Thinking Outside The Box

Donny entered his bedroom and opened a small perspex tank which lay at the bottom of his wardrobe, he carefully opened its lid and picked up four crickets, “time for you little guys to meet your maker” he said to himself whilst smiling wryly. The crickets were his pet Bearded Dragon Abaddon's dinner, Donny moved the crickets carefully in his hand over to a grandiose glass tank which sat upon his work desk. Abaddon knew it was feeding time and moved closer towards the glass with suprising pace in anticipation, Donny opened the sliding glass door with his free hand and threw the crickets in to thier untimely doom, it was a matter of seconds before the spiney lizard devoured all of his meal.

*
“Come quick, come quick! Putiel the wise one is making an announcement” a cricket shouted to reuben and semaiah whilst scurrying in the direction of the large crowd that was gathered in the town centre, there was commotion all around whenever Putiel made a speech, he was the wisest cricket in all the land and whenever he talked the crickets listened with great earnest, Reuben turned to his trusted friend Semaiah “lets go friend, Putiel is bound to say something important”, Semaiah nodded in agreement and made way to the thronging crowd.

Putiel was a very fat cricket, he was the oldest in town and over the years he had accumulated a great knowledge of life, death, and all that existed and everybody admired him for that reason. A dead silence fell over the crowd as Putiel the great made his way to the stage, which was a decaying piece of apple. “Good day my friends, i am here before you today to mourn the loss of all our brothers and sisters, they have been taken from us too early i know, but you all must realise they are passing to a greater place called heaven, our god has decided that these crickets are needed more there than in our town, so let us now bow our heads and say a few words for the fallen. Once Putiel the greats speech had come to an end Reuben and Semaiah walked to a secluded area of the town, “my belly is aching Semaiah, how long has it been since we have eaten my friend?, three or four days?” Semaiah was quite intelligent, he had studied in Putiel's private education program for longer than Reuben could remember, Semaiah took a moment to anwser the question, “you are right Reuben, it has been a long time since we have eaten but have faith, our maker will fill our bellies in due time, i am sure of this much.” Reuben laughed out loud, “you really are crazy Semaiah, I hope you are right because if not we will be eating eachother soon!” The pair laughed and talked together until it was time to sleep. Reuben lay in his plot and fell asleep with an empty belly, his mind was dancing with thoughts of glorious food.
*
Donny was chopping fruit hastily, feeding crickets wasn't really a task he enjoyed or cared for, but it benefitted his Lizard so he put up with it. The better the food the healthier the animal and since Abbadon lived on a diet of veg and crickets he had to make sure that he got the fattest crickets possible. The young man had become an amateur at animal husbandry without even knowing it.

*

Reuben was awoken from a restless sleep to the chirps of happy crickets, he ran from his plot over to a neighbour who's name he did not know, “what is all the commotion about?” he asked in earnest, The nameless cricket had a broad smile on his face, “did you not hear? Putiel the great has recieved a gift from the gods, oranges glorious oranges! And banana too!, go to the town centre, he is still handing them out. For a hungry cricket like Reuben that was all he needed to hear, he hopped over to the square where the food was stacked in abundance. Putiel and his two minders were sitting on top of the food monitoring peoples portion intake, this was a hugely important task as they never knew when they were to be fed again, that was a matter for god's to determine, not mere crickets. Before Reuben touched the food he heard the laboured wheeze of Putiel, “Good morning young cricket! Eat and be merry 'til your belly is full” Then his voice lowered, “but remember the god's gifts dont last forever so savour every bite”. Reuben had not heard the last part, he was too busy enjoying the luxury of food, each bite of the moist and juicy fruit was like tasing heaven and he relished every moment, when his stomach was full he decided he would go and find Semaiah and discuss the events of this busy morning.

He found Semaiah beside the well, which in actual reality was just a plastic jar top filled with water by Donny. Semaiah seen Reuben from a distance and made his way past the usual throng of the well and over to the relative calm of the uninhabited plots, which again were just empty egg cartons, the two friends began to chat in the relative calm. “Isen't it a great day brother?” said Semaiah with a wide grin on his face, Reuben scratched his face with his little front leg and said cooly “Yeah.. a great day, the same as any other day that the Lord blesses us with but i just cant shake the worry in my mind”. His trusted friends smile began to fade, “whats the problem Reuben?” said Semaiah with a sound of genuine concern in his voice. “It's just i get this feeling sometimes that Putiel knows something we dont, why does he control who gets certain amounts of food?, and why must he have his own private plot?, its over crowded here enough as it is, you could easily fit 100 or more crickets in his plot.. So why must he insist on it being private?” Reuben felt liberated after his critique of Putiel and was eager for answers. Semaiah's smile had now dissapeared and his tone turned to that of anger, “I would advise you to stop speaking so ill of Putiel the great, He has eyes and ears everywhere you know. The reason he has such a big plot is because he has been here longest, crickets come and go but Putiel remains constant and he is also the only cricket with the power to talk to our Lord almighty so i think thats reason enough for him to have his own plot” He said with a sniping bite. Reuben looked sheepish, “you are right my friend, i am sorry. I realise the good he has done for us, education, food, water and comfort, I, I dont know what came over me at all actually, I am sorry, but i must return home now.” he muttered, he knew his friend was biased as a result of his education, “and i am sorry too, so dont look so down” said Semaiah with a smile, Reuben nodded and made his way home, en route he would pass Putiels plot.

Reuben had decided it was time he enrolled in college just like his good friend, it was time to swallow his reluctance, and the great cricket Putiel ran the only one in town. As he turned past a crowd of busy crickets he could see the overlord's vast plot, It was guarded by two helpers at the front, Reuben did not know why the plot needed guards as there was never violence in this town, but nonetheless he was sure it was for ample reason. As he got to the outskirts he could hear commotion from inside the plot, the commotion was in fact shouting, It was one voice and he knew it well.. It was Putiel.

“They ate how much?” screamed Putiel, Reuben could not hear the other voice as it was much more subdued so Reuben would just have to make do with Putiel's voice, he felt guilty listening like this but it was obviously a worthwhile conversation to tune in to. “Those greedy little scum, taking my food, and how long will it be before that human feeds us again? Hopefully he kills all those ignorant little crickets!”. Reuben's mouth dropped, he could not believe what he was hearing, he knew he had to tell Semaiah, but he was not finished here yet as Putiel was still shouting. “He can come, take them all for all i care, I am safe here and he has never caught me, There is enough food stowed away here for me to live quite happily for as long as i wish!” His voice less angry now and more vehement, “let them rot!” Reuben had heard enough, it was time he got to Semaiah and told him about Putiel “The Great”.

Reuben scuttled to Semaiah's plot as fast as his little legs would allow but he wasn't anywhere to be seen, He asked neighbours of his whereabouts with an immense sense of urgency but they hadn't seen his friend. Reuben needed to see Semaiah, afterall this information was enough to change their little town intirely. He tried the well, the feeding area, and even where Putiel made his announcements but he wasnt there, he had searched for hours and decided to go to bed, there would be plenty of time to find his pal tomorrow.

As night grew near Reuben lay his head down and began to think of the days events. “So Putiel has never really spoken to the lord, it was all a rouse to keep him fat and wealthy.” Suddenly Reuben's stomach sank with dread as a more important question was burned into the fore front of his mind, what was that thing that was picking them out from the sky? It was most certainly not of devine origin that much was for certain, where did these poor crickets go?, he did not know for sure as he had spent his entire life in this cage which he called home and Putiel was the only cricket of other worldly origin, all the others from the old times had died or were picked off by whatever monstosity hunted them, Reuben then wondered if Putiel had somehow dispatched the elder's in an effort to gain dominance and control, It was indeed very possible for he had learned today more powerful information than any other cricket had ever learned, information that proved his leader was only interested in himself, Putiel was in fact the bad guy, and the huge object which picked them from the sky was not god or an angel, it was a Human, what ever that may be. He decided it was time to at least attempt to get some rest for he had a long day ahead of him, tomorrow would be the day he would rally Semaiah to his cause and confront Putiel.

*
Donny was in his bedroom laying down with his girlfriend Christina, He was playing his guitar aimlessly while his girlfriend was trying to vie for his attention. “Seriously Chrissy, i'll be finished soon, im just practicing this pain in the ass song, i can never get it right”, Christina let out a purposeful sigh, “ ugh whatever Donny” she said with exasperation. Donny looked across his room, Abaddon was running around his cage looking for food with no luck. “That lizard is always hungry, im sorry Chrissy i'll be with you in a minute.” He leaned across to his girlfriend to try for a kiss, but was rejected swiftly. “Suit yourself” said Donny as he climbed out of bed and picked out a handfull of crickets from thier tank, Abaddon almost jumped through the glass in excitement of his feed, Donny threw the crickets in, closed the cage door, and ran to the bed to try and win back his hard to impress girlfriend.

*

Reuben was dreaming, In the dream he was the ruler of his town and all crickets respected him, he was the king and Putiel had been dethroned, he was running things dilligently and everbody was happy, when food was supplied he would divide it by the number of crickets in the town, everyone got equal and it was enough to ration until more food was supplied, this way there was no hungry bellies. In his dreamland he lived on Putiels old plot, he had a loyal and loving wife and numerous happy children, he had granted his advisor Semaiah part of his plot and he too lived there happily with his family, suddenly he heard commotion outside his palace, it was a crowd of hundred's and they wanted Reuben dead, he was frightened but decided to go outside and reason with them but there was no one there. By the time Reuben had regained conciousness it was already too late, he was snared by something and couldn't move, he heard screaming crickets everywhere but could not see them, it was at this moment he realised what had happened, he was in the grasp of whatever it was that Putiel had described as human.

There was flashes of light, Reuben had seen things he did not understand and his mind was racing, suddenly it felt as if his body was torn in two, after a few minutes he partially regained his senses although he could hardly see, the light was so bright that he was almost blinded by its brilliance. He now found himself running, he did not know why but felt like it was the best option, there was screams from fellow crickets all around but he did not know where they were. The startled little insect drew in a deep breath and decided to see what was around him, he seen a huge log, he had been told of these by Semaiah, apparently they were relics of the old world, they had never been in his town so this place.. wherever it was, was obviously very old, a mound of stones lay in a pile to his right and then there was the bright sun, he could feel it's heat scorch him. Reuben felt the ground tremble and slowly grew more frightened which he thought impossible, suddenly a huge monster emerged from behind the log, it had spines and scales and it was running straight at him.

Reuben turned quickly and ran for the pile of stones, he could feel the creature gain ground on him, his legs were now tired and he was running purely on fear. A crushing pain coursed through his body, the creature had snapped one of his legs, instinctively he jumped and landed in a gap between the stones, he was safe.. for now. The little cricket spent the night crying and his voice had now gone hoarse from calling for help, there was never a response, his comrades must have been eaten by that horrible beast. Never before had reuben felt so lonely, he missed his home and his friend, he even missed the safety brought by Putiel's regime, he was sure he would die here alone.
*
Donny yawned as he woke up, he turned and looked at chrissy who was reading some nonsensical anti establishment book, “hey babe.” he said with a grin, she put down her book and turned to him, “Donny, i think we should talk”, her demeanor told Donny that this would be a long morning. “Ok, whats up?” he said inquisitively, Christina's voice was serious now. “Well it's just lately you seem distant and im..” She was cut off by the trademark shreek of Abaddon's claws scraping at his glass cage for food, her voice contorted with anger. Donny got out of bed, “im really sorry chrissy i just have to feed this little shit then im with you one hundred percent ok?” he said whilst opening his wardrobe and grabbing some crickets. The gilted lover opened the tank and threw Abaddons meal in
for him, as he turned he seen that Chrissie had hurriedly put on her clothes and had left his room making a b-line for her car. “Babe wait!!” he screamed as he tried to put his jeans on, managing to fall over in the process. “fuck, fuck, fuck!!!” he shouted as he ran downstairs after his fleeing girlfriend, The scene was a comical one, Donny with his pants slowly falling down trying to barter with his frustrated partner in the middle of the street, little did he know that Abaddon's cage door had been left open during all the comotion.
*
Semaiah was afraid, he too was now in the scorched desert, and his friends were being eaten by this mysterious leviathan but he could do nothing as he was paralysed with fear. Reuben seen Semaiah but knew he had to be careful, this manoever needed to be timed to perfection, the wounded cricket had seen that there was now an escape route and it was imperative that this move was made with absolute perfection . “Do or die” he said to himself, he took a deep breath and emerged from the pile of rocks and moved as quick as he could. “Semaiah! He shouted, but there was no answer from his startled friend, Reuben knew he had to think fast as he was approaching Semaiah quickly and if he stopped they would surely both be eaten alive, “come with me Semaih!, come with me!” shouted Reuben as loud as he could, alas there was still no response from his dazed friend so the brave cricket decided courageously to tackle Semaiah mid spint in an effort to get him to move. The charging little cricket hunched into his friend with all the might he could muster, Semaiah tumbled across the floor, he looked up at Reuben with a scared look. “what, what is this place?” he said with fear in his voice, “no time to talk, lets go!!”. Reuben's leg was bleeding badly, the running had caused it, but thankfully he had five more and the pain would just have to be forgotten about until they escaped this hell hole, “im with you friend!” yelled Semaiah, who was just behind Reuben. The weak cricket could now see the opening, it was close now so he braced himself for impact and leaped with his very last ounces of strength. The two crickets had escaped the dragons den and were now in a new and alien world.

The pair had found a hiding place in a dark corner, both were dazed and it had taken a lot of time for them to grasp the situation at hand. They were in a strange environment with no food, no warmth and no safety, despite all this there was something that strangely enticed Reuben, he knew the likleyhood of death was very high, and worsened still because of his wounded leg, but he felt a burning curiosity in his mind to explore this new world, the wounded cricket daern't tell Semaiah because he had already made it apparent that he wanted to go home, this much was to be expected of him, he thought, as they had both seen sights of horror that no cricket had ever seen.. It was turning to night time now, the air had grown desperately cold, so the two crickets huddled together for warmth. Reuben turned to Semaiah, his colour was draining from blood loss, he knew at the back of his mind that he didn't have very long left to live, “what do we do now friend?” he whispered weakly, Semaiah thought to himself for a moment before he opened his mouth, “i think we should get back to the town.. wherever it may be, Putiel must be wondering where we are.”, he paused for a moment and decided to continue as Reuben looked like he needed convincing further still, “I mean we have seen the other side my friend, and that side wasn't heaven but hell, this leads me to believe our brethren and us are living sinfully, we must improve out faith so god is appeased”. Suddenly all the memories of Putiels rant coursed through Reubens mind, it had seemed as if those events happened years ago as they were instantly over looked when he had looked upon the great demon, but it was certainly time to tell his friend, if he died then no one else would know and he could not let that happen. “Semaiah, do you remember the day we had our last feast?, and when i walked home after our talk?”. His friend looked confused but nodded in acknowledgement, “well, i over heard Putiel and he said that our god was in fact something called “human”, i do not know what this means but he doesnt seem to be looking after our interest, as u have seen for yourself, the fiend doesn't stop there though, he is taking food secretly and keeping it for himself.”, Reuben was out of breath, he waited for his friends reply. Semaiah looked at Reuben angrily, he looked as if he was about to attack his friend, “how dare you say that?, shame on you Reuben, you really dont understand it do you?, and you never will, you are weak willed, and a heretic!”His furious friend made his way out of the crack in the corner, Reuben was taken aback by the malice in Semaiah's voice, “stop friend, you cant leave its too dangerous out there” he shouted with anguish, “ i would rather die a hero than keep company with a heretic!” and with that Semaiah took off into the darkness. “Wait!” screamed Reuben, but it was too late. The wounded cricket was alone in the dark once more.

Dawn had broken and Reuben had not slept, there was too many noises, whether it be the demon or the human he did not know but he didn't fancy investigating. He worried about Semaiah, he had left and gone deep into the unknown, his safety concerned him greatly. The injured little creature felt a small amount of respite from the pain caused by his leg from resting, it was now time for him to follow in Semaiahs footsteps. During the night he had made the decision that he would return to the town to start a revolution against Putiel and his regime so he drew in a deep breath and stepped out into the alien world.

Reuben could see the human clearly, he was sitting in a chair and reading, this of course was entirely foriegn to a cricket but Reuben knew well enough to stay away. He scurried across the floor as quick as he could and found a shadowy place not too far from where he had came, This was the perfect opportunity for him to take in his vast environment, everything he could see was bizarre, but somewhere in the distance to the north of him was a familiar structure. It was home. Reubens injured limb was throbbing but not badly enough to hinder him as he now had his eyes fixed on his target, he found himself moving rapidly and as if he was on autopilot. After some hours he was at the foot of a cliff, he had to scale it because his town was on top. Reuben jumped with what little energy he had left, he would never have been prepared for what lay before him.

Semaiahs corpse was directly at Reubens feet, he had almost landed on top of him. The sense of loss overwhelmed him. “I am sorry brother.” he said solemnly, “but your death will not be in vain, i promise you that.”. Reuben said some final words and crawled slowly to the outside of his town, he had no way of passing through the geart barrier, it was see through but impassable. Reuben banged his body against the barrier to gain help, there was none. The town was eerily silent. The cricket decided to walk further down the line of the boundary to see if he could find any signs of activity. Reuben could see a mound which had never been in his town before there was something going on around that general area too, he tried to make out what was going on. His mouth dropped in horror when he got a better view.

There was a mound of dead crickets stacked hastily at the edge of the town, and on top of it was Putiel. He was eating the same crickets that had loved and supported him, he was much fatter now. Reuben was taken aback by this sight, there were too many questions to ask and no one to answer them, he banged against the barrier furiously, “Putiel you pig! Come here! I will kill you!” he shouted with venom, but Putiel did not even see him let alone hear him, he was too busy feeding, the greedy leader had consumed all fruit, and when that was done he had eaten his own kind without remorse. Reuben felt weak again, he knew he would never get back into his town and even if he did what would he do?, there was nothing there for him, no cickets to help him build a better life and no food save for that which was provided by the human. He decided to scale back down the cliff and find somewhere to sleep, why he wanted to sleep he did not know. Why he wanted to live was just as big of a question, he had nothing anymore and was entirely alone so what was the point? He pushed it away from his thoughts and moved instinctively. The dying cricket crawled along the floor until he found some soft material, “this is as good a place to die as any.” he thought to himself morbidly. He layed down and felt his body slow down, it wasnt long before the darkness came.

*
“Ok Chrissie, i'll be over soon” said Donny as he put his mobile phone back in his pocket. He was now a happy man, his turbulent relationship had been calmed.. at least for the moment. He picked up his shoes and tee from the ground and put them on. Little did he know that there was a passenger hidden away on the back of his shirt. The summer sun felt comforting on Donny's face, it was the warmest it had been in weeks and he was looking forward to a day hanging out at the beach with his girlfriend.
*

Reuben did not know where he was but he felt that he was moving fast even though his legs werent moving, he was clinging on with all his might but his strength had diminished greatly and after a few minutes he was forced to let go and fade into the abyss.

It was a fresh breeze which awoke Reuben. He was in a paradise, it was beautiful, there was food as far as the eye could see, glorious shades of blue radiated over head, all around him was lush vegetation full of greens, reds and yellows and there was musical noises coming from the trees above him. This was the first time that the little cricket had felt joy for as long as he could remember, it soon subsided however, he could probably regain strength here and rescue survivors from the town, if there was any. Reuben looked up and seen two alien creatures swirl and dance together, it was a beautiful sight, it was at this moment that he realised there was no saving those crickets, they could not understand freedom and probably never will, they were too caught up in self importance and routine, besides they would only ruin this paradise with the same rules that killed them all. Reuben decided it was time to let go of the past and hopped through the grass with ecstasy.

END

Epilogue

I did this crazy little story when i was looking at a box of crickets which i was feeding to my Bearded Dragon. I suppose this story contains a lot of my beliefs as well as opinions, Growing up in Catholic Ireland it wasn't really until i was eight-teen or nineteen that i felt comfortable in my beliefs so i used Reuben as a vehicle for my own experiences to come to literal fruition!!