Chapter 1
Faith and Desire. Fall and Dread. Fear and Death. And somebody to find. At last freedom and decision.
Something big and loud happened. Shouting like whispers came from every direction. He loathed someone, he loved someone. Someone was bellowing curses, someone was whispering love. He was sad for some reason, extremely sad. He was exhausted from crying and screaming for something.
Everything was blurry and ambiguous. Everything passed through his mind like a hurricane, the sound increasing and increasing indefinitely until it was unbearable. Then-
A sudden piercing noise woke him up. His eyes opened, and-scrunching his face- for the first time he saw. He was lying down facing the ground. He turned to face the ceiling, still lying down, and covered his eyes, surprised by the scorching light. It gave him a headache. The boy rubbed his cold forehead with his wrists, where his straight black hair had stuck to due to his sweat.
The unfamiliarity made him abruptly sit up. Dizziness swept over him as he did- his sight was all blurry, and all the racing questions inside his head kept him even more unfocused. Where is this place? Why was I lying down? Clearing his vision, he knew- he was lost.
Worst of all, he couldn’t remember anything. It felt weird, he couldn’t recall anything– and literally nothing. Like a baby, he felt as if he just came out to the world. He never felt this lost before. Or maybe he did but he couldn’t remember. Just a plain blank mind. He tried hard to think, but when he did, not even a single trace of memory could he recall.
‘How did I even end up here?’ He stood up and staggered backwards, as the light on the ceiling had been too bright. The ceiling was just a little higher than his height. Staggering backwards, he felt something. Relying on his instinct, he turned around- half scared, half surprised- to face a square wall. Again, he whirled around. He was inside a metal box. Trapped.
Except for the ceiling that attached a LED that was still radiating blinding light, every wall was identical. It seemed as if there was no way out. Another peculiar thing was that the box was rumbling. He couldn’t feel it moving sideways or erratically shaking, but there was a little trembling. The trembling was decreasing little by little- he could feel with his senses. He carefully knelt down to touch the metal ground. It was warm since he had been lying there. But for how long? How long had he been lying down? Not exactly being able to find the right answer, he then continued to focus on the movement of the metal box. The boy closed his eyes, and detected the minute turning. It was barely recognizable, but somehow he could feel it moving in every direction, and it changed rapidly. Up, diagonally down towards the left, about 50 degrees right, straight forwards then down then backwards.... It was going somewhere.
Just when the boy assumed danger, the box came to a halt. It’s trembling had ceased. Then, one of the walls split into half, or- a door opened, smoothly sliding to each end. Simultaneously the LED light turned off automatically. It was pure dark inside, pitch black that it seemed to absorb the remaining light-; if the boy hadn’t been breathing, it was lifeless. Indeed, this place seemed the very opposite of life. To describe where the boy was kneeling down, death was more suitable- as if the dead it selves were looming, watching what kind of choice he made. An audio played. In the dark, a woman’s robotic voice announced his arrival.
“You have arrived.” The woman in the audio had a young mature voice. The boy sat there thinking hard, without budging. It felt almost wrong to make a sound in such serene atmosphere. After a long, long silence, the audio played again.
“The door will be closing in 30 seconds, for there must be no more delay. Please proceed outwards, or the door will shut and you will be sent to--” He didn’t hear the rest of the audio. To the boy it seemed as if the only way out was where the door had opened, where the dim light lured him to come.
The boy couldn’t see exactly what was outside. A shade of light stretched out to exactly where the boy had knelt down to touch the floor. He wasn’t sure whether it was a sign from god, reaching out for him to a better path of life, or a devil’s lame invitation for another ride of its hell tour. He was confused and scared, but he knew.
Like a fly inevitably, and eventually attracted to the wilderness and the scorching heat of the light bulb in a peaceful night, he slowly inched forwards, right in front of the door.
“6, 5, 4…“, From somewhere, the audio was counting down numbers. The boy showed no sign of hurry. ‘Whatever happens, it will only be the start’, he thought to himself.
He boldly stepped out of the night, to the light bulb.
“.... two- affirmed, the boy has participated in the trial. Repeat, the boy has participated--”
And the door closed.
