The laughter died from his lips as he realized what the euphoria was that he was feeling. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the darkness. He couldn’t feel anything and there was a constant hum in his ears. He knew he was deaf but that couldn’t be helped right now. He had come this far, and he refused to succumb to either pain or pleasure. As he stared out into the pure blackness of the void, he took several deep breaths.
He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose. It was the only sense that was of any use. He calmed his body and stilled his mind.
Through force of will, he rolled onto his stomach and crawling forward. He over balanced and rolled forward. Breathing hard and focusing on his task, he forced himself to search the entire room floor. Switching between crawling and rolling, he searched as best he could in the totally sightless, soundless and now almost feelingless void.
He rolled across the floor, and he smashed into something that gave with his weight but only just. He reached out his hands and he found that his hands were able to wrap around whatever it was that he had rolled into. The thing jutted up from the ground at an angle. He grabbed hold of it and pulled himself to his knees. He groped around in the dark with his other hand, and he felt a twin to whatever it was that he had rolled into.
The things ran at an angle from the ground upwards. He couldn’t be sure, but if he had to guess he would have said that the things were at forty-five-degree angles. He lifted himself to his feet leaning upon the things that supported him. He inhaled trying to get a sense of what exactly he was holding on to.
He smelled dirt and a sort of dryness. He thought he could smell sweat and something else that reminded him of the forest. It was rope. He was holding onto two pieces of rope. Supporting his weight on the ropes he moved his feet forward and his feet found what he had been looking for, a third rope that ran underneath the other two.
He was on a monkey bridge.
He slowly moved up onto the ropes. His hands were numb, and he couldn’t be sure of how long he could stay standing. His feet were almost useless, and he had to constantly reposition his feet back on to the thick rope because of his almost complete lack of feeling. He moved at a slow pace. He was getting tired. He remained standing by force of will alone. He felt like a cripple trying to move from his bed to a wheelchair. Every movement took every ounce of his concentration. He knew that if he overbalanced on the bridge he would fall to the floor. He didn’t know how high up he was, and the fall might break a limb, or his neck.
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One foot scooted along the rope finding another foothold as his hands and arms supported his weight. Then he would drag the other leg behind him and start all over again. The rope was tight and didn’t sway at all even under his weight. He was thankful for that. He continued to move up the rope bridge.
His hands touched smooth stone meeting the rope. He moved his other hand up along the other rope and met stone with that hand as well. He allowed himself to smile. Flexing his arms, he held his body in suspension over the bridge and he lowered his foot off the rope bridge. He lowered his body with his arms and soon his foot found smooth stone beneath him. He dropped down off the monkey bridge and allowed himself to collapse on the ground. He lay on the cool ground resting his weary body.
Three rooms down, two more to go, if the tower held one room per story, as he guessed from seeing the tower from the outside. Who knows? There may be more rooms and more levels than just six. But he wouldn’t let himself be discouraged with defeatist logic, not now.
The thing he couldn’t help but notice as he lay there on the cold stone of the floor was the rich fragrances that now washed over him. The cool of the stone was beneath him but all around him was the smell of food. He couldn’t help but think of how hungry he was and the smells that surrounded him were pure torture.
He still couldn’t really feel anything, but the smells were coming from somewhere, and everywhere, all at once. He was so hungry. He rolled and dragged himself forward and all he found was a smooth rock wall. The smells were driving him crazy as his mind was bombarded with images that manifested faux tastes in his mouth.
He could taste meatloaf as if it was right in front of him. In the dark he couldn’t tell if it wasn’t there or not. He smelled sweet peach cobbler like he used to make in cast iron skillets when he was camping. He smelled hot tomato soup and sweet corn bread with butter oozing off the sides. He smelled roasted chicken and vermicelli pasta with meat sauce. The images and tastes in his mouth threatened to drive him insane.
The smells surrounding him only reinforced the fact that he hadn’t eaten in quite some time. He managed to get up and stand against the wall. He couldn’t be sure where the smells were coming from. Something happened in his midsection, he couldn’t feel or hear it, but he felt a discomfort and a tightening of his midsection, he knew his stomach was growling and wanted to be filled just as much as he did.
Leaning against the wall, he closed his eyes against the darkness he was in. He could almost taste the warm blood of a rare steak. He shook his head and tried to ignore the aroma of false food. This was just another test. He had to find a way out of here.
His body still did not respond the way he would have liked it to, but he was able to remain standing and he could move a little, much better than he could in the previous room. There had to be something here that would allow him to escape. The smells were intoxicating and every time he tried to concentrate, images of tacos, or chef salad, or pizza would invade his mind erasing all thought except of how hungry he was.