I have always hated this box.

I wait here, in the darkness, listening to the sounds of my fellow ghosts as we wait for the opening of the gate. They tell us that someday there will be freedom. They tell us that someday we will not have to guard these dots from those that would think to steal them. I forget what they’re good for.

Is it anything?

The gate’s opened now; one of us slips out into the narrow corridors to chase the Enemy. I say let It have them; It always does in the end. Why waste our time here? But here is all that there is, in the dark, surrounded by white walls and white dots and the brilliantly coloured bodies of my packmates. It’s just a game for them, playing tag with the Enemy. They do not see it as I do. They do not see it at all.

I feel myself turn; the tag has reversed. It must have reached one of the big dots, the fog-dots, the ones that change us. When It consumes a fog-dot It triggers a switch in us, changing what they are. We’re no longer toxic to It. It eats our bodies and our spirits return here, into the box. A box within a box. Life is a box. I can’t think like this. It’s aimless travel for us. With the fog all around me I can’t see, can’t hear, wander in an eternal daze until the fog has left us and we know where we are again, know the hopelessness of our situation again. Someone returns, I feel him bump against me somewhere. But he is revived, and I’m still in the mist, lost in it...

Is this what death feels like?

Is this it?

Am I free?

The gate opens again, but I have backed up and another one takes my place. Then the gate is closed, and I am moving again. The fog is gone. I can see.

Now it is my turn to rail against the box, ramming into the gate and retreating back, ram against and fall back. I will keep It from unleashing the fog on me. I cannot take the false hope.

If It left them alone, our dots, the Box-Outside-The-Box, I wouldn’t care. I forget I care until It reaches a fog-dot. Until I remember by forgetting.

If I could stay in the fog forever.

I wouldn’t know my box.

I could think of worse fates.

This must be what insanity is.

Now the gate is open and I feel myself drift out. I race about, through the close hallways filled with dots and the expanses of dotless waste It leaves behind. I can hear It nearby, mindlessly consuming. Even when It’s against a wall, Its mouth moves, seeking. It has no mind. It’s just here to oppose us, because here is where the dots are. It’s just here because here is all that there is. Or are we here because It comes...

I see It now, that ageless Enemy, moving around. It finds one of the treats They leave out for It, and this, too, is claimed by that mouth. I find myself wondering again where it all goes. I could almost feel sorry for It, for It must have a similar hell to ours, but then I remember that It causes us pain, that It cannot speak, that It has no mind. I’m romanticizing a force set upon us by Them, nothing more.

As I draw nearer, It changes direction and retreats into the wall. I know this trick. It will be on the other side of the Bigger Box. that’s where I’ll be.

I’ll always chase It, to the end of time.

I turn down the corridors, making my way through the maze towards It. I can hear It moving, coming nearer to me in Its pursuit of dots. It has no mind; It would not approach me if It did. I see It as It turns a corner, and fall into line behind It. Now I can see what It’s going for: a fog-dot. I’m faster than It, I tell myself, I can reach It before It reaches the dot. I’m there, catching up, and I’m going to make it...

I touch It, watch It eat Itself...

And I feel myself turn, the fog’s rolled in on my vision. Did It turn? Did I? Did I reach It in time? I feel It touch me, feel my body melt away as Its mouth closes on me. I see nothing now, just a darkening fog...

Is this it?

Is this the end?

Am I free?

I always hated this box...

O.o That has a deep meaning...I like it! Very poetic! Good job!

Thanks.. so what's it a fanfic of? Figure it out?

Is it written from Wrath's veiw point, talking about living in the gate/ seeing Gluttony from the movie when Al and Wrath are fighting Gluttony? Or am I WAY off?

Uh... no. Not FMA.... *snickers* That's a good expanation, though.

Crap...I was never good at this "figure out what lies BEYOND the words" thing. Well what is it from...if its not FMA, I my not know....Wait! *reads again* Crap it! This sounds SO familiar....but I just can't put my finger on it...I thought I had something, but not all of the pieces fit into place...

Sure they do. And it's found in arcades all over the world.

PAC-MAN? Is it Pac-man? If so, I didn't know being a ghost was so harsh....AWSOME! That is SO deep for that old-school game! Haha! I love it! XD!

Yes! ^_^ I was in a truly strange mood at the time, but apparantly they've got it rough.