Sam was still screaming like an excited schoolgirl when the light vanished. In its place was... more light.

Looking around, Angus saw nothing but white. To the sky, nothing but a pure white abyss threatening to swallow everything below. But- where was below? The so-called sky only ended with more white. The ground and horizon was no different! Despite this near blinding display, there were no shadows cast by the group, or rather there was no place for said shadows to be cast. Angus wondered if this was what pure nothingness looked like.

At some point along Angus' thought, Dan had slapped Sam across the back of the head to get him to stop happily cheering. He looked thoroughly unamused by this, though did not retaliate- he too, was now staring off into the nothingness before them.

It was Chloe who spoke first.

"So... that happened..." She said in a flat tone, bordering on disdain.

"Liiiiiittle bit f an understatement there." Said Tahlia through gritted teeth. "Where even are we?"

Nobody had to answer, they'd all seen enough of this enough from media... but that's all it was, something people dreamed up for entertainment and then proceeded to obsess over. After all, who wouldn't want a chance to do the impossible? Sam had apparently made up his mind some time ago.

The easily excitable four-eyes spoke up to answer the question on everyone's lips. He still cradled his head from Dan's hit.

"Well, judging by the scenery, that being nothing but an endless sea of white, I'd say we're somewhere outside of time and space. You know, like the place where all respectable main characters receive world-breaking power and begin a death-defying quest of badassery."

He maintained a face of indifference through his spiel, though the last part seemed to bring something Angus could only describe as a gleam to his eye- though on a far greater scale. For a moment, he could have sworn a tear came to his friend's eye. Nobody pressed the matter any further, still debating the possibility of Sam being the mastermind behind all of this.

"Di- did you rehearse that speech beforehand?" Asked Dan with an apprehensive tone.

"Perhaps." Responded Sam with a wry smile. In actual fact, he'd fantasised about this moment for as long as he could remember.

Angus shook his head in response, In truth, he expected nothing less. In fact, part of him would even go so far as to agree with his enthusiasm- a rare moment indeed. After all, who in their right mind would refuse even the slightest of chances to escape from a life of predetermined normality? Angus had concluded long ago that life as he knew it was far from perfect, the fantastical landscapes imagined by those who dared to dream only served to taunt him. Now, if the usual 'Summoned to another world' formula was to be believed, and what Sam said was true, then that could all change.

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They'd been standing around in the white pit for an immeasurable amount of time. It could have been 5 minutes, it could have been 5 hours. There was no way to tell. At some point Sam had grown restless and decided to go and 'explore', to explore what exactly Angus had no idea. As far as he could tell the white at his feet was the same as the white 50 Meters in front of him. Nevertheless, Sam insisted.

His enthusiasm, however, was quickly eroded when he appeared behind the group a few moments after he was out of view. It appeared that this place was more of a self-contained loop. Further experimentation concluded that if one travelled far enough to be out of sight from the rest of the group, they would begin approaching the group from the opposite direction they initially travelled in. This proved two things; First of all, this place had curvature, they were standing on some sort of sphere. Second, there was no escape... all of a sudden everyone seemed far less enthusiastic.

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Angus wasn't sure who suggested they all travelled as one. It made sense, in theory. If nobody could travel further than the sight of another, then as long as they were all together, they'd be able to travel indefinitely. It was Dan to first point out how, despite being there for what seemed like hours, he didn't feel the need for food, drink, to go to the toilet, or to sleep. At one point, Tahlia threw a pen that she'd had in her pocket to the ground, if they were still being brought back to the same place then at least they'd quit while they were ahead. Sam began counting footsteps to mark the time and how far they travelled.

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It was around 5000 steps that Chloe said something peculiar;

"Why haven't we just used our phones to tell the time?"

Silence.

However, before anyone could get too disappointed in their own ignorance for critical thinking, Tahlia held up her phone. On its screen was nothing but static, like someone had infested its insides with writhing insects.

"No use." She said flatly. "I tried when we got here, can't even get into it, let alone see the time. Sorry, figured you'd all know already so didn't say anything."

Silence once more. It was around now that they began realising just how alone they were...

Not long after, they saw a pen lying on the ground in front of them.

________________________________

"Alrighty. Here's what we have to work with-"

It had been some time since they began taking this place more seriously, though nobody had the energy to say anything until now. Angus spoke up from where he lay sprawled out on the ground like a lanky starfish.

"We're all trapped in what seems like an infinite loop."

This earned nods from the rest of the students. They all sat in a messy circle around Tahlia's pen.

"Not only that, but we have no idea who or what made us come here. We don't feel the need to eat, drink, sleep, or anything that could be defined as basic human function, and so far- the only ideas that we've had are to-"

He sat up and glanced at the 'whiteboard' that lay next to the pen, a small sticky note where they had agreed to write down any observations of their situation or ideas of what they haven't tried yet.

"1. 'Kill ourselves', thanks for your input, whoever wrote that- and 2. 'Think enough paradoxical thoughts that it tears a rip in space-time and sends us back home'. Some really good brainstorming here people, good work."

Nowhere near satisfied with the collectives efforts, he slumped back down into a starfish. It was weird, although the ground felt incredibly solid like laying on concrete, it was surprisingly comfortable- though these were the observations of a kid who'd spent most of their life on earth sleeping anywhere and everywhere they could.

"So disregarding #1. Sam, did you do #2? I feel like that's something you'd write. C'mon people, we need real ideas."

They'd been going around in circles like this forever now.

"It is a real idea!"

Sam was lying face-down on the ground, his voice muffled as he spoke.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'd much rather exhaust all of my more creative ideas before offing myself. Who knows how this place works? It could work." He said, slightly irritated.

Equally frustrated, Angus retorted.

"Oh sure, that's fair enough, but really? You think willpower, positive energy, friendship and good intentions is going to get us out of here? We should be looking for an exit or something, not asking each other whether a set of all sets contains itself!?"

The others sighed, knowing full-well that this was quickly turning into one of their infamous clashes of poor comebacks and excuses. Sam was about to respond with his own comment when it happened.

It was so out of place in their little white bubble, considering the only things that any of them had heard were the voices of their friends for God-knows how long. It might as well have been the end of the world had it held the same effect on Earth.

A massive ear-splitting crack echoed through the white-ness. Followed by the sound of a near-infinite supply of whine glasses shattering all at once. Each of their faces was twisted into a mix of fear, confusion and pain over the noise. They sat in silence for a long time, not brave enough to be the first to speak, lest it alerted whatever had made said noise to their location. However, after nearly 10 minutes of staring far off into the distance, Sam spoke.

It was the first time they'd felt anything other than boredom for too long. Angus was sure that if he wasn't as scared as the rest of them, Sam would be wearing the most shit-eating-est grin ever seen.

"Told you so."