TEST#001

As Albert Einstein once said, “'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. 

Waking up for God-knows-what time, Urien was forced to look at the same old walls and contraptions. At the same time so informed and yet so uninformed; his brain was between two worlds. What was his purpose here?

Wasn't he just here? Or in an eerily similar room?

He stood up from the metal-framed bed, and looking at the mirror, one of the only objects in the room, stared. He stared at himself, his head so full yet so empty of thoughts, his face so dreadful, yet so hopeful. His black, curly hair: uncombed.

His nose, as sharp as a heel, with blood-red eyes, as if he hasn't slept in a while..  “Where am I now?”; he thought to himself. “Didn't I just … leave this place?”

He was sure he was just here. And wonder about it he could, for a moment more, but he decided against it.

Looking at the door, as his only available exit, he decided to walk up to it and reach for the door knob, which, in his eyes, looked as if it was turned a million times before he touched it. The door, as dull it was, opened with a strong creak, and revealed a hallway. Bright, white lights shined. It looked as if it was a hospital. The walls were a little worn down, long and tall. Next to the room Urien was in, a long stretch of more doors and rooms were sitting idly. No voices could be heard, and the creak from the door echoed through the whole hallway. A feeling of deja-vu hit him. Urien remembered something. Or, did he? Was it a false memory? Or did he actually go through all of this before?

No one could tell him, as he was alone. Taking a look into every room would've taken a while, so Urien, freaked out by the situation he was in (or was in again), checked a couple of doors. Looking at the door he just exited out of, a number could be seen just above it. “4402.” It seemed as if his room was just one of many. 

The door next to his had numbers above it as well: “4403”. It was obvious this was a facility of some kind. The purpose of him being there; unknown, but a purpose had to be had. Had he been kidnapped? In his mind, in the few minutes that he had been awake at this point, he did not know what to think.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Sure, he was in an unknown place, but at least he wasn't being tortured or anything of the sort. While looking into the other rooms, he saw nothing other than the same layout. A metal-framed bed, a mirror, and a window with its shutters half-open.

He did note something weird though; the shutters for the windows were placed on the outside, meaning they were probably controlled by someone (someone who is using a remote, or something of the sort. Still, where does the need to control someone's shutters even appear?). Nowhere in the room was a remote, button, or anything of the sort. "So they must be controlled by a switch or remote somewhere else." - he thought to himself, as if he was proud of noticing such minute details. These kinds of details were the details Urien noticed; he had a keen eye for these sorts of things. Nothing too suspicious, but nothing to brush off. He made sure to take note of anything that felt "off" to him. Looking out the window, trees could be seen. Birds could be heard chirping; the first sign of other life Urien found (or, in this case, heard). "At least I'm not all alone here..."

After inspecting three or four rooms, Urien decided he was to go to the end of the hallway. After all, there has to be a way out. All the rooms were the same and nothing was of interest in any of them. The rooms gave him weird feelings, like he wasn't supposed to be in them.

Nearing the door at the end of the hallway, the strong white lights buzzed on, occasionally turning off for a moment. The floor looked as it was taken care of; the same could be said for the rooms. No trash could be found, in or around the rooms (In the rooms, dark-gray trash cans could be found. They were all empty).

Nearing the doors on the end of the hallway, Urien felt, in his gut, that someone or something would be on the other side.

Something is waiting for him. As if an encounter was meant to be, unavoidable and meant to be.

Funnily enough, his gut feeling was right. Opening the doors, he was met with a familiar face and room.

Tables to sit at, tables to be eaten at, windows to be looked out of: all of them were in front of him.

A man with an old-looking, gray gas mask, medium length hair and average body weight, in the middle of the room, looked and stared at Urien. He didn't move. He breathed, and it could be heard through the whole room. Actually, the whole room was dead-silent with the exception of the man's breathing and Uriens worryingly fast-beating heart. The thumps were getting stronger and stronger, with the time between them (the thumps), almost non-existent.

Without a warning, the man spoke his first words.