A Frame to Escape
Characters jailed in a mystery.
Sentenced in an unusual punishment, they waited on the desk. His angry curse kept them imprisoned underneath boundaries they could not define. In a frame of mind, not theirs, and out of line with time.
Struggling against their prison, always a waste of energy with no reward in sight. At least until all was quiet and he turned off the last household light. Then they pushed against the canvas, and the darkness spurred them on. Bulging in their colors like tiny bubbles emerging and coming back to life.
The rising sun stopped their progress every day, a frame of strife.