The Voice

"Hey!"

To my surprise, the voice echoed again. I'm still sitting on the bed in front of the table—quite skeptical whether the voice was real or not. I've been hearing voices lately. Out of knowhere they just chatter, rambling on with nonsensical words; so I ignored them. Although there was something odd about this time: it called for me. As if it knew of my presence. I wiped my eyes with my hands and looked at the bundle beside me. I tried looking for something else to keep me entertained... so I could keep myself calm—Anxious-free.

For several hours, all I did was read, write, draw, search... and doze off. Repeat the same process everyday along with meals, three times a day and toilet breaks. Motionless... I rested on the bed, Staring up the ceiling. The lights were slowly dimming—I assumed the sun had set. The low-burning lights reminded me of dinner. so I stood from the bed and made my way to the F.N.A. Although the sun setting was just a speculation, I only had to observe the watches. Each day whenever the clocks reach "6:00pm" they start fading down. The lighting system mimics the sun cycle but with no contact to the outside world, this was mostly hypothetical. I found myself in front of the machine and reached for a button.

Beep!—Woosh.

The food slid into my hand. I ate peacefully at the nearest bed; to prevent walking back and forth for the tray.

After eating, I placed my tray into the trash chute. Satisfied with myself, I started making my way back. I didn't have any trouble against the darkness, The underbed lights lit on at night they would replace the usual lighting as they illuminated the floor with a warm sun-kissed color.

"hello?! Is anyone there?!"

This time it echoed closer. Shocked, I felt fear—it stunned me. The voice directly came from behind me. My back was dripped with sweat. I turned around: There wasn't anything there, except the F.N.A. I inspected the machine... Searching for the source. I was looking for nothing, my consciousness knew. Fear was my first response, because my brain might've been hallucinating. Acknowledging the voices void of hosts would be proving the existence of my insanity. Having been already accustomed to Isolation for almost a week—It would be most likely. My thoughts still brimmed with hope, I wanted validation for my sanity. I kept looking, and found nothing... Only disappointment.

"Can anyone hear me?! Hello?!"

I heard it again. The sound came from the trash chute. Loud and clear—it echoed throughout my eardrums: lingering. The voice was soft, beautiful. Why was I scared? How was I afraid of this genuinely soothing voice. I still had my doubts, this could be the mind playing tricks. Sanity isn't something that could be measured or could it? had madness consumed my mind?—I felt fine, everyday is another one of those days. A routine, mindlessly going about my business. Devoid of any assertive behavior, but more of an impulsive endeavor. Fantasizing different outcomes from such a situation. It was agonizing. I needed to say something... literally anything.

I shifted my eyes to the right, There I faced the chute. I tried leaning in closer, as I lifted the hatch upwards. The stench of rotten trash filled my nostrils as it was opened, I gagged while covering my nose and tried to make myself as clear as possible by Ignoring the foul odors.

"Are you real??" I nervously blurted out, without giving my words a thought.

The hatch dropped down closing. My ears met the ice-cold metal hatch. I eagerly waited for a reply—minutes flew and I waited some more. Hours flew by and the bed never looked so enticing. I felt the cold wall running along my back as I sat at the corner of the room; Staring blankly into nothing. Waiting for something that could be a facade, made up within the confines of my own consciousness. What was the point? I kept asking myself because I was hopeful. Hope was the only thing I held onto, in a world where white cold walls are the sky and bulbs that represented the sunshine. I wanted to feel alive! tried to make myself feel more humane so I clinged on to it, but it was the opposite: It held onto me. a parasite leeching from my fears while it fed me hopeful... It was intoxicating, addicting.

The blasting noisemakers every morning sounded right on queue: I was so sick, and tired of hearing this ear-bursting shrieks. I covered my ears—I'm so tired of everything. The never changing menu that served the same thing everyday. I smelt like a ragged street dog due to the fact that I haven't showered these past few days—this cruel white cage toying with my mind, homing into the very depths of my sanity. I was so used to being alone, but why is this so unbearable. I've never really made real friends growing up and ever since I graduated college, my family was the only thing I had... That's right! Where was my family? Why did they leave me here, alone. How can they let me be, suffering on my own! it's their damn fault why I'm here! They should be looking for me! And where the hell am I?! Curse this room! And that fucking door!

The tears streamed off my face, I punched the wall to my side and bit my lip out of frustration. I screamed at the top of my lungs, the sound fluctuated throughout the whole room. My throat went dry in the process as I slowly laid down on the floor. My eyes were falling heavy, they slowly closed until darkness was the only thing I saw before me. After a while the sirens calmed.

"Did you really have to shout this early in the morning?!" Female voice.

There it is again, my imaginary friendly voice.

"Shut up! You have been a pain in my ass since yesterday!" I sarcastically shouted back.

I jokingly replied, in a few moments there would be no response anyways. I might as well embrace it...

See! There's nothi—

"What do you mean?! I'm not the one who rudely woke up someone by screaming like a little girl!" Female voice.

"Wait, wa-wait!" I stuttered out of shock.

"Who the hell screams at 6:00 in the morning!" She yelled.

"I mean! I definitely regret my decision of talking into the chute! I just wanted to see if someone else was trapped..." she blabbered on.

Damn this girl is quite chatty that I couldn't catch up anymore but knowing that someone else is here other than myself was relieving: I'm glad I was hopeful. I had so many questions but she kept ranting. So I immediately got to my knees and inched closer to the chute then I propped it open with a pen I had inside my pocket so it wouldn't close. My lower half was shaking plus my head ached a lot due to lack of sleep but my excitement drove my body awake, I sat on the corner just beside the chute.

"I'm sorry! Okay! I thought I was alone! Please calm down."

"Yeah! You better be sorry, I was having a perfectly good dream!"

After that I think she calmed a little bit. Awkward silence filled the air, I had to say anything with a lot of questions in mind. I'm sure she'd answer but I still was wary of her existence—I needed to make sure.

"So..."

"So what?"

"Um..."

"Okay! since you have a hard time talking, I'll start...

I know you're stuck somewhere below from where I am, So I'm directly above you but I don't know how many floors apart we are."

Hearing how she explained it, I just noticed that her voice came from the upper regions of the chute.

"How did you know that I was down here?"

"Well that part was a coincidence, It was four days ago. I had just finished eating breakfast  and was near the chute. The moment I opened it, I heard a loud thump."

"So you basically thought tha-"

"Yup, but I had to make sure a bunch load of times before I said something."

It got quiet again. I wanted to ask more, but I was scared since I haven't talked in a while. I wasn't really the social type but I mustered up the courage and asked.

"D-do you know where we are?"

"Huh? How can you not know where we are?!"

She replied with a raised voice clearly bewildered about my question.

"I seriously don't know where am I, these past few days have be-been! Exhausting! You don't know how relieving it is to be ta-talking to you!"

"Okay jeez, I thought you were joking. We're on T.I.R.F."

T.I.R.F sounded familiar but I couldn't remember it clearly.

"What's T.I.R.F?!" I asked with curiosity.

"Do I really have to explain everything?  Jesus! How'd you end up here without knowing anything?! Do they recruit just about anyone?" She annoyingly replied.

I couldn't answer, she clearly was annoyed. It's not my fault that I couldn't remember. I went silent... I won't force her to answer.

"Okay so T.I.R.F. Stands for The Interplanetary Research Facility, now do you get it?"

"Interplanetary?" I asked totally dumbfounded. The word stuck to me although I'm vaguely picturing memories.

"You know what? I want you to go the open wall near the chute that's facing the beds."

"Uh... why?"

"Just do it! I'd rather just show you than explain it"

So I stood up from the corner and went to face this said wall.

"So what now?!" I shouted.

"I want you to look for a barely visible circular object right on the wall, it's small but just the right size for a finger."

I got close to the wall trying to look for this circular object. I used my hands to feel it's surface because I might miss it since she said it was barely visible. A few minutes into the search something was oddly weird about it although it looked like a rough wall, it felt smooth, and somewhat clear; It was like glass.

Moments after, I felt a circular shape imbedded into the wall. she was right about it being barely visible. It blended well into the wall.

"I Found it!" I shouted again.

"Okay! Now I want you to press it."

I gently pressed on it. It's surface waved like the ocean starting from the button. I stepped back and watched it slowly changing as the wall fluctuated. It turned clear like a mirror, then a bright light flashed before my eyes.