“Ow…,” Anemone moaned as she gradually opened her eyelids.

She did not expect the first thing she felt when she woke up from sleep was a terrible pain in her chest. “This is…strange,” she commented. Never once did she experience such sensation – it was as if…as if she was stabbed by a knife.

“Is someone there?” the girl croaked but all she saw was pitch black.

‘Hang on, when was the last time my room was this dark?’ Anemone frowned. As far she tried to remember, the scientists – the men in white had never turned the light off even when she and the others were sleeping.

Anemone jumped off her bed and heard the floor beneath her crack loudly. “Whoa, what the heck?” she reacted promptly. She did not recall the ground being so fragile…and gravelly. The soles of her feet were grinding against the sands; she only hoped there were no sharp fragments of glasses or stones lying around, waiting for her in the darkness.

“Hello?” Anemone called out again, but like her prior attempt, the only answer she received was the unnerving silence. With her arms in front of her, she carefully shuffled her way to the door until her hands touched the doorknob and twisted it.

‘Wait, it’s…not locked?’

She pushed the door open, expecting the men in white to walk around in the corridor. But, to her surprise, the entire hallway was vacant and the lights were also out. Thankfully, her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, so she began to head to the room next to hers.

“Hello? Bashar? Are you in there?” said Anemone while knocking on the door. She tried rotating the doorknob but it was locked tightly. “Bashar? Can you hear me? It’s me, Anemone!” she repeated but there was no answer.

KRANG!

KRANG!

Anemone’s head snapped to her right, toward the end of the corridor. The chain-like noises – she never heard that kind of sound before but somehow, she felt the need to run as far away from them.

All of a sudden, the corridor’s lights came back on, causing Anemone to cover her eyes in pain and rant, “Oof, is that really necessary?” Then, her nose started to itch as she caught a whiff of something pungent akin to a rotten egg. Lowering her arms, Anemone let out a gasp as soon as her eyelids parted ways, appalled at the dilapidated state of the corridor.

The once pearly and pristine white wall was now reduced to rusted metals and dented surface. Also, she noticed long and black drag marks heading away from her – toward the direction where she heard the rattling chains.

“This…this is blood,” Anemone remarked, her heartbeats accelerated, “Oh God…Oh God, no.” She started to slam her fists against every door in the hallway, shouting her friends’ names. Shortly after, she heard a faint sobbing coming from one of the rooms. “That voice…Rosa,” she muttered. “Ow!” Anemone cried out as she felt a throbbing pain near her right ribs. “What…is this…feeling?” she panted with both hands on her chest. As she looked down, she realized there were three crimson lines across her white gown – three distinct claw marks that she had never seen before. Yet, in spite of being confused, she also felt sad.

PLOP

Anemone fidgeted after sensing something dropped on top of her head. Her right hand instantly reached for her hair and the first thing she felt was an unusually warm liquid. She pulled her arm back down, only to see each one of her fingertips covered in fresh blood. ‘This…this is not mine,’ she mouthed before her eyes slowly moved upward.

Dangling from the ceiling, she saw a thin, dark-skinned boy with a metal hook pierced through his back. Unable to contain her shock, Anemone scuttled toward the wall with her eyes still fixated on the hanging corpse. “Ba…Bashar?” her lips trembled.

CREAK

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The wall behind her suddenly collapsed and Anemone fell on her back, magnifying the pain in her chest. “Augh, crap. That…really hurts,” she hissed. Then, her focus shifted back to the boy on the ceiling – ‘What happened?’ She quietly asked herself, ‘Who could have done such a terrible thing?’

The men in white, though they were ruthless, were never wasteful. They would try to salvage whatever was left from their failures before moving on to their next experiment. But the scene she just saw reeked with rage and malice, and whoever or whatever killed Bashar must still be nearby. “I need to go,” Anemone whispered.

With the support of her hands, she rose to her feet. Thankfully, she could feel the pain in her chest subsiding, although she doubted the tenderness would fully disappear. “Now, where to…?” Anemone froze after turning her back on her deceased friend. A single autopsy bed stood in front of her and she was convinced it was the same one used by the men in white after…an unwanted occurrence. How many of her friends had been placed on it and cut open simply to satisfy the scientists’ curiosities? Furthermore, when would her day come; the day where she was nothing but a cold, lifeless body fated to be thrown into the fire. If only she could find a way to escape this place…'Hold on, wasn’t there a plan to escape the facility?’ She tried to recall. Then, she felt it – an itch at the back of her mind which was soon replaced with a momentary, throbbing pain.

“What the heck? That never happened before,” Anemone grumbled, wondering if it was the side effect of the drug the men in white injected into her bloodstream last night. Before she could recollect herself, the ceiling light shut off once more – only this time, she knew it was permanent.

Seconds later, she heard a deep growl coming from the corridor behind her, followed by a raucous screeching; like the sound she made when she scratched her nail against the metallic wall. Sensing the approaching danger, Anemone briskly hid herself behind the autopsy table while waiting anxiously for whatever was outside to pass through.

She gritted her teeth as the noises grew louder and it was not long until she saw a large shadow gliding into her line of sight. “Wha…?” she breathed out. She could not make out the exact size of the silhouette but she assumed it was at least as big as a grizzly bear.

‘Is that…a Distorted?’ She thought to herself, ‘How did it find this place? Silva said a device created by him and his subordinates generated a jamming signal that prevented the monsters from discovering the facility. So how?’

However, her pondering was disturbed by a bloodcurdling scream that echoed throughout the dark corridor. ‘That’s…Rosa’s!’ Anemone frowned. But she felt the blood drained from her face as she saw the large shadow also make its way toward the voice.

“Oh no,” Anemone murmured. As she tried to stand up, her legs suddenly gave way and she fell flat on the ground. “What the…? Darn it! Of all the time, why now!” She ranted at her shaking legs.

Another scream soon pierced through the darkness, prompting Anemone to drag herself across the floor despite her abdomen grazing against the sharp sand. “Please, Rosa. Please, be alive. Please,” she prayed repeatedly until she tasted the iron in the air. Shortly afterward, her hands brushed against some kind of fabric – as a matter of fact, it felt similar to her gown.

“Oh God,” Anemone blurted out as soon as she saw a familiar face staring back at her. It was Lila, the girl who lived in the room next to Bashar. Aside from her bloody gown, most of her short, brunette hair was ripped from her scalp and her face; it was twisted in fear. Anemone immediately gagged, unable to contain her shock and disgust.

The sights of her friends dying one by one – she wanted them to stop, but how can they? The white lifeless ceiling and the loud crying of her friends were the only things she knew. She could not even remember what the sky looked like or the very least, the faces of her parents. Was there a purpose for her to be alive at this point? She questioned herself every day.

“Wait…alive?” Anemone whispered; her eyes narrowed. She felt a bit restless as if she forgot something important – something that she should remember.

At that exact moment, she heard a familiar weeping in front of her and even though it was dark, she could recognize the high, squeaky voice. “Rosa?” said Anemone, “Rosa, is that you? It’s me, Annie.”

But the crying persisted.

“Rosa, it’s me! It’s alright, I’m here! I’m-.”

“I’m…sorry, Annie.”

Anemone initially thought she was imagining it until she heard Rosa repeat the apology over and over again. “Argh!” Anemone yelped as her head began to ache once again though this time, she felt like her mind was…opened – as if it was just awakened from a deep, long slumber.

She remembered everything: the ruined facility, Bashar, Lila, and the shadowy mass – all of them were memories. She directed her gaze forward and noticed that Lila’s face was replaced with her own face.

‘So, I’m…dead? But how is that possible? I’m still here…I can see, taste, and smell everything. I can still feel the sands rubbing against the palm of my…fingers?’ Anemone looked at her hands, realizing that she could see through them.

‘What…what’s happening to me? Why am I…? Why…? Wait, what am I…supposed to be doing again?’