Shadows Ablaze

Chapter 5- Shyah

The door clicks shut, sending me into complete darkness. My heart pounds as fiery blood rushes through my veins. I force myself to breathe.

In. Out. In. Out.

As the thrumming in my ears grows tenuous, I am greeted by the silence that follows. It swallows me whole, making me suddenly aware that I am completely alone. Locked in an unfamiliar room. My thoughts return to the scene in the lab. Despite the dark around me, I begin to see colors and light. I beg them to stop. To leave me be. I try to forget. But my mind isn't so forgiving. The colors collide, merging together to form shapes.

I watch as the woman materializes before my eyes. Her toothless smile. Her dark brown eyes. Her excitement for the procedure.

The atmosphere snaps at the same time she crumbles to the ground. Her eyes drain of color.

Streams of wet skid down my cheeks. I hear a sob escape my lips.

What just happened? Did I just watch someone die? I hope the answer is no, but something tells me that's exactly what happened.

I take wobbly steps forward, extending my arms in front of me as I search desperately for something solid to grab hold of. I need an anchor.

My fingers find a switch on the wall. I flick it up, eager to make the darkness vanish. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling flicker, one at a time, until the entire room is drowned in blinding white. I stand on one end of a small storage closet. A single table rests along the far side, accompanied by two plastic chairs. Shelves line every wall, each cluttered with various lab items.

My hand finds the doorknob. I twist it, even though I know it's locked. When the knob doesn't give way, my suspicion is confirmed. I'm trapped.

My heart batters against my ribcage. My limbs feel tired, but instead of sitting in one of the plastic chairs, I find myself pacing the room. My legs carry me aimlessly from one end to the other as my head fogs with unanswered questions. My veins throb as adrenaline pulses through them.

The minutes tick by, each one stretching longer than the last. It feels as if I've been trapped for hours when the bolt finally clicks and someone pulls the door open. I have to refrain from sprinting through the opening.

A short woman hobbles in. Her dark, solemn eyes meet mine as her thin lips part, letting words drip slowly from them. "Shyah..." Her hands clasp in front of her, focus dropping to watch her fingers as they fumble with one another. "Are you okay?" she asks, her eyes skipping back to me.

"What the hell was that?" I breathe.

Rynn's brows pull together in either concern or curiosity, but I can't tell. "We, uh, it happens to some of the subjects," is all she says.

"It happens?" I quote her, suddenly enraged by her calm demeanor. I take a deep breath, needing to ask something else. "Did she die?"

The words dangle in the air like a blade hovering above my head. If her answer causes the weapon to fall, I'm not sure I'll be able to dodge it.

The moments pass as I await Rynn's response. Finally, she says a single word and the sword pierces into me. My heart squeezes in my chest. The blood drains from my face, as the realization fully sinks in. "I just watched a woman die." I feel lightheaded. This is what I chose to do as a career. This is what I will be a part of for the next year. This is not what I thought it would be.

How many more people will I watch die? Bile rises in my throat at the thought. A shiver licks at my spine and I can feel my limbs shaking.

"Shyah," Rynn's soft voice carries to my buzzing eardrums. "It'll be okay."