Two Friends Floating High

On a quiet Saturday afternoon, two lifelong friends were walking through the woods on a trail. In the background, both could hear the water rushing and the birds chirping. The more talkative of the two, Stoni asks his friend, “Such a lovely evening, wouldn’t you agree?” Maxie replies with only a head nod, agreeing with the sentiment.

Stoni is a gray fox with an odd feature, a pair of antlers on his head. These antlers earned him the role of class prey, making him the target of countless teases and taunts from his classmates whenever he messed up. They called him many derogatory nouns and nicknames, ranging from Headlights to Tree Branch.

Maxie is a mute golden retriever. Ever since his birth, he has never spoken a word. The closest his parents ever got were random sounds that sounded nothing like a word. He still makes sounds from time to time, but it’s never real words. Unlike Stoni, he was saved from endless torment, but only by way of isolation. He was introverted, only finding joy in a new thing known as “the internet.” There, he could express his true self without fear of being outcasted due to his condition.

That was until the two met. On a random Tuesday midday during their middle school years, Stoni sat next to Maxie during lunch. Although it was to the dismay of Maxie, he attempted to strike up a conversation. After two failed attempts, Stoni was about to give up. That was until he noticed that Maxie was communicating, but only via bodily cues. Ever since that day, the two remained best friends, lasting into the present.

During the blossoming friendship, the two discussed a wide assortment of their interests and hobbies, many shared. There was one interest that stuck out, it being the pair’s love for bubbles. The pair enjoyed the thought of larger bubbles sweeping them away from their lives and even wrote about these fantasies. They usually used themselves as subjects, but sometimes wrote about fictional characters and their bubbly adventures.

Today, the two were walking for 15 minutes now, still enjoying the scenery. Maxie noticed a small cut to the right of the path. Notifying the other with a subtle shoulder tap, Stoni replies by asking if they should investigate further. Maxie gave an excited nod, and the two followed the small clearing.

Down the path for a few minutes, the pair found a larger area with direct sky access and a weird mechanical machine in the middle. The machine looked like a projector, but with a hole where the lens would be. They theorized about what the machine may do, always somehow leading back to bubbles and the wish that they could fly away from life together.

While the two thought about the machine’s function, it snapped them out of their minds by whirring to life. To their surprise, they were right. Bubbles started to spew out of the machine, the pair admiring as they floated in the air. One by one, bubbles the size of six inches came out, both the fox and dog enamored by their glossy, round surface.

These bubbles almost seemed too perfect to be true, making the travelers somewhat uneasy but still eager. Seeing some about to hit the ground, they waited for the inevitable pop and sting to their hearts. As they hit the ground, they stayed for a second and bounced up as the wind took them away. The two were shocked and became even more excited by the idea that these bubbles were indeed unpoppable. They tested their hypothesis on other bubbles around, sticking their fingers into their membranes. To their glee, they did not pop. These bubbles were undeniably unpoppable, and the two were beaming with euphoria.

The pair of friends were too distracted by the bubbles to notice that the new ones were growing in size. As they hit 1’, 1'3, 1'6, and eventually two feet in size, they began to notice something strange occurring with their bubbles. As soon as the thought occurred, the bubbles went to wrap the two together, row by row.

The two knew what was going to happen. Their wishes of being trapped inside a bubble were being granted by this one machine, one bubble at a time. As more and more rows of bubbles set in around their legs and arms, they slowly lost their ability to move around.

The bubbles started pushing on the bound pair, now merging with their neighbors. As more bubbles came out of the machine, their minds entered bubble-induced ecstasy. As the bubbles started to cover their heads, the bubbles also took their senses. They could only smell the soap of the bubbles, see the off-white, glossy, rainbow tint of the bubbles, and feel the smooth, elastic surface of the bubbles. The bubbles muffled outside noises to the point of near cancellation. Neither wanted to leave this scenario, even though they were completely incapable of doing so.

At this point, they started to float off of the ground. Bubbles were merging and making small popping noises from every angle. Eventually, the last merged and the pair were left inside a ten-foot wide, seven-foot-tall bubble for two. Here, they were free to move about again, albeit limited to the size of the bubble.

Looking down, they notice that the machine was left neglected and was still making large, four and a half feet bubbles. Using the last of its soap, two bubbles came out and chased the two up. As soon as these bubbles reached the pair’s bubble, they entered the enclosure instead of merging. Stoni and Maxie eventually fell asleep on their comfy bubble beds in their bliss.