Hawaiian Escape

POP! CLINK!

If I try hard enough, maybe just maybe...........

Hues of green, brown, and orange sharply intrude their way into her daydreams. I wish I could be anywhere else but here. Clammy fingers skim across her back, before fully enveloping her in a chokehold from behind. She is shoved forward so violently, without warning, that she drops forward and lands on her face. UGHHHHHH!!! Before she has time to fully process what just occurred, just as quickly as she was pushed down, she is carelessly pulled up by her shoulders. Why can't you people just leave me alone. The cacophony above her, a mix of loud laughter and some other unidentified sounds, cause a steady ringing and slight hum within her ears. The intense brightness from the light shining directly in her face blinds her, but still, she tries her best to focus on the cleared path in front of her. Her being able to see really doesn't matter much though. She only has one purpose, to make it to the finish line first; easier said than done.

Don't let them get the best of you. As long as you can control your thoughts, you have the power.

If only I had tried harder

If only I had been able to drag my body

If only I had ............................

Anxiety causes thought after thought to swim through her mind, and she wrestles to stay afloat amongst all the thoughts whirling in her own conscious. Droplets of sweat trickle down her forehead, and into her eyes. She can't even blink in order to clear her eyes from her own sweat. How Pathetic! She has no name. No family. No identity whatsoever. What she does have, are memories. She knows she has stumbled across this very same path time and time again. Sometimes they make her go one step, or two steps, maybe even three steps....other times up to nineteen steps at a time........ She has no control over her own body, she is fully at their mercy. No matter how much she tries to will her body to move, it just won't. A mere pawn placed center stage, moving as they want her to move. Moving in the direction that a simple roll of dice has determined they should move her in. Constantly getting knocked over when they get too antsy, or angry, or maybe even excited. She might as well have strings attached to her, because just the same, she is someone's puppet.

Hawaiian Escape....Save the Date...Sailors come sailing; the captives are wailing.

Pop Pop Pop Pop Pop Clink!

A small whimper from beside her, snaps her from her heavy thoughts. She tries to ignore the noise, but the sound begins to grate on her nerves. The noise starts to come from the left, and she is unable to turn her eyes to see what or who it is. If I can hold on a little while longer, this will all be over for today. "Are you a nurse", asks THE CHILD. Although she can't see him, beside her stands a small little boy, as rusty as can be.

Pop Clink Clink

THE NURSE continues to ignore THE CHILD, despite the fact that he is now directly in front of her. Why is THE NURSE being so mean to me, I just want someone to talk to. His little hands ache to play in the sand beneath his feet. He wants the waves as they glide across the shore to leave behind droplets of water that he can shake from between his toes. He thinks he would like the feeling. He wants to know what it's like to fly on the wings of the birds he sees perched in the trees. If he could, he would write his name in the sand, and build sandcastles. He closes his eyes and concentrates really hard; his little face has a knot forming in the middle. He slightly swings his foot back a little. THE NURSE, initially assuming it's a trick of the eye, continues to stare straight ahead. Ten minutes later, she passes THE CHILD, and feels a gentle nudge on her ankle. "I didn't mean to kick you so hard, I just wanted to get your attention is all", says THE BOY. How did he just do that? "How did you do that", she asks? "It was an accident, please don't be mad at me", he says in a defeated tone. " I'm not mad, I just want to know how you got your leg to move", she gently says to him. " Easy, I just close my eyes and see my leg move in my head. I tried doing it to walk to the puddle before, but I only move a little bit at a time, and I get too tired." This just might be my way off this island. " "Walk in front of me if you can, take as many baby steps as you need", she encourages. THE CHILD begins to take extremely small steps, counting each step aloud. Simultaneously, just as he steps in front of THE NURSE, a loud voice from even further up calls out to their captors.

Their captors, five-year-old Susie, and her seven-year-old brother John. Hawaiian Escape has been a favorite board game of theirs, from the time they could talk and push the dice popper. The popping and clicking of the two dice hitting the board, has always made them chuckle a little. The children's mother who is upstairs, yells at them again. "I said bedtime you two, don't me come down there". They whine and complain, begging her to at least let them finish the game. The sound of her feet on the stairs, cause them to turn away from the game momentarily.

When the footsteps stop, they turn to continue the game. When they turn back around, the nurse and the little boy are now side by side. "Hey!!! How did your kid get beside my nurse lady", she asks. "I don't know", he says with a shrug. '"I'm telling mom you cheated", she screams. "Did not", he yells back. "Did Too", whines the little girl. "MOM!!! John cheated, and moved his kid on the puzzle because I WAS WINNING ", she screams to the top of her lungs. "Liar", he screams back. He shoves her and they break out into a fight, knocking the board game off the table, and the pieces. A constant pitter patter on the stairs, unheard by the fighting children, makes them both unaware of her presence. She pulls them apart, and sends them up to their rooms. She picks up the board game and looks for the lost pieces. She eventually gives up, promising herself that she will eventually find them tomorrow when she looks again.

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But the pieces were never found.... Just like all the game pieces before that mysteriously seemed to have "grown legs and walked away", they were another lucky duo to escape the island. This situation is enough to make a person wonder, did the dog not pass go because he ran away instead? Did the gingerbread men who never made it to the castle, actually have a better destination in mind? Did the hippos actually eat all the marbles? Or quite possibly, could the pieces be forever lost due to the users own carelessness? Or maybe, just maybe, the pieces vanished by the sheer will of the pieces themselves. I have no answers for how their story ended, but as for the little dreamer boy and nurse, under the couch they laid. Surrounded by dust and absolute freedom.

(I hope this story brought back memories of playing board games with your families and or friends growing up. This was a story for you to reminisce about the past, and as an official r.i.p for all the game pieces we never found.)