Hot and Humid

This story was originally published on Medium.

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The heat is all encompassing, the humidity is so thick that a being must possess a strong backstroke in order to navigate it, but the smell is heavenly. Hillary takes a deep breath; the humidity fills her lungs with a drinkable liquid. It’s steamy, earthy, almost a hint of something fruity. It’s lovely.

But then everything shakes violently. Hillary is flung through the air, suspended in the thick, wet air.

“It’s happening again!” Abdel yells from nearby.

Hillary looks to her right. She sees Abdel, also suspended in the thick, wet air… next to him is Thuy. They both hang dumbly in the air.

“I thought we had more time!” Hillary yells back.

She swims her way through the air towards the two.

“We were supposed to,” Abdel scans his surroundings. “But once it’s underway, there’s no fighting it.”

“No!” Thuy is defiant. “We were told three a day, spaced apart by at least one hour!”

“Yeah, that’s right, isn’t this the fourth one?” Hillary asks.

“It absolutely is!” Thuy is furious. “And the third one was 27 minutes ago.”

Hillary remembers, yes, that is true. She was hunkered down in the small white corner that she calls home, by all the sediment, brown, nutty smelling, retaining moisture from the humid air long after it left. Hillary stayed in her corner, waited for the end of it all, and then emerged. This shouldn’t be happening again.

Everything shakes again. Hillary, Abdel, and Thuy are tossed about. Abdel flips upside-down and stays suspended like that.

“Oh, I’m gonna be sick.” Abdel holds his stomach.

“Just focus on me!” Hillary grabs Abdel by the arms.

Abdel stares at her. His eyes are filled with worry. But as he fixates on her, he relaxes. Two more bodies float by through the air as the air gets darker and wetter.

“We need to stop this!” Thuy yells.

“There’s no stopping this!” A scoffing voice comes from one of the floating bodies. It’s Shekisha.

Shekisha floats closer through the air, she is askew, but acts as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Behind her floats Jose. His arms are crossed, a defiant look is stained on his face.

“This is what is happening. We have to let it happen.” Shekisha continues.

“I am going to talk to someone and demand this be stopped!” Thuy screams back.

“This is what we’re here for!” Jose suddenly screams.

Everyone gasps. Hillary gasps so deep that an enormous amount of liquid air fills her lungs, and she begins to cough. Abdel holds her arms still as she expels liquid from her lungs. Now, he is the one comforting her. She thanks him as her breathing returns to normal.

“We didn’t sign up for this much.” Thuy quietly reasons.

“This is what we signed up for!” Jose is livid. “How do you step foot in this place and then complain when our number gets called?! Do you want the world to be a better place?! Do you want to inspire–”

Everything shakes more violently than before, and everyone gets flung around like rag dolls. Jose gets sucked up into the sky at lightning speed. Everyone watches as he ascends higher and higher, shrinking smaller and smaller, until he is just a flailing dot. His body vacates the brown liquid air and disappears into a medium beyond the wet sky.

“Well, looks like he got what he signed up for.” Abdel says icily.

“You shut your mouth!” Shekisha screams. “You’re not half the warrior he was… you couldn’t inspire like… like he…”

Shekisha breaks down in tears. Everyone stays silent, unsure what to do. They all hang in the air as Shekisha weeps. Hillary looks down… her legs still dangle dumbly… eight feet from the white, porcelain ground below. Thuy swims her way over towards Shekisha and wraps her arms around her.

“It’s what he wanted, so it isn’t sad–” Thuy starts.

“Get off of me!” Shekisha shoves Thuy away. “Why did I let him talk me into coming here? If I stayed… he wouldn’t have come… he would’ve stayed…”

Hillary stifles tears. Abdel holds her close. Hillary returns the embrace. Thuy is floating, arms and legs dangling by her side, still watching Shekisha… still feeling badly for her…

And then another violent shake, hard like the last one. Everyone is flung around, and Abdel gets pulled up towards the sky. He tries to let go of Hillary, but Hillary latches on.

“What are you doing?!” Abdel yells.

“I’m holding on!” Hillary screams.

As Abdel is lifted towards the sky, Hillary gets pulled along with him. Hillary can feel the wet air rushing past her skin as if she is barreling headfirst through a river. The pleasant smell is still there, but it grows more faint. The heat is still there, but it is cooling down. Hillary looks up and sees the end of her environment. She sees the wall, the ceiling, the thing they are about to pass through. She doesn’t know what is beyond it. She doesn’t know if this will hurt. But she knows this is what she signed up for.

They bust through the barrier and it hardly feels like anything at all. The next few moments are a jumble. Humidity rapidly declining, everything going dark, strange humming noises all around, humidity returning, but not to the full force it was at before. Some strong force pulls at Hillary and Abdel as they hold onto each other. It pulls them deep into a dark cavern and then yanks them up again… higher… higher still.

Then, the two fall and land on something soft and squishy and pink. It vibrates and hums and wiggles beneath them. They scan their surroundings. A massive pink floor, soft to the touch. They cannot see the ends of this pink floor that they stand on, but as they walk along it, it bends to the press of their footsteps. They cannot see the walls or the ceilings, but they are aware they are there… somewhere off in the distance… far away. The air, the surroundings, they maintain a soft and pleasant light green glow. It’s an interesting place. It’s not nearly as warm as their last environment, not nearly as humid, and there is no smell. But it’s pleasant enough.

Hillary and Abdel continue ambling along, seeing some people they don’t recognize. The people are mostly crouched down, hands buried into the pink floor, moving them around, working on something. Then, they find Jose. Jose is doing the same thing as everyone else.

“What are you doing, Jose?” Hillary asks.

“Guys, join me.” Jose is much calmer now. “I am inspiring.”

Hillary and Abdel shrug, sit down, and join Jose. Jose shows them how to put their hands into the squishy pink floor. They mimic him, and before long, they are digging around just as he is. They are working, they are inspiring, they are doing what they signed up for.

A foreman comes around and sees Hillary and Abdel.

“You two new from The Coffee Cup?” He asks.

Hillary and Abdel nod.

“Welcome to The Brain.” He says with a smile. “Your country thanks you for your work. When you’re done inspiring, sleeping quarters are over there, eating quarters are next to it, stationary is provided every day so you may write home.”

Hillary and Abdel look around, taking in their surroundings, all the buildings the foreman has pointed out. It looks very well-organized up here.

“We’re in a safe zone up here, right now.” The foreman says. “Don’t worry, y’all are good here. We haven’t been to war in decades. Just keep inspiring and we’ll be all good.”

He walks off and heads towards another group of people, striking up a conversation. Hillary continues digging her hands around in the squishy, pink floor. Abdel does the same. It comes naturally. They both look up and their eyes meet.

“I’m glad you didn’t let go.” Abdel says.

“I never let go.”

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