• Molly slipped on her flipflops and turned around, “I’ll be back!”

    She heard nothing, as she expected. She turned on her music and walked outside. It was damp, but smelled warm and green, as early summer should. She smiled and went down the driveway. She knew the path and knew which cracks and holes in the ground to ignore. Further on down the street, she saw a man gathering leaves from the side of his house. Patches of blue were showing through the thick clouds. It was supposed to rain soon. It didn’t matter, if she was out while it was raining, she would find something to hide under.

    The end of the block was freshly paved, the asphalt black and smooth. She inhaled the heavy smell of mimosas in the air and stepped down. What should have been pavement gave way to nothing. Instead of falling to the ground, she fell further into the air. She hit nothing on the descent and saw indigo. Dark, dark blue surrounded her, bubbles flew into her field of vision; white and blue, white and blue. She managed to flip on the fall, she held her skirt down and caught her breath.

    Everything around was incredibly warm, as though she hadn’t left her plane of being. It was just as warm and damp here as the air above had been. Strange, she found herself wondering. She soon flailed her arms and gasped, looking around, there were still the bubbles and blue. No bottom was in sight, but she was falling slower now than she had thought she was. Nothing was in a hurry here.

    “There’s no need,” thought Molly, “to rush, I guess.”

    Everything then halted, the gelatinous bubbles around her were still except for their gentle undulations.

    She brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them as much as she could.

    Why am I here? He heard somewhere.

    “Because I don’t care anymore, I guess.”

    Really?

    “I’m tired of fighting everything so much, I need a break.”

    Do you know where you are?

    “Maybe in my head.”

    Don’t you find that weird?

    Molly shook her head, “Not really, I escape here sometimes.”

    This place, specifically? With the bubbles and everything?

    “No, sometimes I’m falling off a roof or I’m flying.”

    Why would you want to fall off a roof?

    “I wouldn’t really want to, that would hurt too much. I just want to know how it would feel to really let go.”

    I see. Why do you need to let go?

    “Things are too loud out there.”

    How loud?

    Molly nuzzled into herself deeper, “Too loud.”

    You don’t want to kill yourself, do you?

    Molly looked up for a second, “I don’t think so, it’s too painful and I don’t know what’s on the other side. I don’t think it’s this peaceful. I think I’d get in trouble there.”

    How long are you going to stay here?

    “Not too much longer, I have to get something, then I might come back.”

    “Hey!!”

    Molly looked up and saw a little girl on a lawn. She was holding a sippy cup and wore Capri pants.

    “It’s gonna rain!”

    Molly smiled gently as the mother laughed nervously and tried to get the girl in her car, “I know, I’ll hide under something if I have to.”

    Molly began to walk off when she heard the girl again, “Watch out for cars!!”

    Molly started to cross the street. Her song was at the beginning again. She wasn’t sure how that happened. She looked at the tiny machine and made a face, then the ground was coming up at her as she tripped.

    She opened her eyes and gasped.
    She hadn’t left her space.

    Molly blew out an air bubble, then swam upwards. Everything was still as she moved. Her space was never agitated by her choices to move or leave. She reached the top, then took back her air.

    The swing came back down. She was still on it. She swore she would jump off it this time.

    On the swing beside her, Josh looked over, his face bright, but eyes sullen, “When is this going to end?”

    Molly put her feet on the ground, “Never.”

    The word echoed briefly before Molly’s eyes were open again.

    The heavy smell of mimosas was in the air and Molly was standing off the curb at the top of the street.

    She breathed in the smell of the flowers. If she stopped too hard to think about where she was or what might come her way, she would realize that the scene had already changed around her.

    Her gaze raised to see the white SUV coming her way on the sidewalk. She jumped to the side with a yelp, only to realize that nothing was there.

    Back up on the sidewalk, her foot was already raised in anticipation of the first step down the block. She stepped back and her foot caught the edge of a crack in the old pavement. She tripped and fell on her a**, pain immediately shooting up her legs and hip bones. She moaned and looked for her MP3 player and noticed it on the grass nearby. She reached for it, shaking it lightly to make sure it wasn’t broken.

    “Thank you have a nice day.”

    Suddenly, Molly had a small bag of Chinese food in her hands. The young woman behind the counter handed her a receipt.

    A little girl walked in the restaurant with her mother as Molly was leaving.

    Once Molly got her feet out the door, she called to the girl, “Watch out for cars!”

    The little girl turned around and made a face while her mother pulled her away from Molly by the hand.

    Molly shrugged and took a step, only to sink into the ground beneath her. She grimaced at the ground under her feet. She struggled to pull her foot up, the right one stuck as though it were in mud.

    She managed to get both feet free long enough to dash down the sidewalk with her bag.

    Molly reached the street and crossed quickly, seeing a white SUV further down the street. She smiled wide and ran towards the oncoming car.

    As she flung herself into the air, the car connected with her midsection and she woke up on the ground to the smell of mimosas. She got up off the ground and lightly shook her MP3 player to make sure it wasn’t broken.

    Bubbles were swelling with water around her. Oh well, they had to go somewhere, no one else seemed to mind them.

    The mother crept closer and jumped onto one of the bubbles, batting at it with both hands. She laughed like a child and gripped the surface with both hands. The little girl on the ground whined to her mother that she wanted to go home.

    The song was different than she remembered. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at her broken MP3 player. She shook it lightly and pressed the buttons, but the song was the same. The volume got louder, then louder.

    The bubbles burst blue all over the ground.

    Molly opened her eyes with a start in her room. She closed her eyes and sat on the edge of her bed. She slipped on her flipflops and went downstairs. She called out “I’ll be back!”

    She heard nothing in response as she had expected. She walked down the driveway, the damp, warm air coating her skin. When she arrived at the end of her block, a bright perfume wafted through the air. It took her a moment to recognize the scent; mimosas. It occurred to her that they were blooming early this year, their perfume was so pungent that she could smell them from two blocks over.

    She walked down the street, admiring all the green in the trees. Near the bottom of the hill, a little girl in Capri pants holding a sippy cup was getting into a car with a woman that she assumed was her mother. Molly crossed the street after a black van drove by. She walked along the double yellow lines in the street until she approached the Chinese restaurant and waited patiently for her order outside the open doors. After about 10 minutes, the young woman behind the counter called for Molly. She turned around and went into the restaurant, fishing out her credit card to pay for her meal. She waited for the receipt, hoping that the card wouldn’t let her down.

    After a moment, the machine behind the counter printed out a small slip of white paper. The young woman fished around for a pen and handed it to Molly. Molly signed her name sloppily and was rewarded with another piece of paper, even smaller, as well as her bag of food.

    “Thank you have a nice day.”

    Molly took her bag and walked out, following the same way home that she had taken. Nothing out of the ordinary happened except that she saw a blue butterfly. Her eyes followed the insect until it was out of her field of vision. She climbed the two steps into her house and smiled at the refreshing breeze the air conditioner offered. She placed the paper sack on the table in the dining room and started to take out the white boxes inside.

    She put a pile of pork fried rice on her plate and jabbed at a pork-ginger dumpling with her fork. She heard the doorbell ring and went to answer it, still holding the occupied fork. Josh was standing at the door with a grin on his face. Molly hugged him, standing on her toes and being careful that the greasy ball didn’t touch his clothes.

    “Got food, I see.”

    “Yeah, got Chinese down the street. Want some?”

    “No thanks, I ate already.”

    Molly opened the door further for him, they sat in the dining room as she ate some of the food she had bought. She asked him how his day was, but he said nothing special had happened.

    “Want to go outside?” Molly asked.

    Josh shrugged and followed her into the backyard.

    They sat on the swing set that her parents had not gotten rid of yet.

    “Maybe this isn’t the best time to talk about this, but lately I’ve been worried about you, Molly.”

    Molly tried to ignore his voice as he talked about her odd behavior. She pumped her legs higher and higher, like when she was small. She looked back at Josh, who was looking to her as though he knew she was not listening.

    The swing came back down. She was still on it. She swore she would jump off it this time.

    On the swing beside her, Josh looked over, his face bright, but eyes sullen, “When is this going to end?”

    Molly put her feet on the ground, “Never.”