“So, what’s your theory?” I asked, taking a bite of my rice.

“Theory?” Archie repeated, tilting his head in confusion.

“On what this place is.” I clarified, motioning around me using my fork.

Though I was ninety-percent sure this place we were eating in was a cafeteria, since there were no windows or clear exit doors, it wasn’t entirely confirmed we were inside of a school. At the very least though, this room had to be modeled after one.

“Hmm…” Archie paused, looking away, his expression thoughtful.

Nearby, I noticed a few people moving about in the room. Some were gravitating toward the slide area, where I presumed everyone else was sent through. They seemed to be inspecting it, curious to find out if they could return. Others continued to eat or talk among themselves.

I cast occasional glances at the red-haired man across the room. He hummed to himself as he ate, seemingly without a care in the world. Oddly, he sat mostly alone—after his dramatic fork-stabbing episode, people had edged away, marking him as the “ugly duckling” of our little group… or whatever we were.

Archie finally looked back at me. “Well, L’ Boh said I was an alien… So, this is some experiment?”

I turned back to him, nodding slowly. It seemed he didn’t have much extra information. “He said the same to me and my roommate… Do you believe L’ Boh?”

“I don’t know,” Archie replied, a conflicted expression on his face. I understood his hesitance. It was a crazy concept to grasp.

“What did he have you do? To escape your room, I mean.”

Archie took a slow breath, setting down his fork as he thought back to his own experience. “Well,” he began, “it was… strange. There was this sound, almost like a low humming, coming from somewhere in the room. It started to get louder the more I ignored it. At first, I tried to find the source, but the sound just seemed to come from everywhere, surrounding me. It was only when I really listened, you know—like, let it sort of fill my mind—that I realized it wasn’t just noise. It was… guiding me.”

“Guiding you?” I echoed, eyebrows raised. “Like how?”

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Archie said, looking embarrassed. “But it was like I just knew where the door was, like my body started moving on its own. And when I reached the door, it just opened. But even now, I can’t remember seeing the door until I was already through it. It was like it… materialized only because I believed it was there.”

I mulled this over, trying to piece together a pattern. “So it’s almost like L’ Boh is messing with our senses, forcing us to rely on instincts or… intuition?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Archie’s face lit up. “He’s testing us. I think he’s trying to see how far he can push us, what we’re capable of under pressure.”

“Or maybe even beyond pressure,” I said, glancing down at my tray as I processed. “If L’ Boh is telling the truth about us being ‘aliens’… maybe he thinks we have some kind of ability that hasn’t fully awakened yet.”

We both fell silent, taking in the murmur of voices and the strange humming buzz of the room.

“Well, how did you escape your room?” Archie asked, breaking the silence.

“I had to see without using my eyes,” I replied, the words tasting strange as they left my mouth. “It sounds ridiculous, right? But It was like I could feel everything around me. The vibrations in the floor, the layout of the room. I had to trust that there was more to the room than what my eyes were telling me.”

Archie frowned, intrigued. “And you just… did it?”

“More like I had to,” I said, shrugging. “It was either that or go crazy. I felt like I was in a sensory deprivation chamber, and the only way out was to feel everything around me.”

“Maybe we all have to find a different way of seeing things,” he mused, glancing around the cafeteria again. “If this is an experiment, it’s all about pushing our boundaries.”

I nodded, and a contemplative silence followed. I took that brief moment to glance across the room: finding Gabby laughing at something one of her tablemates had said. She looked entirely at ease, as if she wasn’t bothered by the strangeness or the danger around us, or maybe she was just putting up a front. Regardless of the truth, I felt a flash of irritation before turning back to Archie, shaking my head slightly.

“So, did you… have any roommates?” I continued.

“I did,” he answered, though his expression grew a bit worried. “When that… “test” or whatever started, I lost sight of him though. And since then I haven’t seen him make it here yet.”

A shadow flickered across Archie’s face as he spoke, a subtle flash of worry that made me feel a pang of empathy. I wanted to reassure him, but I couldn’t even reassure myself that all of this was real—or survivable. Before I could respond, a high-pitched crackle interrupted the murmurs of conversation.

A voice came over the intercom, startling everyone into silence. It was L’ Boh, his smooth, patronizing tone ringing through the cafeteria.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Well, hello again, my dear aliens!” His voice had that familiar note of condescension that set my teeth on edge. “I hope you’re enjoying your little… gathering. I thought a bit of social time would be enlightening for all of you. You’ll find that knowing who’s around you can be the difference between survival and, well, something far less pleasant.”

I exchanged a wary look with Archie, who seemed just as unsettled by L’ Boh’s words as I was.

“Now,” L’ Boh continued, his slow and easy-going tone implying he relished every word. “It’s time for your next lovely test. You will be returning to your roommates, those lucky individuals who make you just a little more… complete. If you don’t have a partner, do wait behind. You’ll soon be paired with another ‘leftover,’ as you might say. This time, let’s see how well you can work together. Good luck—and goodbye.”

Just as sudden as he’d started, L’ Boh stopped speaking just as quickly. A moment of eerie silence filled the hall, before everyone burst into motion. From calling the names of each other’s partners to moving about in the cafeteria, aimlessly searching, everyone was preparing.

The room turned chaotic, people scattering in all directions as they called out for their roommates. A low murmur of anxious voices swelled, punctuated by laughter, a few nervous yelps, and more than one frustrated shout. I kept my eyes peeled, scanning the room for Gabby, knowing she was somewhere nearby. Archie gave me a quick, sympathetic nod before disappearing into the crowd, presumably to find his missing roommate.

I spotted Gabby across the room, already heading my way. She seemed surprisingly calm, threading through the sea of people with ease. When she reached me, she gave a mock salute. “Ready for round two, partner?” Her voice was light, but her eyes betrayed a trace of unease.

“Let’s get this over with,” I replied begrudgingly.

Together, we made our way toward the line forming at a wide door that had silently slid open on the far side of the room. People filtered through in pairs, each duo disappearing into the dimly lit corridor beyond. Gabby and I joined the line, the shuffling steps and murmured voices ahead of us blending into a strange symphony of tension. I could feel Gabby’s nervous energy radiating beside me, but she kept her expression carefully neutral.

“You were paying attention to what he said, right?”

“Huh?” Gabby replied, turning to me.

I stifled a sigh, “He said we would need to work together. Get it? That means no abandoning me this time.”

She was silent for a while, just staring at me.

I returned the look.

“Has anyone told you you can be vindictive?” She asked, finally breaking the silence.

I shrugged, “Who knows. Don’t have any memories to confirm.”

She squinted, as if she didn’t believe me. I simply gave her a shrug, once again.

She sighed, as if she was at her wits end, “I don’t know what you want from me, honestly. I already apologized.”

Yeah, “apologized”, as she put it, was half-assed at best. But, I forced myself to nod along. “True. But seriously, I don’t want to head into whatever this is not being able to trust you.”

Gabby tilted her head, a more pondering expression touching her features. It was as if I said something strange.

“What?” I continued.

“Well, I want to leave just as much as you, I’m sure. I wouldn’t sabotage you or anything.”

“But you literally did earlier!” Is what I wanted to say. But, maybe it was foolish or naive, but her words came across as genuine. So, I would trust her, just this once.

It was finally our turn to step in front of the strange, slidy door. Once we’d done so, after a second or so of delay, it parted. We stepped inside, finding the contents to be a dark and narrow hallway.

The door quickly slid to a close behind us. There was no escape. We could only press on.

Inside this hallway, the only illumination came from faint lights along the floor, casting strange shadows on the black walls. There was no sound beyond the hum of machinery embedded somewhere in the walls, and each step seemed to echo louder than the last.

“This is… creepy,” I muttered, glancing at Gabby.

“Agreed.”

The hallway stretched on and on, feeling almost surreal, until we reached another metal door at the end. When it finally slid open, we found ourselves staring at a familiar white room—the same one we’d woken up in, the first time we had entered this strange place.

“What the…” I trailed off, disoriented.

Gabby’s expression hardened. “No way we just walked back to the same room.”

We took a few cautious steps inside, scanning the sterile white walls and the familiar beds. I turned, reaching for the door, but it swung shut behind us, clicking into place with an almost mocking finality.

“Great,” Gabby muttered. “Looks like we’re stuck for now.”

“Let’s try the ‘close your eyes’ method again,” I suggested, thinking back to our escape from the original rooms. “Maybe there’s another hidden door or… something.”

Gabby rolled her eyes but joined me, and we stood in silence, searching for any hint of an exit. But there was nothing—no hidden passage, no whispers of an opening. Just a thick, suffocating silence.

When we opened our eyes again, I noticed the two beds against one wall. They were exactly like the ones from our original rooms, arranged just so, as though L’ Boh wanted us to feel we’d never left.

“Perfect,” Gabby muttered sarcastically, taking a seat on one of the beds. “Guess we’re in for the long haul.”

I sat down on the other bed, my gaze drifting toward the ceiling as the minutes dragged on, blending into an hour—or maybe more. Just as I started wondering if L’ Boh had forgotten about us, the black monitor above flashed, and that familiar irritating face was displayed.

“Welcome back, Astrello and Gabby,” L’ Boh said, his voice oily and smug. “The next stage of your evolution is about to begin.”

Gabby’s eyes narrowed, her jaw tightening as she stared up at the screen.

“To leave,” L’ Boh continued, “is quite simple. You’ll be staying here together… indefinitely. You’ll find your way out only when you truly understand the meaning of ‘cooperation’ and—let’s say—mutual appreciation.”

Gabby let out a long, irritated sigh, flopping back onto the bed. “He really loves his power trips, doesn’t he?”

“Oh, and one more thing,” L’ Boh added, a cold chuckle in his tone. “The longer you take, the… less pleasant this room will become. I suggest you take this very seriously. Good luck.”

The monitor clicked off, plunging us back into silence. Gabby cast me a sideways look, one eyebrow arched.

“So, how do you want to do this?”

I rubbed my temples, trying to think. “I guess we start by figuring out what he wants us to do. We both know he’s not going to make this easy on us.”

“No kidding,” Gabby replied, folding her arms. “And I have a feeling this is just the beginning.”