“Umbilical Cord”
Dec 07, 2019The umbilical cord tightens its grip around his neck. He was having a hard time breathing. He could feel it in his heart and lungs. He could feel it in his brain. The oxygen wasn’t flowing enough and he was starting to lose it. He would never escape his prison if he didn’t have the energy to do so.
His mom was dragging him through the park. She loved the cold. The winter air was filled with electricity and he felt a shock every time she tugged on the cord. He tried to wander off, to go back home to the warmth. But she insisted he also love the cold. “It’s good for your soul,” she told him. But all he felt was pain in his soul. He just wanted to be warm. “I’m cold,” he told his mom. She pulled the cord in, dragging him back toward her, embracing his fragile, naked body in her arms. “Mama will keep you warm,” she said.
“The cord is too tight,” he said, tugging at it around his neck.
“It’s for your own protection,” she said. “We don’t want you to wander away.”
“I want to go home,” he said.
“We will when I’m ready,” she said. “Enjoy the park. Enjoy the cold air.”
“It’s too cold,” he said.
“Come crawl inside,” she said, opening herself up.
“It’s too suffocating in there,” he said. “I’m too big to be inside.”
She frowned and closed herself up. “Let’s go,” she said angrily and let go of him, tugging on the cord as she picked up her pace.
His naked body was freezing. But he knew better than to ask for clothes. He didn’t like being punished for his simple requests. The pain of the cold on his skin and in his soul was more tolerable than her icy gaze.
He stood in the middle of the road, hoping a car would run him over, hoping some good samaritan would cut the cord. But everyone moved past him like he wasn’t there. Cold, naked, breathing heavily, suffocating.
“Come!” she yelled and yanked the cord. The electric shock ran down his body and he continued down the path with her.