My head hurts.
That's the first thing I noticed when I woke up. It wasn't a splitting headache, which I thought was a little odd. It was more of a dull knocking at the back of my mind, like some vagary of imagination wanted to be heard, and was doing its best to break out. I found that my neck was still mobile, and twisted my head about, trying to get my eyes open. That was harder than I thought, as my immediate surroundings were a complete and utter blur. I could feel something soft and warm on my cheek. It felt like cloth. A pillow, maybe. I kept turning my head until I was looking up… at least, I thought it was up. Suddenly, my vision was enveloped by something glaring and white. I was staring directly into the ceiling light, and the pain of that sudden flash ate right into my skull. I shut my eyes again and twisted my head away; as my vision became clearer, I could still see the light through my eyelids. What kind of oddball kept their lights on so high?
Well, probably me, since I was in here.
I think I fell asleep after that.
When I woke up again, it wasn't nearly so bright. The light had been dimmed down to nearly nothing, and my vision was much clearer. My headache had somehow gotten worse. Instead of the niggling, easily ignored rap, it was now a pulsating thud. I didn't want to lift my head up, since that would make things worse, but I had to know where I was. Everything was a blank. I knew that I was there, but I had absolutely no clue where 'there' was, or even why I might be 'there' in the first place. I couldn't remember anything of the previous night. Or any other night for that matter, for an appreciable amount of time on back. My mind felt like jelly, and all my thoughts were just flailing aimlessly about, struggling to find air, purchase, anything.
As for me, I was just one poor, confused soul.
What the hell is going on?
I moved my right arm under my body until I could lever myself up with my elbow. I had been right before; my head complained loudly at the sudden movement, and I was overcome with dizziness. Throwing my legs over the side of the bed (or shelf, or whatever I had been sleeping on,) I lifted my hands and cradled my face in them, shutting my eyes as tight as I could. Stars were exploding in the back of my skull. How had I ended up here? And what was wrong with my head? The pain, it had gotten worse, like a spike trying to wedge itself between my brain's lobes…
I sat there for a long time, gritting my teeth and trying to either wait for the moment to pass, or until I got acclimated and could move around without being bothered. I'm not sure how long I stayed like that, feeling the cold metal of the floor against my bare feet.
When I finally lifted my head once again, I found my room lit by a soft blue glow coming from the far wall, much better than the harsh white of before.
It was a very plain room. Just four walls, plain, metal, and smooth. I had been sleeping on an actual bed, but it was more just a panel that stuck out of the wall and had a mattress and a pillow. I rubbed my eyes and stood up, changing my view of the place by quite a bit. It was smaller than I had first thought, and the walls were purely featureless, not just bland. Just a few lines from the paneling marked them. It was then I noticed the strangest thing about my room. The blue glow wasn't just coming from the wall… it was the wall! There was some kind of opaque blue-ish field making up the front of my room.
I strode forward and immediately drove a finger into it. There was an angry spark, and I drew back with a hiss of pain, feeling my headache spike for a moment as an electric current slashed through me. The blue light was some kind force field with no way to get through it. There was a hallway beyond it, with other rooms looking much like mine, but no active blue fields. Mine was the only one. I was trapped. I was alone. I came to a horrifying realization.
This wasn't a room. It was a cell.
I opened my mouth to scream.
"Hey!" I said, and my voice sounded unusually soft and hoarse for how loud I was trying to be.
"Hey! Is anyone out there? What the hell's going on here? You can't keep me in here! Hey! Hey!"
I banged on the blue wall and was awarded with a forceful shock that threw my arm back. Cradling the injured limb, I backed off and shouted a wordless noise. They couldn't just lock me up in here! Where was I? What was this? I didn't understand a thing, except that I was alone, and growing nervous, perhaps even frightened. What had they done to me? Who was 'they?' Why had they done this?
Who am I, if I deserved this?
I felt an inexplicable panic grip me and turned away, kicking the walls as the crushing reality of my situation began to close in. To make matters worse, that manifested itself as mad visions of the walls themselves growing smaller, threatening to box me in. I closed my eyes against the horrifying hallucination and shivered as I hugged myself, trying to find any kind of solace. Possibilities flew through my head as to why I was here. I was deranged and needed to be locked up. I had committed murder in a drunken rage. I was a prisoner of a psychopath who was holding me for his sick games. I was being held for torture by an enemy army, and any minute they'd come in and stick me with sharp things and burn my flesh away. Whatever the reason, I was a prisoner, stuck in a room, imprisoned for a crime I didn't know I committed, with no way to improve my situation. I was feeling claustrophobic. I was angry. I was truly scared. I was alone.
"Help!" I shouted ineffectually at the walls. "Someone! Help me! Anyone? Come on! There has to be someone!"
I kicked the walls again in sheer frustration, paced, shouted at the tops of my lungs, grabbed my ears and pulled. All the while that headache continued to get more and more aggravated as I carried on. I didn't care. I kept screaming, kept pounding, kept walking, kept moving, obsessed with doing something, even if it was to no avail. I was struck by a real feeling of helplessness, something that I'm sure I wasn't used to, because it terrified and annoyed me.
Eventually, something snapped. My headache spiked, and my vision went red. I dropped back onto the bed and resumed the position I had found myself in, lying down, helpless. I covered my face with my hands and groaned aloud.
"What's going on?" I said into my fur. My tail was uncomfortable squashed beneath me, but I didn't care. My headache was paralyzing. I just wanted to lie still and wait for it to go away.
I don't know how long I was there, waiting, in agonizing pain as my brain turned red-hot and my arms melted into useless dead weights. It must have been a long time, because when it finally all passed back into ignominy, the light was still dim, but brighter than it had been. Kind of like the rising or setting sun, I thought crazily. I judged that meant a day of sorts had passed, and I was into the evening of my second day of captivity. My throat was incredibly dry and my stomach was completely empty, so it had to have been quite a long while since I had woken up. I wondered for a moment how long I had been here. Obviously not that long. I didn't feel malnourished or underfed; I was still strong and somewhat healthy, except for this headache. Yes. I couldn't have been in here for more than twelve hours. I didn't care if I was wrong. Did it really matter, anyway, if I was stuck in here?
Time doesn't really have meaning when someone is locked up. It just becomes a mindless, formless blob that jiggles every so often, showing no interest, only a maddening ambivalence. Does it pass? Does it go backward? Does it stand still? Time isn't linear when your senses are gone. It just… roils and writhes in the same spot, over and over again.
I only had the emptiness of my stomach and the parched skin of my throat to tell me that my time, whatever its current mood, was running out.
To pass that meager amount of time, I decided that screaming myself voiceless and shocking myself to death wouldn't help anyone, least of all me. So I started to play games. I drew imaginary tic-tac-toe lines in the floor and played myself, and won every time. I asked myself twenty questions. I thought of the most complicated words I knew and tried to give myself good definitions. I even thought up imaginary war games and played different strategies off each other.
I think I actually managed to lose once.
In any case, more time went by. Maybe a whole day, which I hoped for. Or maybe just a few hours, which would have been maddening. All I knew was that I was still hungry. Thinking of escape to grab a bite to eat was ridiculous and pointless. I had no idea how to get past the field, my pant pockets (of which there were only four) were all empty, and no convenient ventilation shafts were in sight to shimmy into. I was just some ordinary schmuck.
"Hey, screw," I said to the empty hall, trying to fight back the rising panic in my chest. My voice echoed eerily with no reply forthcoming. "Don't I get a phone call? Maybe… like a cup of water?"
More echoes.
Oh, no. Was that just the echo of my voice, or… something else?
Ambiguous night terrors floated up. I bashed them over the head and bottled them up again before they could surface.
The light had brightened up again considerably when the rumbles came.
I felt them more than heard them. They came through the floor. I had been lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling and blinking a lot because of the bright light, and was shocked into action. If you can call hysterical flailing and shouting action.
I jumped up and rested against the wall, feeling the vibrations travel under my feet, up through the walls, and into the ceiling. Was it some kind of electrical current? An explosion? Was there some kind of creature living in the damn walls?
Wrong thought to think. I panicked again and tried to bang on my force field, which resisted my efforts admirably, considering the situation. It was certainly a very stalwart and responsible force field.
And how I hated it.
More rumbles came, stronger this time, and I sat down on the bed, sniffling like a baby. I was well and truly terrified now. Helpless, trapped, caged, and with who knew what going on outside. I hoped to God there even was an outside to escape to. The entire universe could have ended outside my own little hallway and I'd never be privy to it. I grabbed my tail and hugged it like a child would, feeling no shame. I was scared. I even started to think of mother, her gentle eyes, her hands, those wonderful hands that had never been raised in anger.
I mean, those were the right memories of mother, right?
And then the lights started flickering. All the memories of mother I owned couldn't have helped then. I squeezed my eyes shut and rocked back and forth on the bed.
Please, please, don't let them go out!
I shut my eyes against the terrifying things outside that were disturbing the monotony of my tiny world, which I suddenly came to value and cherish, even if it was only a few hours (days?) old. It was all I had to latch on to at the moment. The thought of being trapped in the dark here was more than I could stand. One of the few things I did come to realize about myself was that the dark terrified me. All I'd have left would be that force field, and if that gave out…
Well, if that gave out, I'd be free. But I'd also be vulnerable against whatever was responsible for this.
It had to happen. Another rumble, the strongest yet, and the lights died. The force field shut down abruptly. Everything had changed in an instant.
The door was open. I was free. But I was also vulnerable.
I sat, staring at the open doorway. At the pitch black hall outside. Thinking of the horrid things that might be waiting for me out there.
Somehow, seeing that field gone was even worse than having it there in the first place. Being contained and ignorant was frustrating, but suddenly it felt so much safer, much more sure than the outside. But I had no choice. I could not stay here. I had to know. I had to know.
First one foot, down on the ground. That's it. Now the other. Now stand up. Stand up!
I took a shaky step towards freedom, feeling my way through the inky blackness. The air was colder than I remembered waking up.
I was almost there. I could feel it. Anticipation welled up in my chest. This was it! I was going to be free! I was almost outside. My hands chilled as they felt their way to where the force field would be…
For a horrifying instant, I thought the thing would snap back to life and chop my arms off. Nothing of the sort happened. My arms passed through the portal, out into the hall. I felt a grin creeping up onto my muzzle. This was it! I was going to take the first steps out!
The lights came on with a suddenness that nearly gave me a heart attack. I yelped pitifully and stumbled back until I fell onto my bed, clutching my chest, staring at the doorway, panting uncontrollably. No force field flickered back to life. The way was still open.
But for how long? A swift and understandable hysteria grabbed me and shoved me forward. Out now! It screamed.
OUT!
I lunged forward and collapsed into the hall with an exhausted sob. I suddenly felt as though I had traversed some kind of booby-trap laden temple and found myself finally in safety.
I took a few deep breaths and stood up, supporting myself on the wall. Just as I expected, the hallway was blank and stale. I was facing the end that ran into a blank wall. A simple twist of my head revealed the exit at the other end. It would be a simple matter of hurrying towards it, going through, and exploring my new existence. I turned away from it, still trying to catch my breath, compose myself, and get ready for the inevitable plunge. Should I go now? Wait for rescue?
Apparently the universe didn't have time to wait, so it made my choice for me.
"Hey!" I heard a voice say from the exit. "Hey, you! You all right? You okay? Hey, I was told to come get you. You got any idea what's going on?"
Oh, perfect. My savior knew less than I did. Thank you, universe, you have a nice way of making the worst out of a potentially good situation.
I turned around with a weary expression, one that didn't deter the glimmering curiosity and wide-eyed anxiety of the canine at the end of the hallway.
My ordeal was only beginning.
--
A/N: Contrary to what this might imply, the main character is not suffering amnesia… or at least, they won't be for very long.
I know this is a short and rather bland beginning, but I just wanted to set the stage and the feel for this character and style of writing. I wanted to withhold character info to make things more streamlined and easy for me to write, and add a bit of compelling mystery (I hope). I want to make a more focused and spartan story with only a few characters and a static setting.
In fact, I'm going to bring this one step further. This main character will be mostly mine to shape, but I want your opinions still. Should this character have a name? A gender? A species? What should they be? Is this good that I've withheld so much? And who is this mystery canine? What's their name? Occupation? Bad-ass marine or simple janitor? Tell me what you think might be interesting. I might even incorporate it.
And rest assured, exposition will come in the next chapter, so you're not completely in the dark.
