t be needing this.” The officer ripped the pole from his tiny hand, “There are already supplies on the other side,” then tossed it in a bin with other items considered to be contraband.
The officer crudely shoved a flotation device on the wailing boy before he pushed the frightened child into the mirrored lake. As Thomas stumbled into the portal, his last vision was of his mother. One hand covered her mouth, the other clutched her chest as she wept.
Thomas fell through the mirrored portal, emerging in the depths of a murky lake. His small arms and legs flailed wildly as he sank deeper. The floaty surrounding him failed to be buoyant in this realm.
His awareness sank with his body in the murky grave. Thomas’s small form was engulfed by suctioned arms and jettisoned through the water towards the surface.
A white octopus brought him to the edge of the shore, nudging his face and limp body, where it stayed near while he regained consciousness.
Thomas harshly coughed up water, his lungs burning like they were filled with angry bees. When the coughing subsided and he was able to breathe, his chocolate eyes fluttered open. As he looked around, his eyes grew as large as the fear that enveloped him. “Mamma? Mamma! Where are you, Mamma?!”
The white octopus climbed over him and towards his face. Thomas screamed, overcome with the terror of being alone in a strange world with an unfamiliar organism approaching him. The squishy creature paused, seeming to understand the boy’s distress.
When he was calmer, the octopus moved closer, pausing each time Thomas moved away in fear until they were nose to nose. Then it leaned forward and nuzzled Thomas’s nose.
“Sprinkles?” Thomas hugged the white octopus tightly and clung to it as he looked around. He perked up, thinking he heard a familiar voice. As his eyes skimmed the surroundings, he saw no one but heard the voice again.
Thomas crawled along the shoreline towards the voice that seemed to call to him with the octopus tucked under his arm until he came to a large conch shell. Kneeling on the pebble beach, he picked it up in his small hand. Thomas could faintly hear his mother’s voice. Pressing it firmly to his ear, his mother’s reassuring voice washed over him, “Thomas, it’s going to be okay.”
Thomas stood to his feet, clutching the shell and octopus close to his heart as his moon-sized eyes took in his new home.
This story is in response to Bradan Writes Stories — Monday Mash-up #3. I throw the gauntlets down to CK Green and Jonathon Sawyer. I hope you rise to the challenge and tag me so I can read it as well!
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Inspired by Zane Dickens’💯 Story Challenge