Molly
The last thing I remember before the blackout was my brother yelling at me. He’d been telling me a lot of ‘what if’s, and I appreciated his concern. But, the thought of seeing Mom and Dad again so soon was so amazing that I didn’t care about the consequences.
But then I blacked out. I couldn’t hear my brother’s voice or see a single thing. It was all gone.
“Molly…” a voice called out from someplace in the darkness. It wasn’t the voice of my brother, or any of my friends that I had been with earlier. So who was it?
The area lit up and I realized I was home. I was lying in my own bed at home, the sunlight streaming through the windows to light up the small bedroom. The pink was overwhelming, like it had been when I was there before. Why hadn’t I gotten rid of the pink before? I hated it.
“Molly, I’m so glad you’re here,” the voice said again, accompanied by a door opening. I knew my eyes widened as soon I heard it, because it was the person I wanted to see the most.
Standing in the doorway was my mother.
“Mom,” I smiled sweetly and sat up in my blankets. I wanted to get a hug. All I wanted was to be with my mother, and now she was here.
“I’m glad you’re awake. Your father and I were so worried about you,” she whispered as she sat down on the end of the bed beside me. As soon as she had settled she engulfed me in the tightest hug she could.
“I’m sorry we jumped. We just had to help Elsie and we weren’t sure what else we could do,” I apologized profusely and chewed on my lower lip. “We didn’t think about what we were doing when we did it.”
“It’s okay. I’m just glad that you made it back safely,” she said sweetly and kissed the top of my head.
I smiled and cuddled in close to my mother. This was so great. I was glad that I could be with her again after all this time. I had missed her, as well as my father, so much while I had been down in the zipper. I’d missed the sunlight. The only time I had gotten any was when the zipper opened, and even then it was moonlight and not sunlight. Nobody had been sent down, which meant that the zipper didn’t get opened during the day. The nighttime was when someone sent things down to us.
“Your brother is worried about you,” she commented as she held me in her arms.
“Is he in his room? I’ll check up on him.” I let go of her to get up. “I didn’t know he was worrying so much about me.”
“He’s not here,” she said.
“What do you mean he’s not here? Where is he then?” I looked at the doorway and then at my mother, incredibly confused. I didn’t understand. Maybe I was just too tired and stressed out because of what had happened recently.
“He’s still in the zipper. Molly, so are you.”
I froze. Was she right? I couldn’t believe it. So, that meant that this whole thing was a dream. I wasn’t really with my parents. I wasn’t safe. I was still underground, struggling to find a way to get home and share my findings with the other people in the city. This was really disappointing to find out.
“So this is a dream, or a hallucination or something. I’m not really with you?” My voice was quiet as I spoke. This was just so disappointing.
“I’m sorry princess, but you’re not.” She held me close to her again.
“At least in my dreams I’m here then. This is where I really want to be. I want to be home with you and Dad. I want my siblings here with me too. And I want the innocents from the zipper to be up here with me too. Then everything would be the way it should be.” I started to ramble about all the things I wanted, but I bet they truly didn’t mean anything in this dream world after all.
“I know. I think you’re doing well, though. You’re getting there. You’ll be back here with us sooner than you think.” She cracked a faint smile, which caused me to give her one as well.
“You really think so?”
“Well, think about it yourself. Who are your allies down there?” She gave me a tiny smirk as she looked at me.
“Well, of course I have Thomas…” I began. My brother, as much as I didn’t like him at times, was one of the best guys I knew. He was sensitive, smart, and thought things through. He cared about me and didn’t want me hurt. He had amazing intuition and was able to figure out when something wasn’t quite right. In some ways, I wished that I could be more like him. However, I would never admit this fact to anyone.
“Then there’s Elsie too.” I adored my little sister. She was able to make all of us so happy in an instant. I still didn’t quite know how she did it. Maybe it was because she was so young and cute. Or, maybe it was because she reminded us of our childhoods. But either way, her smile was so great to have. It made us feel better if we were having a bad time down there. I adored her.
“Neil’s great to have around.” He really was. He was the glue. He was so intelligent, and he was able to take charge of us so easily. He was a fantastic leader, and he knew everything about the zipper since he lived there his whole life. I admired him honestly. I was glad that he was around to be able to keep us on track. I don’t think we’d be anywhere close to getting out if it wasn’t for him.
“Shailene is great.” She was a great asset. She was easily one of the most helpful people around here. Although she hadn’t been doing so much more than being there for us at the moment, I knew she would be so much more than that sooner or later. She would end up becoming so essential before we knew it. Plus, she was a good friend. When Thomas wasn’t around, I sometimes talked to her about life, and she was a great listener.
“And then there’s Celia…” I added. She was the one who was taking care of Elsie when we were all running around and acting busy. She was the one who was willing to do what she needed to when it came to helping out. She was the quietest one, and although she wasn’t always around, she was a great person to have there. If we didn’t have her to take care of the little things, everything would be a whole lot tougher.
“Oh, and I can’t forget Ethan.” Ethan was, well, Ethan. I found him to be a great person to talk to when I needed it. He was supportive and caring, and at the same time I could support him. He trusted me with his story, and I knew that I could trust him if he felt so comfortable with me. He was also a really hard worker when he needed to be. Down in the zipper, it was always necessary.
“See? So, you have good friends there to support you,” my mother reminded me. “You’ll be fine, Molly. As long as you’ve got them to support you and help you make it to the surface and home to me, you’ll make it.”
With that, I couldn’t help grinning. She was right. I had a great group of friends supporting me. I had a chance to get home with their support. Maybe I hadn’t thought about it the right way, when I first tried. Maybe that wasn’t my smartest move. But, I knew they’d be around to support me and we’d make it together. We could do this.
“Thank you, Mom, for believing in me,” I said softly. “Uh, wait, I mean, for believing in us.”
“Of course I’d believe in you and your friends. You know how great all of you are, and you work really well together. Just promise you’ll make it home to me, and you’ll introduce me to all of your friends when you get back.” She was smiling at me, although I could see a hint of sadness in her eyes as she spoke to me.
This made me think about something. This was a dream. This wasn’t my real mother. Was she really thinking of me up there? Did she miss me? Did she miss Thomas and Elsie too? Or was she glad that we were all gone? I could be inventing this love in my mind, and she could be at home celebrating that we were all gone instead of missing me as terribly as she seemed to be now.
I forced this thought out of my head and sighed. “I promise I will Mom. But, I think I have to wake up now. I bet my siblings are missing me, right?” I chewed on my lip and looked at her, unsure of what to say. Wait, why was I doing this anyway? Why was I worried about what a dream version of my mother would think of me?
“Yes, they are. You really should wake up. You were knocked out cold when you fell. You were working so hard when you got knocked out. The dirt and such was really compact and bad.” She kissed my forehead sweetly. “I’ll let you wake up now sweetheart. I love you so much, and I love your brother and sister too.”
“I love you too Mom. This was a really calming dream,” I said softly and smiled a bit.
“I’m glad. So, just lay down in your blankets and close your eyes. Hopefully you’ll wake up sooner or later. Your friends have been taking care of you,” she assured me, although since it was a dream I didn’t quite trust everything that she was telling me.
“Alright Mom. See you soon.” With that, I laid down in my bed again. I felt the bed move as she stood up from her seat. I watched her walk out of the room and close my bedroom door.
At this point, I realized what had happened. The light through the bedroom window wasn’t very bright anymore, and in the very short time I had been conversing with my mother, it had become nighttime in this dream world. It was kind of sad to remind me of. I hadn’t seen real sunlight in so long. Even in my dream, I hadn’t really seen it or paid attention to it while I had it.
I sighed softly and closed my eyes. Time to wake up, anyway.
Darkness came over me again and everything was silent for a second. Then, I heard voices all around me. They started out as murmurs that I could hardly understand, but then I was able to hear them more clearly. Each word was able to be understood, and I realized all my friends were around me. I cracked a small smile as I thought about it. They cared.
“She’s waking up,” I heard a male voice say. I was able to figure out it was Neil fairly easily. “See, right there? She’s smiling a bit now. She can hear us, I bet.”
“Great. I’m so glad she’s okay,” my brother replied. “Molly, I’m sorry…”
I laid there for a minute, making sure that I was comfortable and such. But, when I was ready, I let my smile grow. Finally, my eyes fluttered open and I was staring up at my brother and most of my friends.
With that, I knew I was loved by my friends. With their support, I knew we’d make it.