Box of Dreams

Jane was one of many people in the world that had fallen victim to a cold society. Jane was raised in a broken home, fell in love with an abusive man who took everything from her and ended up homeless on the streets. Only a few days away from her thirtieth birthday, Jane was living in city streets, under overpasses, and on park benches. For a short period of time, Jane was living at a homeless camp with a small group, but several distasteful people took advantage of her, and she was back to spending nights alone, not staying in any place more than once. She longed to feel human again. She wanted a home where she would never be cold, a kitchen that would always be full, and companions that could protect and love her. Jane wanted a new life.

On this particularly cold night, Jane took refuge behind one of the local restaurants. She had been lucky to find food there off and on during the fall, and with the winter in full swing, she was in dire need of food. As Jane began to sift through bags in the dumpster, all that she could find was dirty water and rotten discards. As the bitter cold stung her skin and her stomach knotted with hunger, Jane only had one last hope and that was to make it through the night and possibly enter the local soup kitchen. Jane makes a quick shelter from the surrounding boxes and balls up to try and sleep as snow begins to cover the ground.

Jane is awoken by a sharp buzzing sound. She scrambles to exit her cardboard home to defend herself or flee from another possible attack. Looking around franticly and with minimal mobility of her hands, Jane jumps up, destroying her temporary sanctuary and poises to run. She looks up and sees a large drone with a package attached to it, flying slowly in her direction. With her limited understanding of what is going on, Jane turns and begins running away from the drone. Twisting and turning, street after street, Jane is stalked by the mysterious machine until she finally came to a dead end. Exhausted, scared, and freezing, Jane collapsed to the ground and prepared to accept her fate. She covered her head and waited for something, anything, but all she heard was the light thump of a box hitting the ground, and the drone buzz retreating in the distance.

As the air grew still and silent, jane slowly stood up and turned to survey the area. In the middle of the alleyway, blocking her path, was a large cardboard box. While on high alert, Jane began walking slowly toward the box. Looking all around in confusion, she finally noticed there was an envelope attached to the box. In big, black, bold letters, printed on the envelope was “Jane Fillmore”. Shock ran through her body as she stared. This was her maiden name, and no one has called her by it for over a decade. With a strong combination of fear and curiosity, Jane ripped open the envelope. Inside there was a simple message that read “Box of Dreams”. Even more confused, Jane looked around again to see if this was an elaborate joke, but no one else was there. No jump of surprise and no hidden camera crew rushing around the corner.

Jane attempted to lift the box, but it didn’t budge in the slightest. The box appeared to be fixed to the ground but that’s not possible because it was just dropped. The fear in her mind began to dissolve and she was left with only confusion. With steady hands, Jane reached out and started tearing through the single strap of paper tape keeping the box closed. After freeing the four cardboard flaps concealing the contents, Jane quickly opened it and peered inside. Nothing… The box was dark on the inside and Jane couldn’t see anything. She reached inside and noticed something strange. Not only could she not see or feel the bottom of the box, but it was warm. Waving around the inside of the box, the feeling in Jane’s fingertips had returned. Jane retracted her hand and stared at it for a moment as if the appendage belonged to someone else. She brought her hand to her face and felt the warmth. Jane looked back at the dark opening and slowly leaned forward passing her head into the box. With her hands planted on the edges of the box and her head fully submerged, Jane could feel a beautiful warmth on her face. She leaned in even farther, resting her stomach on the edge of the box. As she took a deep breath of the warm air, she noticed something. She began to sniff the air rapidly. The unmistakable smell of food was coming from the bottom of the box. Jane’s stomach growled and her mouth began salivating as if she was sitting in front of a thanksgiving feast. Still unable to see anything, Jane slowly slid her arms down in front of her head and began reaching around. Once again, she couldn’t feel anything, but the spell was causing her hunger to grow. Becoming angry with the prospect of food being just out of reach, Jane began to lean farther into the box and swing her hand more rapidly.

Before Jane even noticed, her feet slipped, and she began falling, falling in a pit of darkness. Everything was pitch black, and if it weren’t for the feel of the wind drying out her eyes, she wouldn’t even know when her eyes were open. Her heart was beating out of her chest, she was sure that she would die at any moment, but she just kept falling. After a few moments, she relaxed, and confusion began to build again. When would she hit the ground? She closed her eyes and began to relax, accepting her fate. While she fell, she continued to smell the delicious aroma and imagined sitting at a large dinner table, feasting with friends. At that very moment, the wind stopped passing by her face and her body became still.

Jane opened her eyes and in front of her was exactly what she imagined. She was sitting in a large dining hall. A table full of food and drink before her, with dozens of people engaged in happy conversation. The most peculiar thing about this encounter was not that it all appeared out of thin air but that everything was made of cardboard. Everything, to include the food, and even the people were made from elaborate, moving, cardboard sculptures. Jane was confused but something inside her was content, happy. Jane continued to look around and was happy, but the smell of delicious inedible food was more than disappointing. With the whirlwind of emotions, Jane hadn’t even noticed one of the cardboard patrons was conversing with her.

“Jane?” the woman asked, “You look unhappy. What is the matter?” Jane looked to the cardboard woman and then at the food. “I’m just so hungry.” Jane said with tears welling up in her eyes. The cardboard woman looked confused for a moment then she hailed what appeared to be a cardboard servant. “Make Ms. Fillmore a plate” Jane watched as the servant made a plate full of exquisite cardboard food and then placed it in front of her. Jane looked down at the steaming, tan, imitation food and took a quick sniff. It smelled amazing! With little thought in her actions, Jane took up the cardboard utensils and began digging into the food. She stared at the fork full of food, closed her eyes, and took a bite. It was exquisite! The best food she'd had in years, maybe her entire life. Jane began to eat and eat. Finally, once she had her fill, she sat back in the chair wondering when the last time was that she had been this full.

As she thought, she recalled that it was before she fled from her abusive husband. She remembered how he used to belittle her and hit her over seemingly any reason. From across the great room, two grand doors burst open, and a loud yell could be heard. It was Jane's abusive husband, fully constructed of cardboard. He leaped onto the table and charged towards Jane, blasting food and drink across the room with his feet. “There you are! You thought you could run from me?” He cackled while closing the distance between them. Jane was in shock; she was frozen with fear and didn’t know what to do. Just as her husband was about to grab Jane, her mind connected one thought, “RUN”. Jane jumped from the table and ran to the nearest door.

Running down corridors, and through endless rooms, Jane was making no distance from the abusive lover. Growing extremely tired, Jane looked for anything to help her. She slowed in a room resembling a library and tried to catch her breath. Her cardboard husband grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her to the ground. She remembered how this was where things usually started. As if it were two films playing side by side, every move of the cardboard doppelganger was the same as what her husband had done in the past. He struck her over and over again across the face while yelling about how she made him do this. An idea came to mind, if she knew what he was going to do, she would have a chance to get away. The cardboard assailant leaned forward to say something and Jane bucked him forward. His cardboard head hit the ground with a loud crack. Jane got up and reached for something, anything to defend herself with. As her husband moved to his feet, she quickly reached for a cardboard globe. The man rubbed his head, glared at Jane, and then spoke. “Here we go again Jane, making me hurt you. Why did you try to run away? You know I will always find you”. At this, he charged Jane while she swung the globe as hard as she could. Their bodies collided and Jane was driven into a massive bookshelf. The skyscraper of books began to crash down burying the quarreling couple.

Jane couldn’t move, couldn’t see, and was in pain all over. Laying in the shallow grave of books, Jane began to think about her life on the streets. She thought about the restaurant where she would usually get food and how nice some of the staff would treat her. Jane wished that she could be back there and away from her nightmare of a spouse. The more that she thought about it the less she noticed the pile of books on top of her. Jane noticed that it was still hard to breathe, and she still hurt all over but the weight from the books had disappeared. As Jane began to open her eyes slowly, she noticed that she was inside a hospital room. She looked around the room confused wondering how she got there, and she noticed the call button next to her bedside. Jane pressed the nurse call button and within a few moments a nurse walked into the room excited to see Jane awake. “it's good to see that you're awake” said the nurse “we weren't sure if you would ever wake up”. Jane took a moment, and she asked the nurse “how did I get here?” the nurse got close and sat next to Jane and said softly “you were found behind a restaurant. You were covered in snow and not responding. one of the kitchen staff called 911, and now you're here”. happy to no longer be trapped in the world of cardboard, Jane had a sigh of relief, and relaxed. As Jane looked to the other side of her bed, she noticed that there was an envelope with “Jane Fillmore” on it. while she opened the envelope the nurse stood up and began walking towards the door. Jane read the letter inside, “nightmares are dreams too” is all that it said. from the doorway the nurse smiled at Jane and said with excitement “don't worry miss, we called your husband and he'll be here soon”.