Equilibrium

Chapter Two

It's been a month since I last saw Ema being taken away. I was taken to a huge building underground where they leave us on our own, occasionally sending messages from family members. Each month, the contestant has the option between changing rooms or staying in the same. It's not much of an option when everyone changes room, a dirty tactic to see your opponents lifestyle before the start of the test. I was one of the last to join this test, some people has been here for almost a year. A young girl, ten years old, has been here for two whole years. She seems to be accustomed to everything. Everyone did. I felt like the only one who didn't seem to know how to fit in. I was a stranger among strangers, but somehow I stood out.

The building I'm in is in the shape of a triangle, three floors and ten rooms on each wall of each floor, and two additional floors, one for training and the cafeteria. In total, there are one hundred and eighty test takers. From where I was, I lived in the Northwest wall on the second floor. I was moved to the first floor on the Southern wall to the third room from left to right. Aparently, the other person who I would share the room with hasn't moved from the room since he came, only goes out to the cafeteria and sits alone and sometimes goes to the training floor.

I had packed the clothes they gave me and a few extra things from my room and left early. The moving occurs anytime during the whole day, so you could leave early as much as you could leave late, but the person who moved to my room came early, so I had to leave. I walked down the long hallways, you could see the entire building, the other walls and rooms. It's like a giant stadium. I saw people who leaved their rooms with bags and others who were already in the cafeteria floor, below the first floor of rooms. From where I stand I could see about twenty to thirty people in the cafeteria, the few others roaming the three other floors barely made forty. I couldn't see if there was anyone on the training floor as it is below the cafeteria floor. My head pounded on the amount of time I said the word "floor" in my head.

I reached the room and stood out the door. I thought of all the possible things that could happen. What if the guy is a madman? What if he sits night after night, staring at you while you sleep as he strokes a knife in his hand? What if he is a nice person who simply is shy? What if he kills you as soon as you walk through the door and no one would care since you're a loner who hasn't made any friends or barely spoke to anyone in the past month? I started to bum myself out, so I decided to go ahead and knock. I stood there as I heard nothing but silence. A young girl passed by me and wished me luck as she sped up and went down the elevator. I worried now, what I would get into. So I stood there and knocked again... still nothing. I was afraid the guy might have died. He's probably still sleeping. I heard the door of the room to my right open.

"Oh, hi!" Said a cheery young man, curly blond hair, plae white skin with few freckles and pitch black eyes. He looked older than me by a year maybe. He spoke with a strongly noticeable accent, british. Isn't this a surprise, a jolly good person haplens to have a British accent. "I see you are waiting for Steve. The door is unlocked, he never opens the door for others. Thinks it makes them weak to not have the balls towalk into a room." He said as he let out a giggle.

Behind him came out another man, tan with gray eyes, silver Mohawk and a piercing in his left eyebrow. He had a slight accent, barely noticeable. "My heory is he dislikes vampires, that's why he never invites anyone in." He said as he hid back and laughed out loud. I thought I was in a serious place with serious people.

"Don't listen to 'im. He's whack, out of his mind. Percy's the name, the guy back behind me is Carlos." He extended his hand which I gladly shook. "Like I was saying, go inside, he doesn't mind. In fact, he likes company. We're heading out there in a few, so we might give you time to meet 'n greet and all that putrid shit. Good luck." He then slammed the door as I hear him screaming out at his roommate curses I couldn't even comprehend.