After what seems 10
days, as per the marks on the box, Ash wakes to the sound of his food being
delivered for breakfast. He eats in silence. He doesn't even hear the noise
they've been pumping into the room for 10 days. When he is done he places his
tray on the shelf and it disappears into the wall again.
*Click* The sound in
the overhead turns off. The air pressure changes as a slight crake in the wall
snaps open. The crack opens wider as the panel disappears into the wall and the
crack becomes a doorway, which opens into a long hall. Ash makes his way down
the long hall, lit with a blue tinted LED strand.
The floor is
stretched chicken wire, over deep triangles of foam cut at different angles.
The walls, ceiling, all made of the same substance. One chair, bolted to the
floor. It looks comfortable enough. Like a dentist chair. Seeing no other
option, he takes a seat.
The silence is
deafening, immediately. Ash clapped his hand once, and noticed that the clap
was essentially absorbed, rather than bouncing back to him. It was as though
sound itself was sucked out of the room. If it were possible for sound to be
less than nothing, this was it. The sound was sucked right out of him, so that
all he could hear was his own heartbeat, and breathing. Even his ears began to
make their own ringing. This all hit him moments after entering the room, it
started subtle, and grew worse over the first moments in the room.
Cool air is keeping
the room a comfortable 74*F.
The lights go out.
Light was immediately absent. Completely absent. The only thing Ash could see
was the flashes of white dots dancing around his eyes from having been in the
light moments earlier. What utter and stark contrast to the room he was in. The
sound... or lack of sound... in this room was astonishing. It was though sound
itself was being sucked out. He could hear nothing but a ringing for the first
few minutes. After a while, the ringing subsided and he could hear the beating
of his own heart, and the sloshing of bodily fluids throughout his own body.
After the silence of
10 days in the white room, all of Ash's racing thoughts have subsided. He's
moved past wondering where he is, when he'll leave, he's now just him. Alone
with his thoughts. And increasingly, his past.
Eventually, after
what felt like an hour, but it was probably only minutes, he found that even
these sounds faded into the background of his attention. He could almost hear
his own thoughts. As though that voice in his head, that was always present,
telling him what to do, and where to go, and how to act, watch out for that...
don't say that... oh man, why did you do that for? It was as though the inner
voice became almost audible. As though he could hear himself think. Or
rather as though his thoughts could speak to him audibly. It was an odd
sensation, but occupying his mind was the only thing he could do. He'd never
admit it to a captor, but solitary confinement was his favorite part of being a
prisoner of war. He enjoyed self-time, and silence. Accusation follows on the
heels of this. Anytime he's alone, it starts. What you should have done
differently.
Alone, in the dark
now, with no sound of any kind, negative sound. He sits. Lays back in the
reclining dentist chair, and he waits. He waits. He sleeps.
His concentration
snapped into focus suddenly with the feeling that he was not alone in this
room. He'd known before he entered the room that cameras were on him, and he
was being observed... but that wasn't it. He felt the air in the room change,
as though someone had entered the room with him. He could hear breathing in the
room. He wasn't tied to the chair, he could get up, but where to? He couldn't
see, he'd memorized the layout though. He knew the entrance he came from, and
he didn't see any other known entry ways before the door shut out the light.
Ash slowed his breathing, and observed with his four remaining senses for any
clue as to the whereabouts and intention of the new participant.
***
Ash... Ash...
He sits up. How long
was he asleep? Is he asleep? How would you know in dark silence?
Ash... we know about you Ash... We know who you
are... what you've done... how could you...
Ash shakes his
head... the voices vanish. What as that?
***
It's beginning... the biometrics just spiked.
Good, good... let's see how he does.
The previous test subjects had nowhere near the
discipline that Mr. Ashland does. This should be an interesting observation.
He's incredible. Getting a trained military man, accustomed to being alone for
days and weeks, a survival expert. He is already outlasted every scientist,
street volunteer, and audio geek we've ran through these tests. Many of them
didn't make it through the prep room, but we've never had anyone last this
long, he's been in there for three hours and just now he's starting to show signs
of a dimensional tear. You are a genius!
Yes, Dr. Briar I am! That is why you brought me here.
To fix this reject project and bring something valuable out of it. Keep me
appraised of any changes.
The black suited man
turned and left the room. His tuft of white hair bouncing along as he walked
away.
***************************
