Xerxes rustled his wings, waking his son next to him. “Wake up, Leo.” Xerxes said. The smaller cockroach wriggled and stretched his legs. “Do I get to go with you today?!” He asked. His father nodded while cleaning his antennae. “Yes son, you are old enough to carry on my work.” The roach jumped and spread his wings out in excitement. “You must do exactly as I say. The trip to the ice box is dangerous and the only way you’ll survive is if you follow my lead.” His father said, interrupting his son’s celebration. Leo sighed. “I know Dad, you’re the third generation to go into the ice box and retrieve sweet cold cream.” His Dad stretched out his wings too. They were large and almost expanded the entire width of the wall they called home. “Yes Leo, and I want you to be the fourth. Clean your antenna and then I’ll explain the trip to you.”
Leo did as his father said and then looked at him eager to listen to the plan. “Ok, I will run out and run back in. If one of the Titans sees me, they will stomp towards our hole and we’ll have to find another way out. When I return, if the walls do not shake, we will run out together and we have 3.8 seconds to cross the 10 feet to the farthest post where the Titans eat their food and the Titans’ servant will be sleeping. If the Titan’s servant sees us, it will chase us and we will not have time to rest. We will have to cross the next 20 feet to the hall under the first cabinet. We have 7.6 seconds to cross this distance. I will need you at top speed. Do not stop for anything during this cross, or a Titan or servant will catch you.” Xerxes studied his son to make sure he was still listening. He needed to follow every detail and rule exactly or he would not survive the trip to retrieve their livelihood. Leo nodded and fluttered his growing wings. “Ok then,” His dad continued. “After we make it to the covering in the room where the Titans store their food, we will crawl through an opening of the metal room. The Titan’s put their food in these loud clanking traps. Sometimes there is food left on them but we won’t have time to stop and search for it. There is a hole in the back that your great grandfather opened. We will crawl through this to the extremely small space behind the cabinet and onto the wall until we reach the bottom of the ice box. We will climb to the top and to the lip of the door. It is suctioned close to keep the cold in. If we make it that far. I will show you how to get into the ice box. Xerxes wiped his antennae one last time, stepping over their cousins to reach the small opening in the wall by the front door that kept their family warm from the winter outside. He darted out at top speed and under a second, was back in the crack next to his son. They didn’t move a leg, waiting for the commotion the Titans made after seeing them. The walls remained still. All was silent.
Xerxes turned to Leo and tapped his wing gently on him. “Ready?” He saw the reflection of fear in his son’s eyes but he cleaned his antennae and nodded his head. They darted at full speed, crossing the brown wood to the post in under 4 seconds. They reached the post side by side. Xerxes backed vertically onto the post so that he could face his son who climbed straight up. They paused for half a second. Using their eyes that wrapped around their head to survey the large world that surrounded them. The Titan’s servant lay with its’ eyes closed on the chair. His large fluffy tail swinging at the side. It was a wrecking ball to the small roaches and had missed them by less than an inch when they’d darted underneath it. “That was close.” Leo said. “Yes it was. But we made it. Now I want you to look at the floor we just crossed and the floor we are about to cross, do you see a difference?” Xerxes asked. Leo studied the floors. “Yes, the one we just crossed is the same color as our wings, the longer one we are about to cross is the color of the top floor.” Leo responded. Xerxes touched his left antenna to his son’s right. “Exactly. We will not blend in. If anything is looking our direction, it will see us. You must run as fast you can and do not, DO NOT veer off of the straight path to safety, do you understand?” He commanded. Leo fluttered his wings. “I promise, Dad.”
Father and son surveyed their surroundings one last time and crawled off of the post, taking off across the great white floor.The floor was a lot brighter than Leo had anticipated. It blinded him as they crossed it, turning the world around them into a white blur. The dips in the tile slowed him a bit and then the sound that shook all of his family to their core vibrated under his feet. A blood curdling scream of a titan. It echoed so loud that the floor vibrated beneath his scampering feet. “Follow my voice Leo! DO NOT STOP!! KEEP RUNNING!” Leo’s body turned to the right at his father’s’ shout. He’d veered off course. He picked up speed, almost floating over the tiles as he felt the stomps of the Titan approaching him. And then when he thought he wasn’t going to make it, he slammed head first into the wooden side and felt his father cover him with his wings. “Good job son, you made it. Now hurry, into the metal room.” He said, pushing him through the hole in the cabinet door. They hurried inside and sat huddled underneath one of the large metal traps frozen, waiting for the Titan to open the door and scream again at their sight. The stomping continued outside of the door for several seconds, but then subsided.
“What happened out there Leo?” Xerxes asked. “I couldn’t see.” He stammered. “You should have seen with the vibrations and followed my footsteps.” Xerxes said. “I’m sorry, Dad, I got confused. I will not mess up next time.” He said. Xerxes sighed and rubbed his antennae. “I’m happy you made it to me alive, son. Are you ready to keep going?” He asked. Leo nodded even though his wings were still shaking. “Ok follow me to the back. We will crawl through the hole and up the wall. And then jump to the fridge and climb straight up the back and to the top until we get to the door of the ice box. We do not have to do this quickly, only as quietly as possible. We do not want the Titans or their servant to hear us.” Xerxes explained. They crawled out of the metal room and into the small alley between the cabinets and the wall. It was too skinny for them to walk the ground, so they crawled as quietly as they could on the back of the cabinets.They reached the edge and Xerxes jumped sideways from the cabinet to a wire attached to the back of the ice box. Xerxes crawled onto the cold metal of the ice box and began to ascend. Leo followed until they reached the top. Leo stared up at the ceiling. It was only a couple feet away. He’d never been this high up. He stared out over the edge of the ice box. The floor seemed so far down. And the kitchen. It was huge. Food covered the counters and distant voices came from far away. “Is that the Titans?” Leo asked. Xerxes nodded. “They are in the other room, staring at the light box. Now follow me.” He said, scampering to the far left side of the ice box by the door. Xerxes pointed his antenna at a crack in the suction where the cold rose out and smacked them in the face. “This is where we will crawl in to get the cold sweet cream.” Leo’s wings fluttered. “Calm down son, they might hear us.” He warned. Leo stiffened. “I’m sorry Dad. What do we do once we get inside?” He asked. “We will crawl down the front door, until we reach the basket, then we will turn ninety degrees and walk along the wall. The cold sweet cream is in a large box in the back. Then we will jump into the box, scoop as much ice cream as we can under our wings and leave the same way that we came out. We must do this in under 5 seconds. The ice box is colder than anything you can imagine. The cold sweet cream is so cold, it will freeze your legs if it on your back for longer 30 seconds. When we make it out of the ice box. We will go back home the same way that we came. But we will not have time to pause in between safe zones. This is the most dangerous part, Leo. I will not stop to help you if anything goes wrong. And I’m ordering you right now, no matter what happens to me to keep going. Do not stop for anything. Your life depends on making it back to the hole before the Titan sees you and before the sweet cold cream freezes your insides. If the door opens while we are inside the ice box. We will hide behind the cold sweet cream box. I will crawl on top of you to keep you warm until the door closes. Under no circumstances do you take off running. The Titans have bad eyesight but they see movement and they will spot you if you move. Do you understand everything I’ve told you Leo?” Xerxes asked.
Leo cleaned his antennae, then spread his wings and touched them to his Dad’s. “I understand. I’m ready.” Xerxes copied his sons sign of respect. “I love you Leo. I know you can do this.” He said. Xerxes released his son, took a deep breath and dove head first into the ice box.
Leo followed his dad down the front door, across the ice and the frozen chicken nuggets and to the back of the ice box where the opened mint chocolate chip cold sweet cream was kept. His dad stopped, staring at a big open square surrounded by ice particles. Leo came up next to him. “Is everything ok, Dad?” He asked. Xerxes continued to stare at the spot where the ice cream used to be. “No, son. The ice cream is gone.” He said. Xerxes scanned the ice box, searching for what the Titans had done with the cold cream but he couldn’t find the box.
A loud crunching noise vibrated through the icebox and light filled the inside. A Titan had opened the door. “Son! Get behind the frozen broccoli!” Xerxes shouted. The roaches dived behind the large bag. Xerxes crawled on top of his son to keep him warm. A loud smash on the other side of the box sounded throughout the small cold room. The door slammed shut. Xerxes crawled on top of the broccoli to see what the Titan had set down on the other side of the frozen room. It was the ice cream. But it was too far. And they’d never taken that route before. Xerxes told his son to climb up as well. “DAD! The ice cream! Let’s go get it!” Leo exclaimed. “We most certainly will not get the ice cream this trip. The plan has changed. Now we need to make it back home without freezing to death.” Xerxes said. “But Dad, we….”
“WE will do nothing except make it out of this death box alive. We will try for ice cream tomorrow.” He said. “Follow me.” And he took off to the top of the box, squeezing out of the suctioned door and walking across the top when the Titans shook the whole fridge by opening the freezer door again.
Even if they were empty handed, they’d both made it out alive and that is what mattered.
Closed System 