Pop

I didn't think it was too big a deal. Just a whole bunch of us put into a fairly large space. We were all clumped together, rolling over each other and trying to find a little pinch of room that we could call our own.

“Where are we going?” I asked my neighbors, a few swiveled to look at me, finding the movement difficult because of how smooshed together we all were.

“This is the end,” she had a thick dark coating, there was nothing else really remarkable about her besides the fact that she was a tad darker than the rest of us.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“There's no way we're going to survive this.” I turned away. She was crazy. The others turned away as well, as though she had some type of infectious disease.

“I don't know,”

“Where are we going?”

“Why are we here?” The questions began to circle around me until soon the entire space was filled with them. I shook myself and looked around. It was just a white space. There was nothing remarkable about it. I was so crushed in with the others, I couldn't even really see the floor.

I smashed into my neighbor when the space suddenly jolted. We all screamed, trying to keep our balance as it shook. “What's happening?!” I yelled.

“It's the end.” The girl whispered. I started to yell at her to shut up, when the shifting rose to a new extreme. Up and down, up and down, we shook and tumbled against each other. Then we all flew to the right as the space jerked away.

Gravity was having a hay day, I couldn't tell which direction we were moving, just try to avoid being crushed by the others around me.

And then it stopped. Just as suddenly as it had started, the space was quiet again. We all shuddered. Trying to stay as close to ground as possible. No one said a word. It wasn't until I started sweating that I began to think that maybe it wasn't over.

“Is it getting. . . Warmer in here?” I whispered. The girl beside me sighed. I didn't know how she had managed to stay there, but she had.

“This is the end.” She said simply. The space began to get warmer and warmer, like a fire. My insides squirmed, growling and rumbling in weird undesirable ways.

“What's going on!” And then everything went totally wrong. There was a sharp POP and one of my neighbors flipped, his insides sprouting through his chest and rearranging themselves to fit in the front. POP POP POP. Others were following. The space expanded as they piled on top of each other, growing and enlarging as more and more were ripped inside out.

POP, POP, POP, POP!

It was so hot, so uncomfortably hot. I was sweating, my insides rumbled and expanded. I tried to hold it in, tried to keep myself from exploding. What was going on?! What had I done to deserve this?!

“Goodbye,” The girl next to me smiled.

“NO!”
***

Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop. The Girl smiled as the smell of butter filled the air, the dinger sounded and she opened the microwave with a smile. Pulling the bag out, she walked to the table and pulled it open. The warm aroma filled her nostrils and she grinned.

“Yum,” she murmured, popping one of the kernals into her mouth, “Hey guys! I've got Popcorn!”