From black to white in an instant. Not a pure white but a faded, warped one. A white that formed with small peaks as if it had dripped, only to be frozen in stalactites of hard material. Brown lines encircled in odd shapes where water had marked them from exposure. At first my disorientated mind thought not of upward but instead that it was a was a sort covering over my vision, however, once my mind calmed and I felt my head pulled down on the soft pillow underneath it, I corrected myself to the idea that I may be staring at a roof of some kind.
My head felt a pressure that forced spots into my vision as I blinked. I had no idea where I was, what I was, or even where I came from but somehow there was so much that I did know. Words and ideas were sudden in my mind as if they had appeared of nothing. They gave me knowledge of basic things and overwhelmed my once blank slate of a mind. There was mathematic calculations, lists of names I had no recollection of, and from nowhere there were morals. I knew there were things I shouldn’t do, things I shouldn’t say, and even things I shouldn’t think. It was as if all at once I gained an entirely new life while in reality there was nothing of substance. The dull ache of my head though was dwarfed by my feeling of restlessness. I had been trapped in the void and I ached to move about and see other things than a white plaster roof. The restlessness crawled through my limbs like spiders in the very veins where blood circulated routinely. The idea of freedom swelled up inside me and I wished to run and leap. With little attention to my actions, almost as if a reflex, my arm jolted upwards. The movement was however stopped abruptly and the arm that had leaped at the thought of movement held still in a sort of levitated state. Seeing their brother trapped in place the other limbs jumped as well, all hitting similar barriers at differing times. A tilt of the head and I saw the reason for my limitations. Where my arms and legs lay, they were covered by straps that strained as they all pulled up, but did not buckle or tear. Suddenly aware of my own tension I released the muscles that held the small struggle and they were slung back from their braces. My eyes, now exposed to the sight of other objects, glanced between different points of interest.
I myself was pressed down on a white mattress that connected at its bottom to an ornate footboard formed of grey metal tubing, although I could not see above my head due to the restraints placed on my body, I assumed the bed was symmetrical between its foot and head. The bed did not sit in a blank space but instead a room of dull blues, the walls painted navy and the floors (which I had to press my chin to my neck to see) were tiled in a checkered pattern of aqua blue and white. Against the tile lay wheels connected to machinery with blank screens. Curtains blocked the view to my immediate left and right, beyond them muffled beeps and voices contrasted as a cacophony to my previous setting of silence. The curtains themselves were again white, a recurring theme and an assault against the eyes of those who did not enjoy the presence of bright colors.
Apparently, I was also one of those who abhorred the sterile white, as my eyes quickly diverted from any direct contact with them. In place of look and observation, I instead focused all attention on my restraints, testing them with slight movements of my forearms and hearing as they clinked against whatever part of the bed they had been tied to. After assessing the resilient nature of the bindings for a few seconds I thought that they might come undone if pulled hard enough against. With little wind up I jumped into a rhythm of pulling and pushing, trying to force the restraints to yield to me. The clinking sound that had come before was now intensified in its severity and rang out louder than any of the other sounds that echoed throughout the enclosed space. With one final tug of immense strain, I felt the strap on my right arm loosen and with a slight lift it came up from the bed, releasing my right arm completely from its grasp. I sat there analyzing my handiwork, figuring out how the strap worked so I could better let loose the other ones. The curtains billowed with sudden movement and figures in baggy, blue, parchment clothes emerged from behind and around them. They grasped at my arms and legs and held me down even though I didn’t try to struggle, appearing as an army of grabbing digits. With effort I tried to use the voice I knew I had but when words should have come out, only soft wheezing could be heard emanating from my open mouth. The figures, genderless in design, backed away from my mouth as if it were the muzzle of a rabid canine and I might bite them if they came within range.
A gloved hand raised above me from one of the many androgynous beings and between its finger a needle was being held with a tight grip. Another hand similar in size, ideally from the same person, met the first and prepped the needle with precision. A brush against the left forearm and the gloved hand brought its weapon down from my view and into the mass of hands. A slight and sudden prick of pain jolted me from my left arm and a cold ran through my body, spiraling from the source where the pain had come from. The hands held even tighter than before against my limbs and I felt the cold reach my chest, chilling me to a degree that did not seem possible. Slowly my eyelids began to droop even though my mind bid them to stay open. My own wants hardly mattered though, as my consciousness itself slipped away and everything suddenly changed from white to black in an instant.
***
Dragging legs. Black. Marble floors. Black. Bobbing heads. Black. Voices murmured at the edge of my mind, tempting me to rouse my senses. Lights seemed to blink in and out of sight above me and below I saw legs carrying on for miles down as they swept across the pearlish ground. Black, this one lasting longer. The chatter of the voices seemed subdued, like the whispers of secrets not wanting to be told. Occasional words slipped into my ears as they went about their way. Danger. Death. Mistake. All those words seemed awfully harsh to be whispered, but then again everything had been harsh since my awakening. The whispers continued but now it was my hearing’s turn to fade, making the voices move up and down in volume like a wave.
My vision, on the other hand, began to clear, the black disappearing from sight. Head sore, I had not the energy to look to either of my sides with my full head so instead glanced over, keeping my face pointed down. To my left, legs clad in black fabric swiftly traded places as they tread forward, the booted feet underneath them clicking on the floor in the tempo of a march. Suffice to say the right was no different, except these legs seemed shorter and had to march double time to keep up with the other, faster pair. With curiosity and courage to fuel me, I strained silently, trying to raise my face towards the owners of the legs. The silhouette of my right support came into view, its head blocking out the light behind it, forming a shadow in its features. To my surprise, it was a simple man, not a towering behemoth as the initial shock would have made me think, but one of plain character with a jaw set softly under a patchy sprouting of brown facial hair. His mouth was slightly open with the teeth slightly offset in the form of an overbite, reminding me of some sort of whiskered creature. He did not make eye contact with me as I observed him but instead stared forward, focusing his eyes on some point ahead of him. A rat!! That’s what his face reminded me of. It may have been his pointed eyes that finally cemented the connection between the two, them being beady and abnormally dilated, appearing to look like black tunnels through his face. Not wishing to stay focused on the rodential face I allowed my head to fall back down before lifting it up to glimpse my other supporter. This one, being shorter than the first, seemed to be the reason why my left shoulder was lower than my right (as they had my arms put over their own shoulders to drag me), a feature that I had just now realized as I obtained my bearings. This person was a more diminutive woman whose expression, although still stern, seemed softer than her comrade, and every once in a while her brown eyes would dart over to scan my face from beneath a curtain of straight, shoulder length, ginger hair. Both figures that carried me wore black pants that seemed to accentuate the seams at the sides as well as laced black boots and a tightly pressed blue top made from a rough, scaly looking fabric.
Neither of the two turned to face me as I began to move my head around, swiveling it in circles as the neck attached made loud cracking noises. With faces turned forward, they kept pulling me along, my foot dragging on the left side and my right foot dangling above the floor. Matching the people to both of my sides, I turned my face front, analyzing the direction I was being taken. Ahead of me was a hallway made from different shades of white ranging eggshell to ivory. The roof and walls were made of the same stone, smooth, flat, and most likely rigid if I had to guess, and light poured in from the walls as if they themselves were candescent. When focusing my eyes I could see a break in the constant white. A black rectangle at the end of the hallway contrasted against the white and grew larger every step the two people at my side took.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
After what felt an interminable amount of distance, the floor seeming to stretch on the closer we got to the end, the supports and I reached the black parallelogram. Up closer it appeared as a door, the center split with a seam giving way to the concept. Heavy-looking ornate door knockers modeled into the heads of two bronzy hawks jutted out in the centers of both doors, which seemed ineffective considering the doors themselves were quite large and anyone similar to my height would have to reach high to use them. At once my arms were lifted up over the heads of the two supporting me and without their strength, my own legs burned while trying to keep up the losing fight against gravity. My hands fell to the floor, shivering on contact with the low-temperature surface, as my knees gave out. A look to see the only two other people around found them both staring back at me as their faces remained a mask negating all emotions.
“Go through.” Ratface pointed as his words began to register with me. His voice matched the appearance, sounding squeaky and hoarse with a mild tenor pitch, like a rodent’s quiet musings. His pointed face slightly turned up while I continued to lay on the ground, turning into an expression of superiority (most likely focused towards I).
With obvious effort, I began to try pulling myself off the ground. As soon as I could get on one knee pain lanced through every tendon and bone in my leg. A fire tore at my heels and flared up a whirlwind of torment. My eyes unfocused and sight became blurry as I managed to get on both feet. Slowly I began to stumble forward, my feet not allowing me to stay in one spot without the risk of collapsing downwards. A stumble turned to a step as some part of my brain reminded me to keep my balance steady, and with effort on step turned to two. Within a minute I had my hands placed upon the intimidating doors. I turned my head back to the two people that had brought me here and some them staring. Ratface looking uncomfortable while the woman seemed to be urging me forward, with her eyes, to open the door. Putting one foot behind the other to brace myself I began to push, preparing for the strain of a massive weight. Almost instantly the heavy looking slabs slid back as if opened by a stronger force inside. Through the opening a small amount of light shed through, growing larger quickly as the door slid back until the light intermingled with its counterpart outside the door and leveled out, creating a window into the room onward.
I began to scrape my feet on the ground as I moved forward, slightly tripping at a misstep or two. Once inside the room, it became clearer how different it appeared from the other environments I had seen. As a stark contrast to the whites in the hall, all things in this room had a warm color. The walls were brown and appeared wooden while the floors glowed a scarlet red. The fact that the room seemed gargantuan helped make the colors seem more powerful than the previous infinite white. Along the walls were shelves, most of which reached to the ceiling, covered in books of all kinds. Along the sides of all shelves, ornate borders of bronze tied the books to the walls, each inch depicting the faces of beings with wide, screaming, expressions. Towards the end of the considerably long room stood a desk, seeming small in the large space but covered in a mass of papers and golden trinkets, some moving with a slow motion. Out behind the desk was a large window taking up most of the back wall, and providing most of the light for the room.
The window itself was formed of multiple fragments of different colored pieces of glass, all of them combining to form a broader picture. Made in the glass were three symbols. The one on the left appeared yellow but shined gold as the light ran through it. It was a circular object with a large letter I planted in its center. Made to look like it sat behind the first was another round object appearing with the same letter. To the right was were two swords modeled in gray and black, the middles crossing as they appeared to clash. In the center stood one larger than the rest and through it shined vibrant shades of red and silver. Marked in the glass was a scythe, built with a base and blade of silver. The only opposing color was made to look stained on the rest, a splash of blood.
“It’s a nice design, is it not?” A voice echoed off the high walls and a shudder ran down my spine as my shoulders pulled back, trying to avoid any harm from an unknown source.
“Right here.” Behind the desk my eyes focused. A man stood there. This one was tall and slim, almost to the degree where it seemed dangerous for his health. His outfit was all black, including a suit jacket and pants, excluding a plain white tie that matched his skin tone. He was older, veins showing through translucent skin, but had no wrinkles or blemishes. The skin pulled tight over the skull, showing off all edges of bone. His hair was gray but looked as if it had been that way for a long time, and it was laid flat but short, slightly shadowing already dark eyes.
I stepped forward as the skeletal man stared at me, a slight twitch at the side of his lips turning into a large and hideous grin. I opened my mouth trying to speak but only staccato noises came out, hoarse and light.
“Don’t try to speak.” The man’s voice rung out, sounding larger and deeper than his own body could contain. “Come sit.” He gestured in front of him at a few small chairs placed in front of the desk. These ones appeared wooden and were lightly cushioned. He, meanwhile, sat down, waiting for I to do the same. As I moved to sit down in one of the chairs I traced the wooden tops with my fingertips. The man sat shuffling papers at his desk and glanced up. “You may not want to do that Kallum, the wood on those is a bit unrefined. We wouldn’t want you getting a splinter.” I slowly removed my hand from the top of the chair and sat down, releasing some of the burden off of my legs. “I pride myself on keeping my guests in good condition, no matter for what reason they come to me.” I stared at him for a few seconds. I didn’t know what he was talking about. Clearing my throat a few times I tried to speak.
“Am I Kallum?” The man looked at me with an intrigued face for a second or two.
“Yes. Yes you are.” His eyes focused on me. “I was told there might be a bit of memory loss but I didn’t think you would forget your own name.” A smile ran across his face making him appear almost kind. “But anyways, it was quite rude of me not to introduce myself. I already know your name of course, but you don’t know mine.” His hand extended out across the table as he stood up ever so slightly. “You may call me Mr.Bishop.”
My hand almost as an involuntary action raised up to grip his own before shaking and releasing. “Well cutting straight to the point Kallum, do you know why you are in here?”
“No.” The short syllable I had uttered seemed to cut off the flow of the conversation, leaving silence to hang around the edges of the room.
“Let me help you then.” Bishop took a few things from his desk and propped them up to read. “You name Kallum, last name omitted. Your place of birth is unknown. Nationality unknown. Parentage unknown. Even your whereabouts in the six months before you were picked up are unknown.” Bishop slid the pages back down on the desk. “You are as much a mystery to us right now as you are to yourself.” He brought his elbows to lay on the desk and interlocked his fingers. “What do you remember?”
My mind tried to grab on to something as his question filled my head. “Nothing, sir.” His face suddenly grew darker, the lines that creased his cheeks and forehead becoming more accented.
“Shame.” His arm reached over to the other end of the desk. “I guess I will leave you to your own devices now.” His finger tapped against the desk and a sound like paper crinkling emanated from it. “Please send Mr.Knight in. He will be escorting our newest guest around the premises.”
Bishop looked off in a different direction for a few seconds before the crinkling sound came again and a disembodied voice said, “Yes sir.”
Bishop turned back to me. “We may have to wait a few minutes.” We sat in silence as the seconds passed. Bishop lightly went through his paper as I examined my own hands. After what felt like an eternity the giant door clicked and opened, my head spinning around to see.
A young man emerged through. His hair was black and long but tied back so it wouldn’t get in his face. He looked to be in his twenties at most but carried himself like a person much younger. The man walked forward ignoring myself and addressed Bishop directly. “You wanted me, sir?”
Bishop looked on at him with disinterest. “Yes, Mr.Knight. Young Kallum here needs to be shown the institution. Taught the basics, if you will.”
Knight looked down at me. “Alright, sir.” His hand came to grab me and started to lift me up with a surprising amount of force. “Come on. It’s best we go quick as to not disturb Mr.Bishop.” As I rose off the seat my knees buckled and I began to fall before Knight hoisted me back up with his shoulder. “Easy bud.” He nodded to the door. “Let’s get going.”
As we started moving forward Bishop perked up at his desk and called out to me. “Good luck to you Kallum.” We were almost out the door and I could see the stretch of white corridor ahead. “Oh and by the way. I forgot to mention something.” The doors started to close behind us as we passed through. I looked back to see Bishop’s face with a large toothy grin distorting it. “You’re a killer.” The dark doors closed, cutting off the last bit of light.