Checkered Floors

It was almost silent; a buzzing sound echoed across the room as the florescent lights sparkled above the girl's dark blue irises. 

Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes before stretching for another day. 

The girl looked around her room, her brows lowering. Oddly enough, her chest felt cold and empty- a feeling of desolation spread within her with every beat of her heart.

Her eyes were spinning and her head ached; with a conflicted expression, the girl whispered a desperate question. "Where am I...?"

The room was dim and the walls were white, the floor was checkered, black and white.

A flash took the girl's attention, her reflection stared back at her from the mirror across the room. Her eyes slowly widened as the chill of desperation found it's way up her spine. Her hair was blonde and short, her face was doll-like, the only mark on her body being the stitch across her face.

Then, questions filled her thoughts. More and more they piled up, higher and higher, tying a knot inside her. She looked around, the chill in her chest growing into a fear. She fell on her pillow to scream. 

"WHAT IS THIS - WHO AM I?!? 

...Please... Somebody just show me what's going on..." Her eyes started to water.

Finally, after crying, the knot untangled, just a bit. 

Finally, she could try to understand what had happened, she thought about how she got there, where she could be, and what she would do next.

Her bowels then erupted into an explosion of nauseous heat. Like a weight growing larger and heavier in her stomach, the questions multiplied once again, nearly breaking out into another strained scream.

A painful realization struck her soul hard, an enormous part of her memories were gone; the only bit she could reminisce, was her name.

An announcement then echoed across the room, in a monotonous tone a man said:

"All students to the school theatre... I repeat, all students to the school theatre."

As if her tormented heart's suffering did not suffice, the girl's door swung open, allowing a somber air into her room; a ghastly hallway greeted her and distant footsteps mocked her.

The footsteps came closer and closer, with a sense of dread staining the girl's neck with what seemed to be acid. 

She persisted. 

Swallowing her dry saliva, curiosity killed the child.

Peaking from under her blanket, she saw an entity immerging from the shadows; with hair as dark as the menacing hallway, and eyes as red as blood, it then turned it's head to the girl, and for a brief moment, stared at her porcelain stature. 

Her eyes were blinded by tears, and her heart pounded within her chest; in front of a predator, she was nothing but prey. 

Her insides were turning. The weighty fears were enough. They had burst out in a scream, as eyes stabbed her soul from the dark.

Her stomach was as a rolling thunder, turning to and fro, as the contents almost erupted out of her mouth. She whimpered, her face to the floor.

Then, as the girl nearly fainted, the phantasmic being spoke.

"Uh... Hello?..." Said a horrified young boy.

"Aa-uhm... Hi..." The girl squealed.

"Are you... Okay...?" He asked with a raised brow.

"Y-yeah..."

Letting out a sigh of relief, he chuckled nervously before greeting the girl

"Well nice to meet'cha. The name's Peter, what's yours?"

Sitting up with the bottom half of her body covered in her motherly blanket, she replied "It's... Alice..."

"Well then Alice, I'll see you at the theatre, wherever it's at." Peter continued, waving a goodbye, before he walked off with a number of students walking on behind him.

Alice, believing this all to just be a dream, was calmed by a seemingly normal person like Peter; though still horrified by his and her own face, she was calm enough to try and wake herself up.

She raised her hand, "It'll only hurt for a bit..." Ready to strike.

A swift slap whipped her face red, throwing her head against the bed. 

She laid for a second or two, shock corroded her sanity before she quickly got up and struck her face once more. Again and again every hit making her more and more aggressive whilst her nose bled. She paused her final strike, before hesitantly bruising her face with another slap. She laid on her pillow once again, tucked under her cozy blanket. As she stopped her sad desperate escape, her magma tears reddened the skin around her eyes. It was pointless.

Her pathetic attempts to wake herself up all failed, Alice could do nothing more. Filled with dread, she let out an aggravated sigh. "What do I do...!?" 

Finally, Alice let go of all hope that this was all just a dream. She forced herself to stop thinking. She HAD to face reality.

Deciding it was best to follow the demands of who she presumed to be behind all of this, Alice warred against her survival instincts, lifting her legs out the door. The soft carpet cushioned her trampling feet whilst the cold touch of her doorknob accompanied her wary steps. Crawling out of her hatched egg, she pushed through the barrier of hesitation that bound her there.

Outside her room, she witnessed a group of students marching to the school theatre. Freaked out by the doll-faced students' synchronized steps, Alice joined a death march of students.

A familiar buzzing sound enveloped Alice's ears, as light, which radiated from an indoor lantern, reflected off the crowd's dead eyes. Finally reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, Alice and the group of monotone students made it out of the checkered passageway, out to a forked stairway. The vermilion carpet extended to the bottom of the stairs, ending at the ground floor; the warming light illuminated the faces of the student body. 

Stepping down to the first floor, Alice's eyes sparkled, she was enchanted by the titanic warming chandelier that twinkled above their heads. 

Classical music waltzed around the checkered floor as they marched threw the entrance hall, into the monolithic theatre. Dark-red theatre chairs filled the room as golden-lit lanterns decorated it. 

The presuming students sat on the theatre chairs, with Alice sitting next to a stranger. Suddenly the theatre doors slammed shut, the lights vanished, filling the room with a heavy air. Almost instantaneously the room was pitch black. 

A cold sweat covered Alice's face as she sat, waiting for the event to start, trying her hardest to fight against the thoughts that plagued her heart.The light from the stage slowly enveloped the room as the crimson curtain lifted, calming Alice. Maybe now she could finally be at peace. Maybe she was safe all this time.

An alien warmth was felt on Alice's neck. Breathing sounds came from behind her. A voice suddenly spoke to Alice.

"You're new here... Aren't you...?"