There were voices, a vague, distant voice in the background that sounded like loud whispering. It would flare like the beats of a music; voices going up and down. The pitch black entity surrounding her was like a thick oil, gradually entering her, taking her breath as though it was savoring every moment with glee. Then everything was illuminated by a white light. For a split second a thought fluttered in her mind, telling her it is the sun, except in blinding white color.
As the light subsided, the familiar throbbing in her back and arm, and the stinging all around her body jolted her awake into reality. The two faces above, clad in a blue striped veil, came into her view. For a moment, nothing registered in her mind, only her pain existed. But as they tried to place their gloved hand on her head, panic flooded her, and before she knew someone was wailing and screaming, their voice gruff and stiff with confusion, and her throat hurt.
She instantly felt pressure in her shoulder, trying to push her back. One of them seething with anger, roughly shoved her by the head and into a soft puffy material. From the corner of her eyes, she could see a tube like container with a long needle protruded from one end, and in drops, the transparent liquid venomously escaping the needle, glinting in the light above her head-that loved to burn her eyes, but she refused to close it with a obstinacy of a rebellious teen.
The needle in it's hand disappeared from her view, but the moment it did, she felt tiny, painful intrusion in her head, that spread like flock of ants, painful with each walk on her head. As they traveled throughout her brain, she could feel the familiar dark substance, stinging like an acid, once more engulfing her.
When she felt her head pounding, she opened her eyes with a grunt. Even if her sight were blurred with small, varying circles of all sizes, she could see the room was lit in orange hue, the specks of dusts slightly visible in where the sun's light filtered through like a needle. A gentle breeze made the curtains flutter, it's violet flowers becoming disoriented in shape. She could see a flower, white and simple, in an undesigned vase, the still water visible through the glass. The blanket that were draped over her numb body were creamy and old with myriad of yellowish stains, the edges ripped in some sides.
Placing her hand on the sides of the bed where there was a metal bar stationed vertically, she pushed herself up. Her body was insensible; she couldn't feel the cold sensation of the bar, or the cool breeze sweeping the room, only the a pounding and the myriads of click-clacks overlapping one another. Some were like heavy thuds, others: light touch, and even screeching that made her want to block her ears.
The door opened, and three figures emerged. It was then she realized the click-clacks stopped, and continued once the people strolled towards her. They had forced friendly expression on their face, their eyes cold with rational observation. The man that appeared to be the leader stood at the front, his frame tall and bulky, the simper on his face seemingly unfit in his sharp features. The one to his right was a petite woman that wore heels, but even then she barely reached the shoulder of both men. On his left, there was a boy with a notepad in his arms, his brows creased, his chest puffed, but his shoulders were slackened; she thought he wanted to appear confident.
Contradictory to her earlier reaction to people above her, calmness had washed over her. Despite the glinting, sharp metals strapped to many parts of their body, she didn't feel threatened. But a thought crossed her mind in a split second, almost indiscernible to her, but she understood it the moment it disappeared into the abyss of her mind: Who were they?
The woman came forward -effectively exhibiting a natural smile- and sat on her bed as it significantly plumped, and the girl was pulled towards her slightly. She took hold of her hand, and widened her smile, the dimple on one side of her cheek becoming prominent. She talked. Her voice would become high pitched at the end of her sentences, sometimes she would stop and look at her expectantly. Becoming uncomfortable under her gaze, and not understanding what the smiling woman was saying, she would simply nod her head, wanting to pull her hand away and hide under the stinky covers. The woman would then laugh, frustration laced in it. The boy would write in his notepad, and shuffle in his feet, while their leader grunted under his breath, rolling his eyes every time she inclined her head.
The petite woman stood up, wiping the smile off of her face, and glared at her. "Dimwit. Do you not understand what I am saying to you?" She said, this time her voice was low, she was almost hissing out the words, the sound of her gritting her teeth clearly noticeable to the confused child who again, nodded her head hesitantly, not comprehending what she was saying.
"Are you playing with me!"
The girl flinched, and backed away slightly. Knowing that she was becoming angry when she inclined her head, she stood frozen, not knowing what to do.
The boy with the notepad placed his hands on the petite woman's shoulder firmly, and jerked her to his direction. The dark aura hanging over her softened the gripping hand of her teammate, and caused him to retreat it quickly with a nervous expression.
"L-look, she's just a kid. Maybe we should just leave her to the specialists...?" He offered meekly, clutching the notepad to his chest as his teammate continued to glare daggers at him. The leader of the group watched the dynamic with indifference, occasionally scratching his nose and yawning.
Their object of frustration observed them, not even having a clue of what they were saying. She was confused, and she couldn't even think for a second without her head pounding even more than it already was. They argued back and forth, the woman's voice becoming more heated by each exchange and the man's more meek. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed their leader's eye twitching, his jaw taut with annoyance. Finally he barked at them. Settling in silence, all of them left, but not before the woman gave her a final hard stare.
Gulping the saliva that had formed in her throat, she freed her hands from their clutched state. Her hands were trembling slightly, the loud screaming of her heart still beating down on her ears. Drawing deep breath from her lungs, and exhaling it slowly, she tossed the blanket from her body, and used the metal bars to glide herself to where the woman sat.
Her body - she noticed - was short in height. When she tried to touch the floor with her feet, it was dangling in an unsurfaced force, and when she finally reached it, her height was nearly the same with the bed's. The floor was frosty against her feet.
The numbness in her was leaving.
She padded across the room to the door, her body stumbling slightly. Tentatively placing her hands on the doorknob, she pushed it open. Frigid gust of air hit her face, and seeped into the room in snowy, pellucid puffs of smoke. She exited her room. There was a long hallway, the light above gave it a blue tint. The doors that were once silver were worn out, it had become rusty. Trail of brown liquid were painted over the many doors in frozen state. Under her, the floor was concrete with ploughed ground, pieces of dirtied stones stood erect.
Noting the dead silence that hung in the air, she turned left and walked to the end of hallway, jumping whenever she heard a groan or a scream that broke the stilled silence. Before her was the same hallway that run to her left and right. She turned left without a thought.
Dread of regret settled in her gut when she saw the same man, leader of the group. She wished she had turned the other way when she had the chance. He stopped in his tracks, and eyed her as though she was a bug not worth his time. With a smirk, he ambled towards as she craned her neck to look at him. He stopped before her.
"Ah there you are. Come with me." He said, and roughly pulled her hand, and led her to a place she expected something horrible to happen to her. She nearly collapsed to the floor beneath but he caught her by jerking her by the hand he seized, but he walked slower.
They halted to a stop when they reached a large door; it was rusty like all the others. He pushed it open with a kick. Despite the brutal kick, the door opened slowly with a screech. He yanked her forward, she barely had the time to catch herself from falling. She looked back and glared. But he closed the door after him without sparing her glance.
The room was small, contradicting the large door. There was a stone table that took the shape of a crescent moon, with a hole in the middle, and designs that looked foreign but exquisite at the same time. Hesitantly she touched it, retracting her hand a second later.
The screeching of the door made her jump. A silent, brooding person veiled in all dark clothes came in, and snaked around the room. The figure's gaze fixated on her, the smiling mask sending her head into panic. She became weak in her knees, nauseousness forming in her gut, her vision hazy.
Her surroundings shifted in all directions, and her body hit the floor with 'thud' as it ringed in her ears like a distant yelling. Her lids were heavy as they slowly closed. In that fish shaped hole, that person's masked face appeared, its smiling face with squinted eye made it look as though it knew everything that was going on in her mind. The fish shaped hole closed, bring the comforting presence of darkness to her.