The Cage

Dark night. Most street lights shot out. Just one or two of the eerie vapor lights left on the block. A middle aged woman carries a small leather bag. She listens and watches carefully as she negotiates the darkness between the few pools of light on the street. Moving down the block, all shops are abandoned. Broken windows. Rats. 

She stops under a flickering vapor light by an old door turning the latch entering a small hallway. Several feet in front of her is a long staircase soaked in darkness descending downwards. She flips a switch. Several small lights mounted to the wall flicker. The walls are torn and stained. 

She stands at the top of the stairs motionless...listening.

“I know you're there Billy. You can come out now.”

From behind an old telephone booth against a wall Billy (15 years old)  jumps out in front of her.

     "Guess who I am? Can you guess? Bet you can't..." opening up his cape spinning around then leaping back and forth across the small entry hall next to the stairs. "Can ya guess? Bet ya can't...I'm superman! I can fly...way up there to the top of buildings," jumping up and down.

    "You're not superman Billy. You're nothing," turning her head lowering her gaze. "You're just another rotten kid running around these streets like some kind of stupid animal. Go home Billy."

"You don't know nothing lady...nothing, nothing at all...moving in close. "I got powers...ya, real powers. I could even kill you right now," backing up. "Kill ya dead lady," laughing. "Right here...and nobody would ever find out. You know why? Bet ya don't..cause I'm the invisible man too...yep, I can disappear, right in thin air."

The woman opens her leather bag and  pulls out an 8mm pistol pointing it directly at Billy. "Wrong kiddo. I could put a bullet right between your eyes. How's that mister supermen?"

Billy laughs, turning against the broken door of the telephone booth pounding on the splintered wood. He can't stop laughing, then pivots around leaning against the door. "You can't kill Superman. The bullets just fly right off. So go ahead, shoot...ya, go ahead," beginning to laugh again.

The woman returns the pistol to her leather bag then takes out a small knife and approaches Billy. 

"I'll take this if you don't mind," slicing one of his fingers off. Billy screams, holding his hand as he falls back against a wall. The woman smiles, then begins to descend the staircase. She ignores Billy now as she fades into the dancing shadows hovering around the staircase. She stops at the first landing quietly listening. Steps above her move. She senses deep breathing echoing across the walls - a shadow within a shadow. A hot wind mingles through the air.

The woman turns down to the third level of the stairs. An old steel door rests against the cement wall. She slowly opens the door -- Inside, a black dog growls low and mean, the black fur on the back of its neck rising. Its eyes burning red and bright.

"There, there now. Mommy's home," leaning down stroking the dog's fur along it's back. The dog leans in and over her and stops growling. The woman cautiously holds her hand stretched out with Billy's bloody finger for the dog to smell. Rubbing his nose over the woman's hand, the dog drools in the scent, then raises its eyes locking in with the woman's stare. She smiles at the dog, rubbing her hand across his head. "Go get him." The dog growls, then scurries through the door up the stairs. 

The woman slowly moves across the old decayed floor towards a rocking chair next to a table. She slides into the chair reaching for a decanter of wine, pouring one glass after another drowning herself in the cherry flavour. She scopes the room, slightly dizzy from the wine.

All surfaces seem to be swirling, shifting patterns of grim faces of people trapped on the surface of the walls and ceiling howling echos throughout the room. Instantly, her black dog with a bloodied face appears chewing on a human hand. He sits by the rocking chair looking into her eyes. He drops the chewed hand on the floor and growls. The woman leans over and rubs his head. 

"Hey, you want to get out here? I mean, just us, nobody else...get out of this cage?"

The dog looks toward the door, then whimpers with a cry laying on the floor.

"You're kidding, right?" A tall figure of a man standing in the doorway looking in.

"Ya, I've had enough," glancing over. 

The man walks around the rocking chair staring at her with his slit eyes. "And you were having so much fun with Billy and your cute little dog. But you see my dear, there is no way out. I thought you knew. Need I remind you of where you are?"

"Go to hell," spitting in his face. 

The man moves in closer staring into the woman's eyes. "Go to hell? Is that what you said? But you're already in hell my dear. I thought you knew,” throwing his head back laughing.