Mouse Trap

The White Room

Theo

The floor is cold. That's my first thought. I'm lying on my face on a cold floor. For a few minutes, I'm to dazed and groggy to wonder why I'm lying on my face on a cold floor. All I know for the first few moments is that I'm awake is that it feels nice. I sigh to myself contently, happy to stay there. At least I was until I feel something poking my side.

"Hey," a voice whispers to me. "Hey, are you up?" I feel another poke, this one at my temple. It hurts like hell.

"Hmph!" I groan in response, lethargically batting what I now assume is the voice's finger away from me. I crack open an eye to see a girl leaning over me, her hand now wavering in the air. She lets out a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank God," she exclaims, rubbing her hands over her face. "I thought you might be dead, I really couldn't stand the thought of that. It's a really awful feeling, thinking you've been left alone in a room of corpses."

As she talks, she pulls me into a sitting position and props me against the wall, subsequently slamming my head into the concrete.

"Sorry!" She exclaims, she begins to ramble on again. I shake my now aching head and tune her out, now taking a moment to look around. We're in a windowless white room of some sort. Just plain, with concrete walls, ceiling and floor. There's no furniture, and from what I can see, no door. Only then do I notice the other person, slumped in the corner.

"What's up with that one?" I ask, interrupting her chattering. She looked over. "Oh, him? He hasn't woken up yet, you looked like that just a few minutes ago." 

Suddenly, it dawns on me. "Where are we exactly?" The girl's eyes dim. "You don't know either?" My breathing quickens, I can feel the panic taking over. The girl notices and immediately tries to distract me. "My name is Indigo," she offers me her hand. "What's yours?" I try to focus on answering her question instead of the fear. "Theo," I tell her, taking her hand and shaking it. "I like your name, Theo," she smiles. "Why'd your parents pick that?"

"Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do," I tell her. "But really, it's fine. I just need to focus." We're silent for a minute. She looks down at her hands while I try to collect myself. When she notes that my posture is less tense she asks; "Do you remember how we got here?" I try to remember, to get some clue, but I just can't and I tell her as much. "I didn't think so," she mutters. 

"What do you think is happening?" she asks. " You like to talk, don't you." I chuckle, trying to be humorous. She let's out a dry laugh. "Only when I'm scared." Suddenly, we here a groan coming from the other side of the room. Indigo helps me stand and we both make our way over to the guy lying on the floor. I turn him over onto his back and his eyes flutter open.

He looks at both of us, confused. "Um. Hello," He says. "Um, hi. Who are you?" Indigo asks him. I want to tell her to save her interrogation for later, since I literally just experienced how disorienting waking up here is. He doesn't seem to mind though. Either that, or he's just too confused to question her. 

"Finn," he tells her. "My name is Finn."

"A pleasure to meet you Finn," Indigo says, offering her hand to him the same way she did to me. "I'm Indigo, and this is Theo." He shakes her hand, then mine. I can see he's trying to get his bearings, but I can't help myself from asking; "Do you know wear we are?" I can tell from Indigo's face that she was wondering the same thing.

"Do I look like I know?" he snaps. Indigo and I both recoil.

"Sorry," he shakes his head. "Sorry, I just.... I don't know, and I'm starting to freak out." I totally get it, although I think his panic is contagious, because Indigo starts going off about how it's ok and that we're all very stressed right now, and I can feel my breathing quicken and my body starts to tense. Indigo's talking doesn't seem to be helping Finn, it actually looks like it's intimidating him. Which means he freaks out more, Indigo talks faster and my body tenses even further. Repeat cycle.

All of a sudden, there's something else. A noise. A sliding noise. We all turn towards one of the walls. a panel has opened, leaving a door shaped hole. Then a voice, seemingly out of nowhere;

"Through the door, if you please."