Mind/Home

"What is this place? It's creeping me out," Daiya asked.

"A place you don't want to end up," Addison responded by opening her hand and handing us each a mask that appeared from thin air while putting one on herself. "Here. You'll need them while we're on this floor."

"Why is th-"

"I don't know. Stop asking so many questions. Didn't I say to be quiet?"

"Maybe they don't trust you enough to tell you. I mean, it makes sense. You don't even know why you're arresting us or taking us in. Do you?"

She glared at her with an intense look and clenched her fist but unclenched it and turned around to lead us through the lab. "Just put on the mask," she commanded.

Upon putting on the mask, I realized the true darkness of this place. My peripheral vision was cut off from the sides and I could only see a small amount through the tiny sliver of the green light that poured in. People worked nonstop without a missed step and continued to hunch over their lab stations, lines of production or welding of light slabs.

"Let's go, let's go!"

We weaved in and around the floor and I lost count of how many people we bumped into, scraped past and walked around working. There was no end. All of this started when I met that man with those violet eyes. Would he be here, at a place like this? My limited world began to open up, slowly but consistently to more and more strange things I wanted so desperately to avoid. The way I felt about myself, if there were other people out there, the odd things about this world that seemed to have no answer. And in the mix of it all, I somehow lingered so deeply on that question he asked me when we first met: who am I? 

I couldn't even say where I'm from, or to where I belong. I had an apartment. But who gave it to me? My name, who gave it to me? Even Dr. Vex knew he was born somewhere.

I still didn't know. I couldn't possibly face him again until I found the answer to that question. My life seemed to depend on it. I don't know why I should care about it, but I do. Something about seeing myself reflected back at me ate me from the inside out.

Experience, Daiya, Dr. Vex, that man, my body double, those broken people in cages and the tireless workers on this floor. If there is one thing I have come to understand, is that nothing is isolated. Maybe change is somewhere beneath the layers of all the things we want to evade, in the things that stare right back at us. 

For some reason, I looked up and I saw a floating clock. There was a steady number climbing.

5.5 million/10 million

57.8 million/100 million

# of Work-related incidents: 789 persons of interest

I couldn't figure out what the last item meant. It hung over top all of the workers and I'm certain they were unaware of it or even if they were, they had no time to check. What was this place, truly? I had been so ambivalent up until now, following Dr. Vex, hoping it would lead me to some answers as to who I was. It only confused me even more. 

We kept wading through the sea of white masks, occasionally getting burnt by sparks that flew off their equipment and in the far corner, I finally saw a door and Daiya must have been relieved too because she started to walk a little faster towards it.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" 

Right as we reached the exit, a person took off their mask and threw their gear to the ground. This person was...normal. They had long blonde hair, with dark skin and had no holes in their face like those inmates' downstairs. For a moment, just a split second, it seemed as if the person looked over in our direction. Through the mask, I felt our eyes lock and I wish they hadn't because I saw a beam of light course through the middle of their brain as their body dropped to ground face forward. 

"We're going through this door, let's go," Addison pushed us through the door and as I saw their body lay there and suddenly evaporate, a change was made to the floating clock.

6.1 million/10 million

67.8 million/100 million

# of Work-related incidents: 790 persons of interest

***

I noticed immediately behind the door everything was white. 

Addison took off her mask and so did we. They faded out of our hands, and I covered my eyes for a moment. Even with glasses, it was still a shock from the dark atmosphere we came from as we stood above the descending stair set. If it wasn't for the steel railing on the side and the silver door at the bottom, I would think we were floating.

"This is as far as I go. Walk through that door and you'll be there." 

"So, you're not going in? Or escort us there after you took us through that hallway of Hell? What if we try to escape? Or is it that you can't go in?" Daiya smirked.

"I don't know what's behind the door, nor do I care. What happens to you after this point, doesn't matter. I did my job in bringing you here. Do as you please. If you think you can escape, go ahead. But you'll have to pass me. Need another reminder?" she shot back at her.

Daiya stayed silent as she muttered something under her breath. I didn't hear it.

The binds of light on our hands released and she pulled something out her suit pocket and threw it to me. "I looked through it. There was nothing in there."

I couldn't catch it, and it fumbled on the ground. But I saw it was the tattered notebook Dr. Vex gave to me when I went to pick it up. "Why give it back to me?" I asked. 

"I don't know," she looked over at Daiya, then back to me, "I hope to never see you two again, but life is strange. As are you both."

With that, she disappeared as did the door we came from.

Daiya began to descend the stairs without looking towards me and usually, being ignored didn't bother me this much. Maybe because the reason behind it was something within my control. It was my fault.

"Daiya..."

"Let's just go inside, okay? We should be prepared for anything."

She wasn't wrong and clearly; she did not want to speak about anything at the moment. Other things needed our attention. But the inside of my chest wouldn't stop beating. It hurt. 

The walk down the stairs felt like forever and the closer we got, the more curious I became. Only the sound of our feet clanked against the stairs as it felt like we were in our own world in this corridor. We inched closer and closer towards the silver door at the base of the stairs, and the air felt like it was getting tighter and tighter. So many things ran inside of my mind. What could be behind this door that had me feeling so tense?

We got the bottom of the stairs, and I reached for the handle first, but pulled my hand away. I was scared. But something I realized was that there was no other way for me to find out who I was, nor could I ever face the man with those violet eyes, or meet the one who resembled me, if I never even tried. 

I grabbed the handle to the door again and opened it to find a young boy with no hair sitting in the middle of the floor, chained at the feet and the hands. 

I saw the little boy stare at us with his wide, green eyes and a tiny voice whispered in my head, and I had no idea where it came from.

Who are you?

***