Social Experiment

The Red Seal (Abigail)

Darkness. It surrounds me. It invades my senses so that I can not feel, taste, hear, or smell. All I can see is black. It swarms my mind, blocking my thoughts and stealing my memories. It keeps me a slave, trapped so that I cannot move. It is eternal. And then, a shimmering light breaks through.

I open my eyes.

Everything is white. The room I'm in has an odd aurora. I feel as if I'm in a cage, but this cannot be. I have a bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a large wooden chest at the end of my bed (like everything else, painted white). I glance to the right and see a marble desk with three drawers and a mirror.

I walk over to the mirror quickly, trying to see how I look. Rugged. My chocolate hair in tangles, circles under my green eyes. My freckles, which I have always disliked, look like specs of dirt. My clothes are all white. Why is everything so pure white?

This question is immediately followed with perhaps one more important: Where am I? My gaze flickers around the room. Why can't I remember where I am, or how I got here? Am I insane?

I try to remember where I'm from: nothing. I don't even know my birthday, or my age, or my parents' .
names. Do I have parents? I don't remember their faces. All I remember is my name: Abbi.

I stumble to the door, anxiety rising. People are supposed to remember things. Even if I could just recall something, I feel better off.

I exit my room. Nothing is white out here. It's grey, with the exception of the letter "A" painted in red on my door. To the right is darkness, which I don't feel like returning into. To the left, aah, is a light. I walk towards it, noticing how long the hallway is.

There are doors on either side, all with a letter on them. I peer into letter N right across from my room. A firm-jawed man is sleeping rigid.
I continue down the narrow passageway, taking mental note that the thirteen doors on my left have letters A-M on their doors. The right, N-Z.

The light comes from a glowing orb on a pedestal of marble in the middle of a concrete room. Polished granite makes up the benches that surround it.

Suddenly, I'm thrown against the wall. "Who are you!?" A deep voice questions, "What is this place? Why am I here?"

"I don't know!" I gasp, flailing my limbs in a vain effort to squirm free. "I didn't put us here! I...I don't remember anything." I add hesitantly.

The weight comes off me. I spin around to see a tall African man with strong arms and a buzz cut. "I don't either."

I look him in the eye, my face reflecting back. He doesn't look mean. Perhaps a bit intimidating... "I do remember one thing; my name's Abbi."

He extends a hand, which I shake. "Zeke."

I start to hear doors open from the hall. Footsteps come towards us. I freeze at first, wondering if we're safe. I catch a glimpse of Zeke, who is making his way over to a bench.

I, however, am attracted to the orb that lights this space. I walk over to it, examining the pedestal. A blue button in the middle of a square is present on one side. I push it.

A drawer pops open, causing me to jump back. I take a step closer, feeling foolish, as people swarm into the room.

"Who are you?" A girl says in a snotty voice.

"Abbi." I smile, reaching out to shake her hand.

She looks at my hand, mutters "Grace," and walks away.

I stare at her. Who peed in her cereal? I wonder. I study her, trying to keep the image of her wavy blonde hair, sharp nose, and blue eyes in my mind so as to avoid her.

I focus once again on the odd marble drawer. An envelope is tucked safely inside, with a red seal on it. Upon further inspection, i realize that the seal depicts a triangle made of the words, "INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF SECRET EXPERIMENTS". That'd a little unnerving.

"Shut up!" Someone yells, I realize with a start it's Zeke's voice that echoes across the room. Everyone is silent. "This is Abbi," he gestures to me, the only person not on a polished chunk of granite, "She will tell us what's going on."

I will? I open my mouth to protest, but all eyes are on me. They need someone to say something.

Unfortunately, that someone is me.
"Hi. Like Zeke said, I'm Abbi." I begin, "Like all of you, I have no clue what is going on. However," I hold up the envelope, "I'm hoping this will tell us."
I open it with ease, and pull out a piece of paper. I unfold it and clear my throat. "Um... This has a list of names. I'll read them out, but just... just stay quiet for now.

"Abigail. Brooke. Carly. Dameeka. Elle. Fiona. Grace." The rude girl flashes into my mind, "Hailey. Irisha. Jami. Kara. Liz. Mikayla. There seems to be a name for each letter of the alphabet; first half of the alphabet girls, second half guys.

"Nicholas. Oswald. Peter. Quintrell. Rodney. Shawn. Terrence. Umar. Vincent. Westin. Xavier. Yuri. Zeke." I look up to see if my audience is still listening, which they are. "You are eighteen. You are underground. You are alone. You are the Social Experiment."

Murmurs of panic weave around the room. I am just as confused as they are. Underground? Why are we underground? Alone? Does that mean we get no help? And I can't even think about the last line without shivering.

"Quiet, everyone, quiet!" I say, words starting to magically form on my lips. "Let's be logical about this. There's no point in getting all worked up. It says we're underground. Perhaps we should take that into account. They wouldn't leave us down here with nothing, there must be supplies somewhere."

"And who exactly is 'They'?" A Scottish accent asks.

"Whoever it was that put us down here." My mind flips to the red seal, which I read off to the group, "The International Society of Secret Experiments."

This was obviously the wrong thing to say. Noise broke out again, whispers and theories and a shrill scream.

"Hush!" I order.

"Who put you in charge?" I am really starting to hate this Grace girl.

"No one, but I was in the middle first. In fact, I was the first one out here. I also found the letter.

"So, if you want to challenge my authority, go ahead. I have none. All I wanted to say was that we should find supplies. Soon."

I walk towards Zeke. "Nicely done. Were you a public speaker in a past life?"

I shrug, smiling. "I think I was one of those people who forgets everything every ten seconds."

"None of us can remember who we are." Zeke assures me. "where we came from, what we did, it's all gone."

I look up at him. "No doubt what you were."

He raises a curious eyebrow. "What?"

"A soldier or a boxer. Possibly a wrestler."

He chuckles. "Why do you say that?"

I blush sightly. "You're... uh, tall... and... and strong..."

"I could've been someone boring like a politician. Maybe I just liked to work out, you don't know."

I grin. "Neither do you."

But this sounds more grim than I had imagined in my head. The thought comes to me that he could very well be a serial killer and have no knowledge of it whatsoever. I swallow. "None of us know who we are."