The Dark Room

"Am I dead?"

This thought looped inside of Felix's mind as he tried to piece together what had happened. He had just regained consciousness and his body was sore and in a great deal of pain, as if he had just finished running a marathon.

He was unsure of where he was or how much time had passed since the incident occurred and he blacked out. The most he could do was open his eyes but all he could see was darkness.

Felix could feel that he was laying down on top of something hard and flat. Mustering the strength to move his hand across the surface, he felt a cold and smooth texture that could only belong to some kind of metal. The air smelled strange, almost like gasoline fumes but mixed with something unknown to his sense of smell.

He laid there for some time, going over the events that took place prior to his current predicament. It all felt surreal, as if he was caught in some terrible nightmare, and yet he knew this to be his reality.

After a few minutes the pain and soreness within his body began to subside, and he was able to sit up, albeit with a groan of discomfort. He looked around, hoping his eyes would adjust to the pitch black that surrounded him, but to no avail.

"Hello?", he called out in a quiet and crackly voice, his mouth and throat dry and dehydrated. "Is anyone there?"

…

Felix was almost comforted in the fact that no one answered, as it filled his body with dread to think there might be someone else in the dark with him, watching him.

He was terrified to move, but he knew that staying still would serve no purpose other than to allow his fear and anxiety to build up to unmanageable levels.

He put his hands down on the floor in front of himself, took a deep breath in, and began slowly moving forward. The cold and smooth surface felt soothing on his palms, a small relief to his mind which otherwise was full of fear and anguish.

He had moved roughly five feet when he felt his fingertips hit something. He reached upwards to discover a wall that seemed to be made of the same metal-like material as the floor. He traced his hands further and further upwards, slowly standing as he went.

The wall must have been at least eight to ten feet tall, as even with Felix standing up all the way and his arms fully outstretched, he could not find an end.

Hugging the wall, Felix began moving to the left so as to get a rough idea what kind of room he occupied. As he moved, he could quickly tell the wall was curved, and unable to see, he could only assume the room was circular or oval in shape.

After about a minute of feeling his way around the wall he gave up, seeing as there were no distinguishing features on the wall to signify a door or object of any kind. Still unable to see, he knew that if the room was indeed a circle he was bound to go on forever, unable to determine where he was or where he started.

He turned around and leaned his back against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position.

"Where am I?"

His thoughts raced as he sat alone in the dark room. From one explanation to the next, he tried to reason how it was that he came to be here. Despite his best efforts and logical thinking, he was at a loss.

Nothing could realistically explain the events that led up to his current situation. He had to throw out all preconceived notions about reality for even a sliver of what had happened to make sense, and that was terrifying.

"I've been abducted by aliens, haven't I?", he said softly, half joking and yet far more serious than made him comfortable with.

"No, No, that's impossible, I must be going insane. That's the only logical explanation."

Insane or not, the metal room and pitch black darkness that surrounded him were just as real as the blinding blue light that had lifted him off the ground and into this impossible reality. No amount of internal reasoning would make sense of the unsensible, despite Felix's best efforts.

His stomach grumbled and he thought back to the delicious smelling food that was sitting on his passenger seat.

"I should've just eaten it when I had the chance", he sighed.

Loneliness is said to drive men crazy, yet Felix had always preferred it. It provided an escape from the judgement and harassment of others he had come to know very well throughout his life. And yet, Felix had never hated loneliness as much as he did in this moment.

Sitting on the floor of this cold room, surrounded by darkness and in total silence, he wished that he was not alone for the first time in a long time.

*****

It could've been minutes or hours, without light, his perception of time had been lost. Felix was growing hungrier by the second, and his thirst was almost unbearable.

"I'm going to die in here aren't I?" he said weakly, holding back tears.

As if responding to his question, the wall behind him began to vibrate slightly, followed by a low-pitched humming noise that was almost too soft to hear.

Felix turned around quickly and faced the wall, eager to confirm the movement was real and not just in his head. He placed his hands on the wall and sure enough, he felt the small vibrations move across his palms.

"What is this?" he said, pressing his ear up to the wall in the hopes he could hear the noise more clearly. The surface was cold, but the vibrations tickled in a pleasant manner, offering the slightest moment of respite to Felix's fearful mind.

Suddenly and without warning a bright light filled the room, bathing it in pure white and blinding Felix, who had begun to acclimate to the darkness.

"Ugh!", he yelped, quickly covering his eyes.

It took him a few seconds to recover and even then he could barely keep them open.

With the room now illuminated, it became clear this was no ordinary cell. Approximately ten feet in diameter, the walls and floor which felt smooth and cold like metal appeared porous, as if made of finely cut stone.

The source of light that had instantly filled the room was coming directly from within the walls themselves; bright enough to rival sunlight, and yet somehow the surface material was still visible despite the rays of white pouring out from underneath.

The walls rose up about twelve feet before curving inwards to form a dome-like ceiling. Black arches that seemed to be made of a different material lined the domes circumference, all of which connected together to create a large semi-spherical object at the center.

This room was like nothing Felix had ever seen before. The walls and floor were glowing, and there were no right angles anywhere to be seen. Everything just flowed smoothly into everything else. It was a marvel of architecture that left him speechless.

Despite his amazement at the rooms structure, a sudden hissing noise from the wall in front of him quickly brought him back to reality. In an instant, a portion of the seem-less surface slid open to reveal a rounded rectangular passage, just large enough for him to fit through.

Felix looked around once more, still shocked at his surroundings and uncertain of what he should do next. Just a minute ago he would've given anything to escape the dark room, and yet he felt hesitant.

The passageway that mere seconds ago could not be distinguished from any other part of the wall stood open, as if beckoning him to enter through it.

Felix stood and weighed out his options. Clearly something wanted him to walk through the opening, but could he trust that? Surely whoever was responsible for abducting him was the same one that opened the door.

He could simply stay in the room, but without food or water he knew that he wouldn't last very long. Between starvation and the unknown, the choice was clear, and so Felix stepped through the passageway.

************************************************