Fear

6

I woke up to the sound of a scream—sharp, human, petrified.

My whole body jolted upright, heart pounding in my chest. The scream wasn't distant—it was close. Close enough I almost felt it vibrate through the room. Another scream came soon after the first, jagged and awful.

"Please! Stop—please, stop doing that!"

My eyes darted across the dim room, soaked in the sickly fluorescent buzz of the light above me. In one corner, above the cabinets—a vent. Light spilled from it, bright and harsh, slicing into the darkness.

"Hello?" I whispered. My voice sounded too small.

No answer.

"Hello?" I repeated.

There was a rattling sound, like chains against metal, a choked sob, then: "Hello?! Oh God. I'm hallucinating!"

The voice was male. Older, with a foreign accent—middle eastern—but his English was fluent. There was a panicked edge to it. Desperate. The brittle, almost audible sound of someone breaking from the inside out.

"You're not hallucinating," I reassured him, raising my voice slightly. "I am real."

There was a long silence, as if he was figuring out if he'd actually heard me. Then, a broken gasp as he realised he had.

"Oh, Allah! It's been so long since I've heard someone! You don't know what this means to me!"

I closed my eyes for a moment and inhaled, trying to calm myself down. I didn't know him—couldn't even see him—but something about the desperation and loneliness in his voice pulled at my heartstrings. He sounded ruined.

"How long have you been in here?" I asked, stretching my neck closer to the vent.

"I-I don't know. I've lost track."

"What's your name?" I asked, hoping that keeping him talking would stop his screaming.

"Faisal," he replied quietly, fearfully. "What's yours?"

"Emily."

The relief in his voice was immediate. "Nice to meet you."

He paused. I could hear the tension in his uneven breathing.

"H-How long have you been here?" he asked.

"Just a few days... I think." I wasn't sure exactly how many, just that it hadn't quite been a week.

I heard him hum, an uncertain sound. I almost didn't hear what he said next, he was so quiet.

"You haven't had your first Act yet."

"What?" My eyes widened, unsure if I'd heard that right. "Wait, what do you mean... 'Act'?"

The word made my blood run cold.

"You'll find out," he said, and there was something final about the way he said it. "Just—be strong. Don't let them see your fear. Especially him."

Him. I didn't need to ask who. I already knew.

Tyler.

"What's your number?" he asked.

I blinked. "Uh... I can't remember."

"Well... I hate to ask a woman her age, but when is your birthday?" He sounded embarrassed to ask, and rightly so, but I wasn't offended. Quite the opposite.

"Oh, August 10th, 2002."

He whistled softly. "Wow, you're young... Your number is your birthday."