The Shine Journal

It's Not So Bad In Here

by

Chelsea Dodson

I leap from my artificial leaf down to the stone circle that holds water. I am not sure how the giant with the loud voice makes it rain, but it is life sustaining. She must be a god, obviously, but she is scary and dangerous. Her noises hurt my head so badly that I run and try to hide in the ground. But it’s a smooth rock under this tree bark. Like the rest of the world. The air turns into the same solid just inches in front of my nose, and I sometimes smack it. It hurts. Naturally, this can’t be nature. No, this is not the place I grew up. I remember as a baby there were many of us, and we had a lot of space to establish territory. Now I share this… trap… with another female like myself, but she is not like me. She is darker and cannot change her colors. I hate it here, with the loud god and this other in the trap with me who walks on top of me while I sun bathe. But the water falls every day and the god brings many of the hopping bugs. They used to be smaller, but now we get many large ones. This would actually be okay if it weren’t for the large furred creature with the teeth. It stands on the outside of the solid air, trying to tear me apart with its claws. I suppose that makes that means this place is safe from preditors. Safe from them, and I have constant supplies of water and food, and a bright warm light that leaves me with no fear of the cold season…

Perhaps… perhaps this is not the worst of fates.

Motivation: I was watching my lizards when I first got them and felt they were cramped and began to wonder what they were thinking.

Bio: Chelsea, 21, has had a few poems published and seeks to expand her world to other forms of written art.