"Wakey wakey, Annabeth."
My eyes flung wide open as I stared up at the ceiling. The usual brown paint had been changed to a droopy red colour. Small droplets dripping down slowly onto my face as I just lay there not reacting to it, my mind clearly drained out from the sleep.
I feel numb.
I thought to myself, my mind not being able to grasp any of the senses within me. Tilting my head to the right, my desk had changed from a wooden object to a sharply pointed coal-like object that I had never seen before. From within, a slow orange colour pulsated at an interval of every ten seconds. With each interval passing, the sound grew louder and more distorted. Lifting myself up, I stared around my once lavish room and turned into a hellish chamber.
Eyes drilled all over the walls, each of them bleeding out trails of blood onto the walls as it spilt down across the floor. In the corner, the once innocent door, had now changed into a vicious animal-like entity. This creature or whatever it was seemed to be printed onto the door itself, yet I knew that it was staring deep into my soul, waiting for me to come close. A clock that hung on the ceiling had been cracked as its hands were stripped away from it, leaving a remnant of its past self. However, I could still hear the clicking coming from it.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Slowly walking towards it, the sound only became increasingly fainter the closer I approached. Retracing my steps back, I sat on the side of the bed as my brain and body still felt numb from the sudden awake. Oddly enough, it seemed that I had yet not grasped the situation at hand as I was completely unfazed of my surroundings.
My head hurts.
That was all I could think of. Rubbing my temple, I tried to release myself from this awful numbness that had infected me, yet I could not. As I continued to try and ease myself up, I felt a liquid trickle under my feet. It was cold. Staring down, I could tell what it was from the red colour. Blood. Cold. That was all I could really think. Waking up from such a tiring day, my brain couldn't function as it normally could. My eyes felt heavy as I struggled to keep them open. It was as if I had been placed into some sort of trance, my body moving in a separate space than my mind.
As I sat and stared at the blood oozing beneath my feet, my ears tingled oddly. Faint whispers entered into my head as I swayed side to side. Beginning to lose touch with reality, my surroundings turned into colourful spirals, and my vision blurred with splashes of blue and green. Slowly, I stood up and made my way towards the door. My eyes were fixating onto the handle as I reached out and twisted it. The first time, nothing happened. And the same for the second. After the third attempt, the door flung open as a beam of white light blasted me from the other side.
Covering my face, I peeked through the cracks of my fingers in hopes to make out something from within the light. As I approached the light, my clothes started to gravitate towards it. Before I knew it, I felt a sudden pull, and my body was grabbed by the light and flung into the blank space. My body hurtled towards it as my mind grew dizzier and dizzier. My senses started to merge into one as I couldn't distinguish anything. My own fingertips lost its structure as they began to elongate. My face distorted as my body stretched out and back into place. The pain was excruciating yet...oddly pleasuring. Every time I wailed for the pain to stop, my next reaction was begging for more. A continuous long cycle of pain and pleasure looped over my head as I continued to hurtle in an empty blankness for eternity. As I closed my eyes, I felt that it was beginning to end, and as the pain started to slow down, I woke up back in my bed.
What kind of dream was that.
Holding my head, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling as my brain tried to process the unusual experience I had just had. As I looked to my left, my desk had returned back to its usual plain state. A sigh of relief left my body as I felt at peace.
It really was just a dream. Though I didn't really seem to be affected by the experience for some odd reason.
Blink.
As I looked to my left, my desk had changed back into its jagged pointed shape it had been in my dream. The same orange pulsation emanates from within. 10-second interval, just like the dream.
Blink.
Back to normal. My mind lost control of reality as my brain began to throb. I couldn't understand what was happening. My body felt heavy and numb as I couldn't even move a muscle on the bed. Water began to fill my eyes as my nose made it hard for me to breathe. Using up all my strength, I lifted myself up to get a better view of my room. My room had returned to normal. There were no eyes on walls, no monstrous creatures planted on doors, and no blood spread across the floor.
Blink.
And I had returned back to my dream. The same exact eyes stared at me, crying blood that dripped down and spilt across the floor. My once normal door reverted back to its primate animalistic lifestyle.
This isn't real. Right?
My mind, once certain that this reality was a fabrication, now questioning whether or not I am truly here.
Blink.
And yet again, I was back to normal. Or back to whatever reality I am in now. Standing up, I walked around touching everything to try and find even the slightest of differences.
Maybe one of my senses doesn't work in either one of these realities. Or maybe it is something else?
Looking through my bookshelf, I noticed that some of the books had vanished. Panicked, I searched around the room, looking under the bed and behind my desk as well as around the shelf itself, but I could find nothing. Scrolling through the catalogue , I noticed that the books that were gone had a certain theme to them. As I reached for my notebook, I flipped to the page in which I had noted down and categorised all the books. There was romance and horror and drama and action. But the category in which all the books had gone missing was the theme of reality.
Of course. Why am I not surprised? That damn scientist is playing with me. Anger quelled up inside me as being treated like an animal had driven me to my breaking point.
And so, I began to think.
Taking away all the books based on reality has some meaning to it. But what? Maybe he might be reading through them and finding out things he can use on us. If that is the case, which one will he choose next? If I base of all the things he does on the things around us, then I can begin to piece together what is coming. Firstly, I had my first ever dream sequence. My birthday. And so, this room was constructed after my own house. The old, styled wallpaper and shelf, as well as the generic design of all the furniture.
Next is this. My reality is being altered, and so the books about reality have been taken away from me. Luckily, I have been making notes about what those books entail and so I can use them to understand what is happening. The question is, however, what will go next?
If he is continuing with the aspect of the books, then there are three options that are most likely. Horror, Romance, and Drama. This assumption is only based on what he has been doing so far. I am not entirely sure how Jolynn and Harold are being treated or what he is using against them, but based on what I have gone through, this is what makes sense.
The horror aspect is obvious. I am starting to understand what kind of experiment this is. If it is something related to our fears, then the easiest way to trigger fear is through horror. Whether that be fictional or real horror is something I am unsure of.
Next is romance. He has already been playing with my emotions from the beginning, so using love (possibly the strongest emotion of them all) to trigger my own fears and shortcomings might be an easy approach.
Lastly, it is drama. This is the most interesting pathway as it is the most unique. How can he use drama to trigger my fears. There are different types of drama. There are mainly seven types of drama: comedy, farce, tragedy, tragic comedy, melodrama, opera, and musical. However, the only possible ways are tragedy, melodrama, and opera. Musicals are a shout; however, they may be too risky for a fear factor. With such a wide variety, I do not think that The Scientist would take such a risk. There are too many variables to control with such a unique theme. So that boils it down to romance and horror.
"You seem to be in a deep thought, my dear Annabeth."
"Huh, oh no, it's nothing." I said, surprised by his interruption.
"You sure? You seem quite distressed." He said, his voice showing genuine concern.
"What was that dream sequence you put me in?" I asked.
"What dream sequence?"
"The one I was in just now. With the eyes and the blood."
"I don't know what you are on about. I haven't put you in any dream lately."
"What? You must be joking." I said, standing up and walking to the speaker. "All of that wasn't you. Then something must have happened, and the gas leaked in."
"I assure you, nothing of that has happened. No gas leak. Whatever you saw was real." His voice was filled with so much honesty that I had no other choice but to believe him.
"So, what was all that?" I whispered my pupils, shaking wildly as my mind began to lose control. "It was all real. No, it can't be. Reality can't change between two different things. That isn't how the world works. But can it?"
"What are those whispers about? Enlighten me, will you."
"Shut up." I said, leaning against the wall, trying to gather myself.
"Isn't that a bit rude?"
"You can't talk." I chuckled. "You brought us into this hell. Is your own pleasure really worth all of this? What have you done to Jolynn and Harold?"
"Pleasure is just a worldly thing. What I strive for goes beyond that. Someone like you wouldn't be able to understand it. As for the others. Jolynn is a bit...preoccupied with herself. Harold, on the other hand, is doing considerably well."
"What do you mean? What have you done to Jolynn?" I shouted.
"That is none of your concern."
"Yes, it is! They are my friends!"
"You sure? They haven't asked once about you. What kind of friends do that?"
"No... they are just busy. I'm sure they have other things to do." I said, trying to convince myself that they didn't forget me.
"Ah, Annabeth, always the optimistic one. You could never think bad about others. Always trying to find the best, even in the worst of them all. That is why you won't survive in the world." His voice had changed into a much more serious and ominous tone.
"You're wrong." I said my conviction, becoming shakier by the moment.
"Am I really though? You should know better than anyone that the world isn't nice.
"Yes... you are." I said, looking away from the speaker, not wanting him to see me in such a feeble state.
"Are you conflicted?"
"Why does it matter to you?"
"Because I care about you."
"Care?" I scoff. "The only thing you care about is your little experiment. If you really cared, I wouldn't have been treated like this."
"Treated like what exactly? You have a comfortable room in which I allow you to do anything. What more do you want?"
"To be free."
"That isn't possible. I need you. I need all of you."
"And why us out of everyone in this country?"
"Because you fit the criteria."
"Which?"
"That isn't something you need to know as well."
"You don't tell us anything and treat us like this. I can't wait to see you in person."
"Oh really, and do what?"
"Beat the living crap out of you."
He laughed so loudly that my whole room began to echo. It was a humiliating, mocking laugh.
"Oh, Annabeth, you truly are a marvel. But sadly, the worst is yet to come. Count your days. Goodbye."
Count my days? What the hell could he mean by that?
I thought to myself. Standing there, all I could really think of was Jolynn and Harold. My heart didn't want to accept what he was saying, but some part of my mind knew that he was right. I had been forgotten. Left alone like an old picture on a shelf. Rotting away with no hope of being recovered or seen again. The constant feeling of abandonment gnawed away at me, eating me up. I had felt this before, long ago, and I had never thought that this would be the place in which I would resurface the same emotions.
In my head, the constant loop of the people close to me jumped up, yet their faces blurred beyond recognition. My brother. My mother and father. My friends. My...and the latest ones. Jolynn and Harold. I couldn't be left by them. This feeling of abandonment was something that I could not allow again. The fear began to well up inside of me. No, I couldn't let it happen.
I won't let it happen. I had made up my mind. I would escape and find them even if it were the last thing I would do. Just to see their faces. All I want is to see them, their smiles and warmth, their joy and love, their presence. I wanted it all. I wanted what I couldn't have before. That was all that mattered now. No one else did. I knew it was selfish, and I knew that it was something that wasn't a part of me, but I needed it. This hunger was something I had never felt before. It was horrible.
And then I finally began to realise the feeling that Satan had. When he refused to bow down for his own selfish pride. And he was cast out by God. This feeling must have been similar to that. This selfish desire for one's own satisfaction. It is exhilarating. My body can't keep control of itself. And this desire began to overcome me. For Satan fell because of his own pride, I now fall for my own greed.
May God forgive me.