Behind White Walls

Rest

I felt weak, a feeling becoming all too familiar. Elson noticed and weakly gripped my arm to stabilize me. However, he didn't appear to have much strength to offer. My mind reeled and seemed to get sucked into a black hole of thought. Maybe it was by pure chance that Elson and I were so similar. Maybe we had nothing to do with each other, but oh, that just simply didn't seem to answer any of the questions I had. It didn't match up with the evidence! My brain was exhausted. My body was numb. It seemed as though reality faded into void and not only did my knees give out, but the entire floor collapsed. 

When I woke up, Elson's bright blue eyes came into focus above me. The drooping shape at the corner of his lids expressed a deep concern, and I giggled deliriously. This made him jump, and he gently scooped my head into the crevice of his arm.

"Are you okay, Ellie?"

Feeling weak, I grasped Elson's arm to steady me as cloudy thoughts paraded my mind in numbers too great to count. "We need to get out of here." I breathed."I know. I just don't know where here is." I offered him my hand and pulled him up to stand beside me. At this point we had been exploring the empty white halls for hours. I desperately needed water, and my legs were tired. My head was starting to spin, and I knew I needed sleep."Elson, let's go back to our rooms for now. We need to rest before we start conquering this mess again." "I agree," Elson rubbed his gurgling stomach as it echoed his response. "Do you think there will be more food in our rooms if we go back?""How would I know? All we can do is hope." I rubbed my arms together to stem the chilly drafts throughout the halls and started following the pieces of cloth back to my room. "Be careful." Elson called after me. I scuffled through the maze until I found my door. I had forgotten how many halls there were. I almost collapsed on the white floor before I realized there was a plate of food in the same place as before. This one boasted a glass of water, cold peas, crackers, and a soggy deli sandwich. In any other circumstance, it wouldn't have been appetizing, but I was hungry enough to eat anything. I climbed into the metal bed to eat the food while I leaned back against the wall. I must have fallen asleep that way, because the next thing I remember is waking up to El's voice. He was standing at my door with a pillow in his hand and a worried look on his face."I'll sleep on the floor, I promise. It just got a little lonely in my room. Especially in a place as big as this.""Mmm.. fine... I guess I didn't notice because I just passed out." I mumbled. "Did you get another meal?" he whispered."Yeah, you?""A sandwich and some peas." "Me too." "Looks like you didn't finish." he pointed to the plate half-full of food, resting on the edge of my bed. I licked my dry lips and searched for the unfinished glass of water on the floor. Finding it, I began to chug it noisily. Elson laughed at me. "Oh, please, like you didn't do the same thing when you got back to your room!" I grumbled sleepily. "Fair enough." Throughout the next couple hours, Elson and I talked and talked about the most random things imaginable. Our similarities became increasingly more obvious, and we began to realize we were essentially the same person, but opposite genders. As time progressed, so did our friendship. Finally, we recognized that sleep had failed us, and we were wasting time. We needed to start our exploration again so that we could escape this empty, white world.