With only a few very minor exceptions, every day of her life was roughly the same, comfortable, warm, nourishing, and dependable.

Until today.

Today was different. Today everything was incredibly frightening. Her entire world felt out of hand and out of control. Today, things were loud…and constricting, her world was squeezing in on her. She felt crushed.

She couldn’t get free. She just wanted to get away from all of this, and give herself a chance to assess the situation. She stretched her limbs, and tried to push off, but couldn’t. Something, around her neck, was preventing her from a full stretch, furthermore, it tightened as she stretched, choking her. She settled back in and the choking sensation eased. But the crushing feeling continued, now it seemed to have a purpose, it was pushing her down, and she was desperately pushing back from that, all the while trying futilely to pull off this thing that was around her neck.

“You need to settle back into the squeeze, then the loop around your neck will loosen.”

She was startled, “Who is this?” She thought, in response to the voice.

“Your big brother, Darwin. I’m here to help you.”

She blinked, and there was a ten-year old boy staring back at her, his eyes conveyed concern, his smile was tense, but had a rakish curve. “You are in a lot of trouble right now, you need to do what I am telling you. Ease down toward the squeezing feeling, the loop around your neck with loosen and float off.”

She nodded, giving her surroundings an apprehensive look, she followed his instructions, and was relieved to see her cord float off, the circulation to her head returned.

“Is that better?” Darwin asked.

“Yes.I can relax a little.”

Another voice spoke, “No. You can’t relax yet.” Surprised, she turned to the other voice, it belonged to an eight-year-old girl, “Hi! I’m your big sister, Marcella!”

“Uhm, hi Marcella.”

“You can call me Marcy! The squeezing feeling is not bad! It’s your friend. It’s helping you out of here.”

“Out of here? Wait! No! I don’t want to get out of here. This is my Home!”

“No, not really,” Darwin answered. “This has only been a temporary Home. And now it’s time for you to go to your next Home. It’s much bigger.”

“Way bigger!” Marcy added, “You know that flipping-over trick that you figured out? You need to do that, except you need to stop halfway through, so that you’re upside down.”

“I don’t want to do that, it feels terrible down there, I’ll get crushed.”

“No, you’ll just be squeezed really hard, but not for long. Then it will be over.”

She looked dubiously between her feet, where the crushing feeling was the worst. “Why are you two here?”

Darwin’s rakish smile returned, “We’re here because of you. Mom’s in trouble; bigger trouble than you are now. She is in pain, and she is scared and sad. She began praying—for you. Then she called out our names. And now we are here.”

“We never made it.” Said Marcy.

“Never made…?” She stopped, and stared at her brother and sister, a flicker, just a flicker of sadness flashed across their faces.

“Will you be with me?”

“Of course!” Darwin answered, “I’m your big brother! I won’t let anything happen to you.” He put his hand on Marcy’s shoulder, she leaned into him, and gave him a squeeze.

“You have to make it!” Marcy said, “You must make it because we didn’t.”

“This is important. Isn’t it?”

“Mommy had to say goodbye to us before meeting us. And it broke her heart. You will make it. She will get to meet you.”

“What about you?” She asked.

“We will all meet someday.”

She was thoughtful for several seconds, “Half a flip?” She asked. Her brother and sister nodded, “And you’ll be with me?” Again, they nodded, “I’m scared.”

“That’s good!” Darwin replied, “being scared is how you become brave! But don’t worry, you won’t be scared for long.” Darwin assured her.

She nodded, studying her brother and sister for a few moments, creating her final memory in this place, before moving on to her next chapter in her life. She began scooting her feet along the claustrophobic walls around her. She felt her brother hold one hand, and her sister hold the other. She closed her eyes and together, they pushed off toward the squeezing feeling.

. . .

Everything she had ever known suddenly changed. Warmth became cold, dark became blinding light. Faceless faces were surrounding her, talking loudly, frantically. She felt fingers underneath her, supporting her, for the first time she felt the pull of gravity and she screamed in terror.

“Her lungs work!” A voice chuckled.

“Get her wrapped up!” Another voice said.

She was about to scream again, when she felt sudden comfort, she felt warm flesh against her cheek, a familiar sounding heartbeat reverberated through her.

“Hello little one!” She heard. She knew that voice, she never knew of a life without that voice, except it sounded clearer, less muffled, “We’ve waited so long, and went through so much, just to meet you.” She chanced a look toward the voice and looked upon the blurred shape of her mother’s face. Her toothless mouth began opening and closing, “Oh!” her mom replied, “You’re hungry! Let’s get you fed.” She was pulled from the warm comfort against her cheek and expressed annoyance.

A deeper distant voice spoke, “Have we settled on a name?”

“How about we name her…”

The conversation didn’t seem interesting to her, she took the current opportunity to size up her surroundings, she saw Darwin and Marcella in the corner, waving and smiling as they faded out of vision, leaving a vague, vaporous, multi-colored prism form as they disappeared.

“Thank you.” She and her mother thought, together.