Freedom

Johnny had only ever wanted one thing in life - freedom. For as long as he could remember he had been imprisoned in a dark cell. Surrounded by bars, he had no hope of ever getting out. He didn't even understand what he had done wrong to be put here in the first place.

He'd tried all the usual means of escape. His arms weren't strong enough to break the bars. He didn't possess the proper tools to dig through the bottom. He'd even tried crying and begging to be let out of his prison, but his keepers rarely responded to his cries, and when they did it was as if they didn't understand what he was saying, as if they spoke a different language.

Time went by at a crawl for Johnny. He couldn't tell exactly how long he had been serving his sentence. It could have been days, weeks, maybe even years.

Time spent alone is no way to live. He had to repeatedly devise new ways to occupy his mind and keep himself busy. First he tried counting the bars surrounding him, but he remembered he didn't know how to count. He tried singing, but he didn't know the words to any songs. He would have drawn pictures or built models, but he wasn't allowed to have those things in this horrid place.

Eventually he took to daydreaming. Looking out from between the bars, he envisioned a day when he would be free to socialize with his friends, Thomas and Stitch. He even tried to use mental powers currently unknown to mankind to teleport these friends from the outside world into his cell, but this too was unsuccessful.

Over time any person can grow accustomed to an unnatural habitat, but there is remedy for a lonely mind. Moment after moment of endless darkness and solitude had just about driven Johnny mad. He imagined that he heard voices when no one was there. He thought he saw furry creatures running around outside his cell, but he could never reach far enough to touch them.

At last, after Johnny had finally given up all hope of being released from his cage, a new and surprising change occurred. Johnny observed that in the near distance not too far from his prison he saw a light. This light, warm and soothing, grew ever larger, bringing with it an intensity of illumination that he had wished for so long to witness. It continued growing until, at length, a shadow appeared in its midst. A dark form was approaching ever closer to where Johnny sat in his desolate cell. Fear grew upon him second after second until he could no longer bear the suspense.

He began to cry, and it was the pitiful sobbing of hopeless fear and loneliness. His captor had arrived for the final punishment and was reaching for him. She lifted him up, but Johnny was too absorbed in his hysterics to recognize the woman - until at last, he caught his breath, willed his eyes to open, looked into her face, and recognized the form of his liberation.

His mother.