Darkness.

My forehead slammed against something hard. In an instant my body followed suit, the rough collision sending me across the unforgiving floor. For a moment I laid there stunned.

This wasn't right.

The cool floor seeped into my skin, and I felt a spark of fear. Slowly I became aware of the silence. It roared eerily in my ears, weight growing, pushing me against the ground.

It broke. A distant beat. Slow and heavy. Hiding in the beat were other noises: sliding, hissing, metal against metal. A machine? Where was I? I opened my eyes and an eternity seemed to pass: there was nothing, only darkness. For a brief and panicked moment I thought I had gone blind. My gut screamed that this wasn't normal. I knew I was missing something. Something massive. Something bad.

I pushed myself to my knees, and held a hand out, slowly bringing it in until my palm touched my nose. Not even an outline, not a speck of light to be seen. Where in the world was I? How did I get here? I closed my eyes, not that it made much of a difference. My thoughts dragged and twisted as if I was waking from a dream, existing in those few moments before memories rushed back. Perhaps this was just a surreal dream. I would open my eyes and see my bedroom. But the chill brushed against my skin sending goosebumps up my body. It seemed awfully real. There were small things, details. The faint smell of metal hanging in the air, the fine particles on the smooth floor pressing into my palms, and the dull ache of fresh bruises.

This was real. I opened my eyes once more. The images of my room faded into the black with a whimper.

This was real.

"Hello?" I called. There was a faint echo and I shivered. "Is anyone there?" My voice was tiny in the massive space, but something had indeed caught it: some distant wall. I forced myself to stand. Without any bearings, my body swayed. Every ounce of my being told me to sit back down. To wait. To freeze in place, and let darkness dissolve on its own. But I refused.

I wanted out. There had to be a way. I had to wake up.

With arms outstretched I shuffled forward. Each step was distance. Each step was progress. I was removing myself from the dark, from the nightmare I had collided with.

I was in control.

My shoe collided with something. I lurched back, nearly losing my balance. The blackness formed terrifying shapes in my mind. Something was here. Was it alive, was I alone? Could it see me? My whole body trembled and I tried to get a hold on my breathing. I let my mind focus back to the steady beat of machinery. Its rhythm slow and heavy: I was alone here, just me and a sound.

Gathering my courage I crouched, and let shaking hands feel the path in front of me. Fabric brushed my fingertips. I reached out and tested it against my hand, the material felt familiar. Could it be? I pulled it towards me. It was a backpack. My backpack. I held it in disbelief. I must have had it when I…

I froze. When I what? When I appeared here? I forced myself to be still. Slowly my racing heart calmed and the fog in my mind shifted. I knew who I was, I remembered my house, my room, my school. I remembered making breakfast with my Dad. I remembered the final bell. Waiting for my Dad's car to pick me up. My backpack.

Pain rippled in my head as another memory tore through my thoughts: a white tile floor blindingly illuminated by fluorescent lights. Noises. People running. My Father yelling for me.

A flash.

Then darkness.

I clutched my head as the pain receded. I had been at my father's work, his team had been showing off their project. My heart beat faster. I pushed myself to my feet again, nearly losing my balance. Clutching my backpack close, I forced my legs to move forward. My Dad's team had been working on a new form of transportation. He explained to me what he had been allowed to: they were pulling something apart, and piecing it back together in a new place.

Had I been pulled apart? I swallowed. Something deep inside my mind had felt off ever since I had arrived. As if something was still being pulled. Had I been put together wrong?

This was a mistake.

This was a big mistake.

I stared into the unyielding darkness. I could be anywhere. Trapped in a basement, or some underground bunker across the world.

I could be dead. I clutched my backpack tighter and blinked away tears, shoving the thought from my mind. I had to believe that I would make it out of here. That I would find my way back home. For all I knew I was just in some old basement, panicking over nothing. I would find a door and a light switch. I would walk outside and see a familiar street. I would be safe. I would be ok.

Each step was a gamble but I quickened my shuffle regardless; ignoring the possibility of invisible objects ready to trip me, or gaping holes ready to swallow my form. The moment I let my feet stop was the moment I was truly a goner. The gentle sliding of my shoes against the floor felt jarringly loud. I had no clue who would need a room this big, this empty. My fantasy of a basement was quickly crumbling.

I could hear myself getting closer to the wall, and soon enough my palm bumped against something cold and hard and I stumbled back a step. Reaching out once more I placed my hand against the surface and shuffled slowly to my right. A wall meant a door. My hand brushed empty air. The wall had turned. A hallway? I turned with it, counting the steady beats of the machine; my only reassurance that time was moving.

A high pitch beep sounded from above, stopping me in my tracks. Something massive slid across the floor sending vibrations through my body, and I spun around.

Light blazed into existence and I stumbled to the floor, covering my eyes in pain. It took me a moment to realize there was a new noise in the room. Heavy thumps. I could feel it through the floor. When I finally registered what they were I felt a whole new wave of dread. Footsteps. The unmistakable rhythm was slowly traveling from my right, but they were massive. The weight of each impact sent shivers down my spine. I forced my eyes open only to snap them shut against the pain. The footsteps passed me, traveling further down the space before coming to a halt. There was a sharp noise, as if something had struck the floor.

Realizing I had remained unseen I practically dissolved against the wall. A million questions were buzzing through my head. Finally I cracked my eyes open, squinting fiercely, and the bizarre sight before me caught my attention. In front of me was a curved surface, a beam or pipe of sorts. One that would have looked rather ordinary if it wasn't practically the size of a redwood. A narrow forest of them stretched ahead, I could see another grey wall through the mess, it was far, but I imagined it would only take a minute or two to cross. Crawling amongst the pipes were clumps of dull-colored tubes, wires perhaps. Some were also suspended in the air, winding around each other and forming uneven tangles. It was a multicolored jungle, as if someone had gotten it in their head to create the world's most elaborate indoor tube playground. I glanced up, the ceiling towered above me. Was this some kind of factory? A few feet to my right, the jungle ended abruptly into a long expanse of empty floor. Directly across from me, a seemingly identical rectangular indent rested in the far wall, holding its own forest of pipes and wires. The gap to the other wall was far bigger than my forest, but It still looked entirely crossable by foot, if anything the distance just seemed a bit inconvenient.

It seemed too empty for a factory or warehouse, no pallets or boxes, or people for that matter. Just empty space. Everything was metal. the ceiling, the walls, the floor: all various shades of dull matte grey. Scuffs, scrapes, and dark stains peppered the floor and some of the walls, and I swore I could see faint shades of rust along some edges. Oddly enough there was no dust. Before the lights had turned on I remembered that the floor had felt smooth, no debris or scuffs had tripped me. The stains were just that: stains. Someone had taken care to keep the space clean.

Noises came from across the room out of sight. I swallowed thickly. The sounds were metallic: scraping and clicking. Curiosity got the better of me and I quietly scooched closer to the edge of my wall and peeked. On the far end of the room a figure was crouched away from me. Robotic, was the first observation that spiraled into my mind, its size became the second.

It towered. My mouth immediately went dry. I had never seen something so big and so animate, even crouching it looked at least 20 feet tall. Its metal legs and arms were easily larger than my entire form, far closer to the size of tree trunks, and a single one of its fingers was probably bigger than my arm. With unexpected grace, the large digits danced across a machine, even the robot's head moved slightly in cadence with the motion. I gawked at its body. It was covered in large pieces of silvery metal, like armor, and through the gaps I could see hints of its inner workings. Dozens of small pieces moved alongside one another, some slipped seamlessly past others, adjusting and readjusting themselves with each fluid motion of its arms.

I pulled my head back to safety. This had to be a bad dream. Giant people-shaped robots didn't exist. Even in the terrifying possibility that I was shrunk, robots like that didn't exist.

I ran my fingers through my dark hair, balling it into fists. It wasn't fair. I was supposed to be in a basement; there was supposed to be a door and a light switch. I was supposed to be with my dad. My chest trembled and I let go of my hair, sitting up straight. If the dream refused to let me go, I would make it. I turned and grabbed my backpack, painstakingly sliding the zipper open. Whether the robot was even capable of hearing the sound I wasn't sure, but I sure as hell wasn't going to find out the hard way. I pulled out my phone and hesitated, letting myself take a small breath. My phone blinked on.

No Service. For a long moment I just closed my eyes.

Then I got back to work, sweeping through my apps, texting and calling. I dialed my dad, then 911, and then my dad once more. After my fourth try I stretched my arm up, hoping to grab a sliver of connection. Nothing. No maps, no calls, not even weather. I wiped my eyes against my jacket sleeve. I tucked my phone away. At least I knew the time. 5pm meant that despite the eternity it had felt like, I had been in my nightmare for maybe half an hour, give or take.

Before fear could settle back in I found a new plan. A door and a light switch. I would find a door and a light switch and find a way out myself. My visitor had clearly found the light switch for me, all I needed was a door.

I mustered my courage and peeked at Mr. Robot again. It still appeared to be preoccupied with the large machine in front of it. The machine in question was a large cylinder taking up most of the far wall. Blue and green lights peppered the square panels that spanned across it, more wires and pipes erupted from its sides and embedded themselves into the walls. Metal hands swept over the panels, clicking and switching. It reached up and twisted a large black wire and with a hiss it disconnected.

Maintenance? Repair? The movements looked surprisingly natural, I could almost convince myself it was just someone in a costume–who was also 30 feet tall. I looked away. An absurdly massive rectangular doorway rested at the other end of the room, and honestly, I expected nothing less from the sci-fi nightmare. It looked like it slid open, and I realized it must have been the source of the loud sliding noise I had heard earlier. I ducked back behind the wall. A space had extended behind the door frame, revealing more plain metal walls. With any luck, it would be a proper hallway.

The goal was clear, so why was I hesitating? Slouching against the wall I found that my hands were trembling. I could always turn myself in. Make a ruckus, get noticed. Perhaps the robot was being piloted or some nonsense. Maybe they would call for help. Send me home. But maybe they wouldn't. This had to be some kind of hidden government project. Maybe I wasn't even on the same continent. Would they lock me up? My eyes shifted in the direction of my metallic friend. What even was my plan? I'd get to the hallway and then what? I'd be found eventually. But, maybe getting caught by the robot wouldn't be all that great either, just the thought of something that big looking at me, much less approaching or even reaching for me was paralyzing, and who knew if the thing was programmed to show mercy to an intruder.

I quickly and silently got to my feet. I would go to the door and I would avoid Mr. Robot and I would find a person, and I would make them send me home.

A very simple, very logical, very realistic plan. I took a deep breath. A feeling was growing steadily within my gut that I had stumbled into something far more serious than I could imagine. But I yanked it from my thoughts and set my eyes on the door: no matter what, I would force this sci-fi bullcrap to let me go.