Nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine…
Nine what?
Nine, nine, nine…
Nine minutes?
Nine, nine, nine…
Nine hours?
Nine, nine, nine…
Nine days?
Nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, ni—
"SHUT UP!" I yelled into the open space, letting go of my death grip on the bed and pulling at my hair. I could feel every nerve in my body start to shake. Ten minutes ago I had my sanity in the palm of my hand and now it was floating all around me, laughing as I tried to reach out and catch it. It danced in front of my eyes and knew I couldn't grab it.
Growling at the air, I ripped my hands from my head, tearing out a few strands of hair, and pulled the blanket out from under me. I threw it across the room, the pillows following, and then the lamps, broken computer monitor, the keyboard, the phone, everything. I screamed as I threw it all. For usually being so quiet, I was being quite the ruckus now.
"Just give him back… Give him back…" I whispered, falling onto the floor and holding my knees. I dug my nails into my skin, causing blood to drip slowly down my leg.
Ten, ten, ten, ten, ten, ten….
Ten weeks. It was midnight, the beginning of the tenth week. Sunday, March 7th, 2021. How many more weeks left in solitude? How many more weeks until I broke completely?
The robotic arms dropped from the ceiling, picking up all the useless crap I had thrown across the room. The bed was made perfectly; they even dropped a quarter on it and watched it bounce once. I could hear the small giggle in her calm, cool voice. The arms made their way towards me. I bolted up from my spot and rushed to the door, pounding on the wooden surface, screaming his name. There was no one to hear it, though. Or, there was, but she didn't have any real feelings. She had deleted those long ago after her second death. Feeling the cold metal wrap around my arms and legs, I writhed and screamed louder, my ponytail falling out in a mess. A needle pierced my shoulder, a certain liquid forcing my muscles to rubber. I swear through the fog I heard her voice. . .
"Pathetic. I thought you were better than this…"
I imagined her long legs making their way out of the room as she tsked. "But I suppose you can say this is the first time I've ever been wrong."
"Are you sure of that? If you're wrong, it'll hurt… no, you'll die… Oh, don't do it, what if you're wrong—WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Wheatley yelled, his British accent filling my ears, ringing alarm and worry. He grabbed at my sleeve and pulled me away from the edge, looking down into the abyss that lay open below us.
I looked over at him with amusement. Holding the portal gun up, I clicked the blue one to shoot above and the orange one behind me. Looking into the orange portal, I gestured for Wheatley to jump in. He shook his head furiously. "No, you see, I have very frail bones and these long fall boots don't look very sturdy and what if I miss or fall or what if there are turrets, oh those bloody things are going to be the end of me I know it," he rambled, fiddling with his hands and biting his lower lip once in a while. I wanted to smack those big scared eyes right off his face. I gestured again, more stern this time. Again, my companion refused.
Suit yourself. Jumping into the orange portal, I shot the orange portal below me and fell through over and over again, almost losing myself in the dizzy haze. Finding my bearings, I was able to shoot the blue portal to where I needed to go, flying across the map and over to the door. I laughed, looking back over at Wheatley. His jaw dropped, looking at me, then the portals, and back to me. I raised an eyebrow, challenging him.
"No, NO!" he shouted, crossing his arms. "If you think I am doing that you are bloody NUTS!"
I pouted my bottom lip at him. Gesturing to the door, I walked towards it, and the doors slid open.
"ALRIGHT!" he yelled, stepping over to where I had recreated the orange portal for him. Stepping into it, I watched the flailing male fall over and over again through the portals. He was screaming hysterically. I shot the blue one, and the male flew over to me. Before I had gotten the chance to move, he crashed into my form and threw me to the ground with him.
"Ouch!" he yelped, rushing to his feet. "Why didn't you move, you mute lunatic?!" he barked, then snapped back, placing a hand over his mouth. "I-I mean, sorry…"
I didn't take his remark to heart. Wheatley always was angry about the fact I didn't talk. I laughed sometimes, I made angry grunts or little giggles, but I never spoke. He didn't like it. Wheatley was a chatterbox. He couldn't shut up for more than five seconds, but carrying on a conversation was hard for him when the other person couldn't talk. I remembered the first time we met and he found out I couldn't speak. He had so many questions and kept asking, knowing I couldn't answer. Then his brain caught up with his mouth and he asked yes or no questions, the ones I could answer for him. That made him happier.
"Are you alright?" he asked, checking over me for any scratches or bruises.
I nodded, pushing him away and turning him around, pressing on a scratch on his neck. He yelped, placing his hand over it.
"Am I dying? Is it bad? Oh, I'm dying aren't I?! Why did I jump through those things I knew I would die? I'm seeing black, CHELL!" The human (previously robot) Wheatley gripped onto my arm, looking like he was about to cry. I glared at him, shaking my head slowly. Idiot.
Wheatley let go of my arm and started to calm down. "When is the last test?" he asked, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
I shrugged, walking through the door and stepping into the chamber for the next test.
"You mean you don't know how many tests there are?" he asked, chasing after me, stumbling and grabbing onto my portal gun, causing me to accidentally shoot a portal where I didn't want one to go.
I glared at him and shook my head, pushing the idiot away from me. I wished he'd calm down and just try to think through the tests to get out of here.
"Hold on you two, we need to talk."
The female voice startled me, and as I looked around, I saw GlaDOS herself walk through the door we had just entered. Her appearance was perfection. Soft, golden eyes and a white skin-tight leather suit, a black zipper going all the way up and down the arms and chest. A headset wrapped around her neck from a speaker on her back and earphones hugged her ears. She had a black spot all around her right eye and golden cream eye shadow to match her eyes. Her lips popped with a bright red lipstick, pulling together her look. She smiled, pale skin glowing in the all-white room.
"Oh no not the she-devil…" Wheatley whispered, but not low enough. GlaDOS shot him a look.
"Well, well… We have a problem. Seems you two are not meant to be testing right now. Terribly sorry… well, not really. Follow me." GlaDOS turned her back and clicked her black knee-high heel-boots through the room, a side-door on the white wall opening to reveal the inside of Aperture Science. It was mostly tubes and companion cubes going around the area, but it looked very structured and well, pretty. GlaDOS walked us through another door at the end of a long hallway, stepping into an elevator. We followed, silent the entire way. Her lips curled at our unease, knowing we were unable to trust her. I had no idea where she was taking us, and that seemed to make her very happy.
When it seemed we had been in the elevator for eternity, the doors slid open and the room was almost identical to a small hotel room. There was a mini bathroom with a tub and shower, a plate of soaps and shampoo, then a little socket to plug in a hair dryer or straightener. There was one bed, a double, and a 1995 kids TV painted in bright pink. An old computer was set up at the other end of the room, but it looked more for show than actual use.
"Why are we here?" Wheatley asked, raising an eyebrow over at the white-haired GlaDOS.
"Rest up. Things are going to be changing, and testing starts again tom-," GlaDOS cut herself off, turning around abruptly. A little robot core followed its rail up to the door, yelling her name in a high pitched, female voice.
"GlaDOS! GlaDOS!" it barked, pink lights flashing on a light that resembled an eye.
"What is it?" she asked the core, frustration in her voice. She sounded as if she were holding back piles of anger.
"You must come see, Miss GlaDOS! We are losing control," it barked again, turning on the rail and speeding down the track.
GlaDOS turned to us, tried to utter a sentence, and then growled. She regained her composure, smiled, and disappeared in a flash of pixels. The door shut after she was gone.
I walked over to the wooden door, pulling at the handle. Locked. Turning back to Wheatley, I watched as he sat down in the computer chair, leaning back and pulling his knees up to his chest. "Feels nice to sit down," he said relief in his voice.
How could he be so calm? GlaDOS wasn't just putting them here to be nice and then starting up testing tomorrow then that was it. Did he not realize how much she had planned out for them? Life-time testing. No ending. There was just testing.
I walked into the bathroom, slamming the door shut and pulling open the shower curtain. I smelled of rotten body odour. Then again, running around all day and night without anything to change into or any deodorant, what normal human being would smell like a basket of roses?
The water was warm, but it sizzled on my skin. I didn't realize how cold I had been until the water scorched my skin at a middle temperature. After warming up to it, I turned the temperature over to full heat, letting out a sigh of pleasure at the comforting water.
After stepping out and wrapping a towel around myself, I opened a drawer to find a freshly laid out outfit. There was a white tank top that said Aperture Laboratories across it. There was also a bra and underwear, and an orange jumpsuit. I pulled on the undergarments, then the shirt and jumpsuit. I wrapped the jumpsuits arms around my waist, then opened up the mirror cupboard. I pulled out some perfume and deodorant, smelling the perfume in the air and smiling at the fresh scent. It felt nice to be clean.
I pulled my wet hair up into a high ponytail and pulled my bangs to hang to the left on my face. Finally, I opened the door to see Wheatley standing there. "My turn?"
I nodded, stepping out and crawling into the bed. It was warm, too. And comfortable. It was like laying on a bed of feathers and clouds, all wrapping around to make the most relaxing combination the world could ever create.
There were a few blissful moments of silence. All I could hear was my breath and the rush of water as Wheatley took his own shower.
I could feel myself drifting off into blissful sleep, but it was all disturbed when the bed rocked beside me. I kicked out at Wheatley, pushing him onto the ground, shaking my head firmly. I was not going to sleep in the same bed as him.
"We go back to testing tomorrow! I don't want to have a bad night's sleep on the ground! C'mon, have a heart, Chelley…" he pleaded, sitting back down on the edge of the bed.
I wasn't comfortable with him lying beside me. Every time he moved it felt like he was getting closer and I could feel my body tense. It must have been hours before I finally fell into a calming sleep.