The Ink Infection [Brief hold and Editing]

Chapter 22

My first thought was darkness. When I opened my eyes, darkness greeted me.

Am I dead? I thought. No, I could feel my legs and arms. I tightly squeezed my eyes and opened them, hoping that the darkness would go away. No luck.

I sighed and rose from where I was lying on something hard. The floor? I now sat up and looked around me: I was still in darkness. I lifted my arms and tried to touch something next to me. My right hand came in contact with something hard and round. I grabbed it and strained my eyes to see. A flashlight? I looked for the end and pressed what I thought was the button. 

Lights flashed on, blinding me with whiteness. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the brightness. I looked around me and found myself in a bare room with nothing but ceiling lights above me. The room was about 5 feet wide in both directions, and the ceiling looked to be about 8 feet high. The walls and floor were marble white and reflected the lights from the ceiling. Everywhere I looked, I was blinded. 

Is this some type of torture? A new form of torture? I thought as I walked around the room. What were they going to do with lights? Blind me? At least they got that part down. 

I crashed into a wall, which I thought was a blank space. 

"Neil," boomed a voice. It was hard to tell who it was. 

I ignored it and tried to find the exit of the room. Why couldn't they just talk to me in person at this point?

"Neil," the voice repeated. 

I stopped and looked up to where I assumed was the ceiling, squinting.

The voice started to chuckle. "How pathetic you look right now, Neil."

"Shut up and tell me what you want!" I shouted back, looking around.

In response, the whole room started to flicker, and black dots started to appear in the white room. I stumbled backwards, feeling dizzy with all the black dots growing bigger and bigger.

"Enjoy the show," the voice laughed.

I heard static, and I saw Derek and Jack under me. I dropped down to my knees and banged on what I presumed to be a glass floor.

"DEREK! JACK!?" I yelled, pounding on the floor. 

Derek seemed tense in his chair, and Jack was sitting in his chair, both of their arms tied to the chair. I stood up and walked around, but the view of them in their chairs with tubes and mechanical instruments didn't move. And then it came to me: this was a video, and the whole room was just projecting the video taken from when Derek and Jack were in the Torture Room while I was knocking myself out in that stupid electric door. 

I didn't recognize it at first, but sure enough, I could hear my own voice saying, "What do you want?" I didn't realize it before, but my voice sounded full of anger and hatred. 

I heard the voice mockingly respond, echoing around the room. "Ooooh, very scary..."

Derek squirmed in his seat, trying to loosen the ties on his arms and chest. Jack seemed to have given up and sat still, his head drooping down on his chest. 

I closed my eyes; I didn't want to witness them getting hurt or something. I just let the sounds flow from one ear to the other. 

I heard agonized screaming and opened my eyes. It was Derek. He was thrashing violently in his chair, his body shaking. I knelt to the screen and saw that his eyes were rolled back in his head.

"This is what you get because Neil didn't finish on time," the voice said.

"STOP!" I heard Jack scream. "Do it on ME. DO IT ON ME INSTEAD OF HIM!"