Where have you been?

Darkness in a white room

Adam groaned as he opened his eyes. Everything around him was dark. He tried to remember how he got here, but all that came to mind was him walking down the street and then a horrible pain at the back of his head. He still felt the headache. He noticed he was laying down on something soft, almost like a bed. No, it wasn't a bed. It felt more like the thin mattress he'd slept on when his father wasn't taking decent care of him. Did he go back in time somehow? No, that wasn't possible. Time travel isn't real. And even if it was, his bedroom was never this dark. Adam could see absolutley nothing. That's when he noticed he wasn't wearing his glasses. For now, he didn't need them in the dark, but he didn't feel comfortable not knowing where they were. He tried getting up and quickly learned a couple things. According to the distance to the floor, he had indeed woken up on a thin mattress. He also learned that someone had taken off his shoes and socks. The floor was cold, but not cold enough to make Adam shiver. He didn't like that someone had taken away his glasses and shoes. He quickly checked, but it seemed as if the rest of his clothes were still there and still his own. He didn't need light to recognize them. He searched his pockets to take his phone, only to find them empty. That was unsettling because he was sure that he left the house with his phone, wallet and keys. For a second he considered walking around the room to see if he could find anything, but then he chose not to. He didn't like the fact that he couldn't see. He didn't wanna run into stuff or fall down holes or something. The only thing in this room he knew, was this thin mattress and he kinda didn't wanna leave it and risk not finding it again.
'Hello?' He called out.
Nothing.
'Is anybody there?'
Nothing.
'Can someone tell me where I am?'
Nothing.
The silence made him feel very small and lonely.
'Please, I'm scared and confused and I just wanna go home! Tell me where I am?'
No answers. Or at least no reply. He did learn something. He noticed that his voice didn't echo at all. So either the room he was in wasn't that big, or there was a lot of stuff in it. Not that this information was helpful whatsoever. He sighed and sat down on the mattress again. He leaned back against the wall and hugged his knees. There wasn't much he could do besides wait. His sense of time was a mess. He didn't know how long he sat there. It felt like days, but it also could've been a couple hours or even just ten minutes.

Suddenly a bright light blinded him. He groaned as he used his hands to shield his eyes. When he got used to the sudden light he took a moment to look around. He was in a bright, white room that was a little smaller than the bedroom he shared with James at home. The ceiling was white, the walls were white and the floor was white. That's when he noticed something familiar laying on the ground next to the mattress he was sitting on. His glasses. He quickly put them on and looked at the room again. In the corner opposite of his mattress was a toilet with a sink next to it. The wall in front of him had a white door that blended in with the wall perfectly, making it hard to see it. The wall opposite of the door had a giant mirror. Adam assumed it was one of those one sided windows you see in movies, which made him feel like he was being watched. The mattress he sat on was white. The blanket on it was white and the pillow was white. The only things in the room that weren't white, were himself, his clothes, his shoes that were standing next to the mattress on the floor and the black cameras that were in the four corners of the room.

Adam heard voices and footsteps from behind the closed, white door. He quickly ran up to it and hoped it would open. As soon as it would open, he was getting out of here. He didn't care where he was or why, he just wanted to go home. He wanted to see James.
'Please step away from the door!' A monotone voice said right next to Adam. He jumped in surprise and turned to see a speaker next to the door. It was paited white too, so Adam hadn't seen it on the white wall.
'Now!' The voice said, slightly threatening.
Adam stomped his feet, faking the sound of him walking away.
'We know you're still there, we can see you on the cameras.' The voice said, sounding annoyed.
'Well, what are you gonna do about it if I stay right here?' Adam asked slightly aggressive. He hadn't even been here for that long, but he already had enough of this place.
'You may have noticed the wristband we gave you. Don't even try to get it off, it won't work.' The voice over the speaker said.
Adam looked at his right wrist in surprise seeing that he indeed had a tight, white wristband on.
'We can use that thing to give you a controlled shock. Controlled doesn't mean it's not painful though. Every time you misbehave or try to escape, you'll get a shock and if it happens too often, the shocks will get worse. Now step away from the door before we shock you.'
Adam felt hesitant. Part of him thought they might be bluffing, but in case they weren't, he didn't wanna find out. He slowly stepped away from the door and stared at it in anger. The door opened and two people came in, a man and a women, both wearing a white lab coat. Adam started to get sick of the color.
'Who are you? Where am I? What do you want from me?' Adam asked with a hateful glare that didn't seem to bother them.
'Adam Ortiz?' The women asked while looking at something on a clipboard she was holding.
'What's it to ya?' Adam replied.
'We honestly couldn't care less about your name. To us, you're subject 01. We just saw the name on the driver's license that was in your wallet.' Then man said.
'Can you NOT go through all my stuff, please, thank you! Now give it back!' Adam snapped.
'You won't need it.'
'Why am I here? What do you want from me? Where even am I?'
'You are in our test facility.'
'Test facility? What are you talking about?'
'We're scientists and we're doing some tests for our research.'
'And why do you need me for that? Were there no volunteers or did you just not wanna pay people for it?'
'The thing is that by most our experiment will be seen as... unethical.'
A shiver went down Adam's spine. Aside from his anger, he started to feel very nervous too. He started feeling a little scared.
'What are you going to do with me?' He asked.
'You'll see soon enough.'
'But when your experiment is over, what will stop me from telling the police about this?'
'You're assuming we'll let you go after this. We can't have you going around telling the dark secrets of our research. Besides, with how fast science is going these days, we can probably use you for future experiments as well.'
'You're never going to let me go?'
'At least you're quick to catch on. Say goodbye to your friends and family. And that blonde boy on the picture in your wallet.'
'James?'
'I don't care who he is. Nor do I care about anyone else in your life. Just know that you'll never see them again. You'll never leave this room.'
Adam felt anger burn inside as he charged at the scientists, his fist ready to smack against their faces, when he suddenly screamed out in pain and fell to the ground where he kept shivering.
'We told you we would shock you if you misbehave.' One of the scientists said. Adam didn't reply. He rolled up into a ball. Still shivering. He grabbed his painful wrist, feeling the wristband scratch against his skin.
'We'll leave you for now, but the experiment will start in a couple of days. We just have to wait for the other subjects to arrive.' One of the scientists said before they both turned around and left the room, closing and locking the door behind them. Adam kept laying on the floor. Still shivering. Scared out of his mind.

James walked out of the bathroom, still drying his hair with his towel when he heard his own voice coming from their room. He peeked inside and saw that Adam was watching a video. Not just any video, the video James made about Adam's disappearance.
'Adam, if you're still out there, stay strong. I'm thinking of you.' The James on the screen said with tears streaming down his face. The video ended and Adam looked over to the blonde that was standing in the doorway.
'I made it a couple weeks before you returned. Caleb helped me to film it. You've got an amazing brother you know.' James said as he took the chair from his own desk, put it next to Adam's and sat down. Adam grabbed his notepad from his pocket and started writing something.

I know.

'I guess I should've told you I made this. I'm sorry, I forgot. I just needed it off my chest.' James said.

That's okay, Angel. The comments are really sweet though.

'They are? I didn't read them. I didn't monetize the video or checked it's views or likes. I just needed it off my chest, but I guess I should probably take it down now. You're back and they don't have to worry anymore.'

Instead of taking it down, we could record a video showing that I'm back. The people that saw it will only get confused if you take it down.

'How many people saw it?' James asked as he leaned closer to the screen to see it.
'Twelve million!? Oh boy, I wasn't expecting that. Maybe we should make something to let them know things are okay. I mean, as okay as they are right now.' James looked a little nervous at Adam's notepad and the other boy understood what the blonde meant.

To me, everything is okay as long as you're there with me.

He wrote. Adam smirked at James, which made the blonde laugh. Adam sighed. He loved to see James laugh. It was the most beautiful sound in the world and no one would ever be able to take it away from him again.