Mind/Enigma

There was no light, or sound, nor sensation I could grapple on to in the obscurity. Eternity passed as we floated for what seemed endless through a labyrinth of nothingness. It was ironic that when I could finally feel nothing, not be burdened with the body I despised so deeply and had always betrayed me, in the darkness, I could only think about what I would do again to touch that ragged skin of mine once more.

It was frustrating to say the least for events to turn out exactly the same time and time again. I stood by idly while someone had to protect me. Defend me. Shield me. The fear crippled me, ensnared me in my ineptitude, and made me feel the weight of my worthlessness. I wanted to do nothing more than hide and run away from these feelings. But that's what we've always done, isn't it, Reia?

"Hey, hey, wake up," I heard someone say as I felt a slap across my face. I blinked a couple of times before I realized I was standing in front of large, cathedral-sized building with brown double doors. It stood taller than any other building to its side and glitched frantically as everything pixelated in front of me. "Here, I found these," the familiar voice said, handing me what seemed like my glasses. I tried to put them on, but my hands were bind together. 

"Can you put them on for me? I can't see anything."

"Fine," the voice muttered, placing them on the bridge of my nose. I activated [light mode] and the scenery around me revealed that we were below ground. People were jumping and floating as usual. The checkered grid beneath my feet, the glitchy buildings that kept reproducing block after block, the constant release of light particles from the streetlights. 

I looked to my left and saw Daiya handcuffed with yellow bands around her hands and saw the same ones around mine. She looked pretty beat up and wouldn't return my gaze as she stared at the ground. The same guard from before nudged us up the stairs to the building as she pressed her hand to the side of it, opening the large brown double doors. 

"Go on," she pushed Daiya through the entryway first, then myself but I couldn't cross it. It felt like I hit an invisible wall. "Oh, no foreign items." she patted my chest, then my side, revealing the notebook Dr. Vex gave me. 

"Hm, what's this? A notebook? This is what you were trying to protect? A notebook? First you have red liquid exit your body," pointing at Daiya, "and you have a notebook. Strange beings. I'm sure they'll find use for this."

Daiya looked at me with a look I've never seen her give me. I don't know why I decided not to tell her, maybe, I don't know. The guard pushed us through the door and as they creaked shut behind us, I realized there were parts of below ground that I had yet to explore. Or even knew existed. 

We walked down a dark corridor with small orange lights that illuminated both sides of the hall and for a long time, I could only hear the sound of our feet hitting the ground. Further along, a large blue light came into view that hung overhead, revealing a long stair set we walked up and rounded to the second floor revealing another long entryway, but this one was filled with iridescent, yellow cells on opposite ends with...people inside. There must have been hundreds of cells. Some looked like men, or women, or something different all together. All of their faces had dark holes in them, and you could see them glitching upon staring at them. Half face, half dark hole. 

As we walked by them, some of them gave me a somber look, a few smiled, but the majority of them simply screamed and tried to grab me through the bars. The sound reverberated through the hall, causing a ripple effect of static noise in my head. I attempted to cover my ears, but the guard knocked my hands back to my side. It disturbed me and caused my skin to heat up on the back of my neck. But, in an odd way, I was curious. They didn't act like the people on the outside. They were something. 

"Hey, why don't you come in here? You don't want me to be lonely? There's enough room in this cell for the two of-" the person behind the bar proposed and before he could finish, the guard grabbed his head and smashed it against the cell. His head pixelated before she crouched down to meet his face as she caressed it, "Good boy," she whispered, or so I think she said. I could hardly hear anything. I looked over to Daiya who continued to ignore me with a cold look, but I could tell she was bothered as well. Who wouldn't be?

"Addison, do me next!"

"Me too!"

"No, me!"

All the people kept yelling and screaming different phrases, inaudible noises and sound to create a symphony of dysfunction. "I hate perverted men more than anything," she muttered under her breath.

Stares were something I had thought I was used to. The lingering gaze they laid upon me, noticing how different I was to them. I was used to it. But these were pleas. Cries of help. Begs of reprieve that I couldn't give them. I didn't know what to do except do what I always did; ignore them. 

We finally rounded off the last cell and as screams faded away, I realized I could hear myself think once again. It was nice, I'll admit. To know that not all people were the same. But it poses another question: who were these people and where did they come from?

The guard pushed us up another set of stairs and as arduous as it was, I couldn't help but feel warm. Curious. Obviously, this was not an ideal situation, but I told myself that I couldn't be that Reia anymore. But change. What does that mean?

"So, your name is Addison. Nice to meet you, I'm Daiya. I would shake your hand or give you a hug or something, but I'm kind of tied up here. Mind loosening these things, a bit. Just a little?" Daiya asked, speaking at last. I was starting to become worried. 

"I didn't mention my name," she responded flatly as we reached the top of the stair.

"I heard one of those inmates or whatever say it. I like it. Your pretty as well-" Daiya was cut off by the woman's cold stare as she turned around to face us for the first time since we entered here. 

"Look, I don't know what idea you have in your head or why they seem to have an interest in you but consider yourself lucky. I won't ask you to shut the fuck up again. Okay?"

Neither of us said anything as it seemed clear that we didn't want to push our luck any more than we had to here.

"Good," she whistled, "One more floor after this one." Once we reached the top of the stairs, I didn't know what exactly to make of what I was seeing. It was impossible to tell. 

Hundreds of green lights floated over top of the wide, open space that held double the people underneath them with their heads down. The space was dimly lit and if weren't for the shining white ground, I would think we were on the bottom floor. Every single person was working at breakneck speed without a single miss in their step. There were machines that harbored people on either side packaging fluorescent light that glowed from inside the boxes. Other people wore masks and cut large slabs of rainbow-colored blocks. You could see the blue sparks fly off their tools.

"Move it, move it! Our quota today is 10 million blocks and 100 million light rods. Color code them! We had some discrepancies yesterday!” The person walking through the middle of the area yelled, “You know what happens if you don’t meet quota!”

The air felt sticky as I noticed there was liquid that ran down the side of face. That has never happened before. Is it because of this strange room? What kind of place was this, or better yet, is there even a way out? 

“As I said, you’re lucky they want you.” she exhaled as the sound of sharp metal and blinding blur of colors drowned out my senses.

A turn of luck, huh? 

***