It is pretty easy to tell someone’s mood or disposition just by the way one walks. Gin was no different, the strange sway that she gave didn’t give any signs of someone at a complete loss unlike me. She seemed so carefree, but I suppose there wasn’t much to worry about in a sea of nothing like where we are.

I could tell something quite clear, though. I could tell that she had no clue what to do either. Our walking was intermittent with her turning her head at the shelves, looking for some clues for our next step. My clear thought further became validated soon after:

"I have no idea where we're going." Yep, that's what I was waiting for. I have no idea what to do, either. Everything was the same, the lack of direction was getting old very fast. Time seemed to move at a snail's pace. The chatting along our long trek was surrounded in auras of awkwardness. I have no clue why I lost my voice. Despite it being a major setback that is going to plague this entire journey, I haven’t thought about it too much, much to my unknowing chagrin. Obviously, figuring out why I have no voice right now is the utmost of priorities, just as much as finding our way out.

“So do you know why you lost your voice?” Gin was evidently thinking the same thing as I was, and understandably so. I shook my head in response.

“That is quite an oddity if I’d say so myself. If we weren’t in this predicament we are in right now, I might’ve not believed you.” I don’t blame her for being suspicious, but there also is no reason I would lie to my knowledge.

“Well the lack of voice will have to wait for another time, because right now we are just as lost as when we started.” We continued walking.

I am unsure how much time has passed, but after a while, Gin decided to stop for a quick break. The pain of walking such long distances is still as much of a burden as ever. Gin looks as if she has something to say.

“So it has been quite obvious so far that walking for however long has gotten us nowhere. I believe we should stop meandering and start interacting with our environment.” While a smart idea, like, where do we start?

Gin immediately turns to one of the wooden crates on the shelf. “Maybe our clue is inside one of these boxes” she says, standing up to inspect the crate. All of the crates were seemingly hollow at first touch. Perhaps, though, what we were looking for was less of a material and more of a message. Much to our surprise, these crates were very loosely enclosed. We didn’t even need any strength put forth to take the tops off. Given our lackluster clues, easily opened crates seemed a little abnormal.

Gin slowly opens the crate in suspense; I suspect she does so for dramatic effect. Upon looking in the crate, my suspicion was correct. It was empty.

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“Well,” Gin starts to speak. “This isn’t exactly what I was hoping for, yet I’m not surprised."

Neither was I, really. Our options are small though so I suppose we shall keep looking through this endless sea of wooden crates.

One by one, Gin and I open everyone of these crates in our view looking for any sort of clue. My search has been much in vain, I haven’t seen anything to suggest something to bring us closer to leaving this place. As for Gin…

“BANG!” I look towards the crashing sound to find Gin on the floor; the crate she was looking in, completely collapsed. I rushed to her aid.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” she shakes her head as she gets up. “Anyways, onward.” She was seemingly missing the obvious key on the bottom of the crate. A literal key, sitting on the bottom. I wave my hands and start trying to yell for her. Obviously, it doesn't work, so I sprint in her direction. I grab her shoulder and turn her around. She’s cold. My mind flutters, though I am not sure why. She stares at me with a slight surprise on her face. I try to point in the right direction. She regains her calm composure quickly. “I suppose I am to follow you?” I nod in conformation.

I walk her to the crate and point to the key on the bottom. “What?” Gin looks a little bewildered. I keep motioning towards it. Her bewilderment keeps seemingly growing. I look at where I am pointing. It’s still there. What, can she not see it? I see it plain as day, but she remains ignorant to its presence. I pick up the cold, brass key and hold it up to her face. She backs up and looks at my fingers. “Is this some kind of joke?” She doesn’t see it. I take the and hold it between my index fingers. At that moment, her expression changed to one of concern.

“I see, so I can’t see the thing you're holding, huh?” This wasn’t the answer I was looking for. She couldn’t see what may very well be the ticket out of here. “Well, this is quite the conundrum. First, your ability to speak is taken away. Now, I can’t even see key items that will help us out.” This is frustrating to say the least. It’s almost like we are opposites trying to work together.

Let’s just recap the problem here. I cannot talk but can see the important key items we need to find in order to escape, Gin cannot see the important key items, yet she can speak. This is most certainly a game of sorts. Our hampered abilities were deliberately chosen, yet we don’t know from whom.

“Well Kin, it seems we are probably going to have to rely on each other more than I thought.” Gin’s tone seems a lot more optimistic than I am. I nodded in conformation. “So for now, we are going to have to work together. Our woes would be too great for us to deal with on our own.” Her words are almost like a sigh of relief to me. Thinking about how seemingly hopeless this scenario is, her vague optimism brings a little comfort. While the opposites for us may seem like a huge complication, really it isn’t much of a problem if there is both of us. For now though, we must focus on the task at hand.

In the shadow of the small confidence boost, we direct our attention to the key. The key in question is unremarkable to say the least. It has two teeth, no distinct marks, metal, brownish color, looks exactly what I would imagine a stereotypical key would look like. The key looks like it won’t lead us to where we need to use it.

“Any ideas, Kin?” Gin seemingly doesn’t have any of her own. I remember back to the doors that were walled off. It was peculiar and obviously seems a little asinine, but it’s not like we have many options to begin with. Keys open doors, so maybe we could give it a shot. I motion Gin to follow me.

“So you have an idea? Ok, do show me.” I nod, turn on my heel, and start walking. Time to venture back into the void.