I was watching the seconds tick past when someone with a rough voice knocked on the metal windowless door, calling out for a “Mr. Smith”. I almost chuckled at their ignorance, though I could never do that. I had a mission.

“Yes, I’ll be right there,” I said. My heartrate really was jumping now. But I took a deep breath and stood up from the armchair I had been sitting on, immediately moving in a casual manner towards the room's entrance. I opened it, hoping my disguise would function as intended.

When I opened the door, I saw a relatively short man standing in front of me. He had dark brown hair, and was wearing denim overalls with a gray shirt underneath which was made of some material I didn’t pay attention to. The overalls were faintly stained with something red I didn’t want to think about.

He didn’t ask any questions, just swiftly escorted me down a long plain stone hallway silently, face showing no emotion. Good.

As we walked down the hall, I noted that there were cells lining the two walls, perfectly spaced apart. Metal bars separated the hallway from the tiny rooms, with just enough light reaching into them for me to see inside. 

In some cells, the inmates just lay there, with their hopes and spirits crushed. In others, the inmates were clawing at themselves with overgrown, ragged nails. All of this was quite unnerving, but the cell I found to be the worst was where a man just sat there unmoving except for his mouth, which counted the seconds going by with a scratchy and hoarse voice. His eyes stared at nothing, and he was at fifteen million when I passed by. I felt no pity, though after that I only stared straight ahead.

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Finally, we reached the place I had been waiting for. At the end of the hallway, there was a door in front of me, and a door on the right. The man walked up to the door in the center and took something from a zipper pocket on the top right of his overalls. He hid the object from me, and took out a black blindfold.

“Sorry,” He said in a deep, rough voice. “It’s required for anyone.” 

He then handed me the strip of cloth, and I tied it over my eyes. However, when I put it over my eyes, I made sure that it was high enough so that I could see under it. 

When he held it up to the door, I saw that there were several keys on a thin metal ring, with each key being a different color. I watched as the man held onto a chrome key, and unlocked the door. Then he put the keychain back into his pocket, zipped it, and told me to take off the blindfold.

I did so at once, and the man gestured in the direction of the open door. When I walked through that entrance, the man emotionlessly sped along a hallway which I could not see the end of. I followed, keeping up as best I could, but not before looking around at my surroundings. 

Behind me was a dead end, a stone wall just like the rest. Forward was that hallway of incredible length, and to my side. . . Was a window into what looked like something from a child's fantasy. Somehow, inside of that building was a mountain. A mountain of incredible height. Creatures I could not recognize moved about in a jungle surrounding its base. Slithering, hopping, scurrying, galloping; If there was some form of movement, there was a creature within that place which moved that way. All colors imaginable flashed around in a stunning show of allure and majesty.

It was unlike anything I had ever seen, and it was unimaginably beautiful. And for the first time, I wondered what was hidden from me. What other things existed beyond what humans thought they knew? It felt like a sweet relief and a splitting headache at the same time.

Then I realized how far behind I was, and hurried along.