The Program [COMPLETED]

Prologue

The cage shook so badly, Aiden nearly vomited.

He found himself suspended several feet in the air, trapped in a cold, steely box of bars and rusted metal. It swung with every movement Aiden made, much like a pendulum, groaning in protest with every twist and turn. He gripped the bars, his pink, fleshy hands raw against the worn metal rods. He called out, his voice scratchy and dry.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" Aiden croaked, his voice echoing across the dark room. To his dismay, he didn't receive any response. He sat down in his cage, careful not to entice any movement from his confines. The sound of dripping and hollow noises was all he could hear from within the room. The scene reminded him of canaries in cages, a bird that people often kept as pets back home. But where was home? Aiden felt as though it was far from here, and, with a twinge of heartache, as if he would never see it again, wherever it may have been.

Aiden's head was pounding. He found it difficult to focus, his eyes frequently adjusting to any light that trickled into the room. He struggled to remember who he was, or where he'd come from. A surge of panic rushed through him. Why was he here? What did anybody want with him? He winced as a burning pain seared through his skull. He couldn't recall anything, let alone his name. It was Aiden, wasn't it? Yes. That much he knew. As for his age? The number danced in front of his eyes, and Aiden fought to grasp it. Eleven, maybe? No, that wasn't it. Ten. Yes, ten. The number satisfied him, and he allowed himself to abandon any recollection of thoughts, and succumb to the darkness before him.

A rattling shook him from his senses. Aiden peered into the darkness apprehensively. He balled his hands into fists; as if it could somehow aid him in his situation. A meek voice cried out into the nothingness.

"Please, tell me someone's there!" the voice pleaded. "Where am I? What is this?"

Aiden bolted upright, crawling to the edge of his cage. "Hey! I'm here, like you! Do you know what's going on?" he shouted.

A small boy, about his age, stumbled into Aiden's vision. He squinted to make out the boy's figure in the dim light. He looked ragged and dirty. Aiden could only assume that he himself didn't look much better. The boy's cage swayed from where he'd moved, coming dangerously close to colliding with Aiden's.

"Stop moving," Aiden warned, "or you'll hit me, and I don't know what's down there." He pointed to the abyss of black that lay beneath them.

"O-okay," the boy replied, freezing in place. "Where are we?"

"I wish I knew," Aiden sighed. "We have to get out of here."

A loud beeping noise incited a yelp of terror from the two boys. A man's voice blared from the intercom.

"The Test will begin in ten seconds," it informed them. "You have ten minutes to escape your cages and make it to the top, or you will both be killed. To convince you to move quickly, a pool of water will progressively be moving towards the surface. If you survive, I will see you on the other side. Should you both die, this will be your final resting place. Good luck."

"What? How are we supposed to make it up there?!" the boy protested. Aiden grit his teeth in tension. The voice over the intercom began counting down from ten. Aiden analyzed his surroundings, stomaching his nerves and sense of panic. He pat the ground beneath him, searching for some sort of opening. Logical thinking washed over him. He tried to think of the whole ordeal like a puzzle. He went with it, accepting the calmness. If he'd been put in here, then there would have to be some sort of door or hinge. How else could he have gotten in here?

He was snapped out of his puzzle by the voice over the intercom, whose countdown had reached zero. A loud mechanical hum, similar to that of a motor, began to fill the room, and the roar of water rushing into the black abyss drowned out all of Aiden's thoughts. The other boy had began to resort to hysteria, screaming and crying as the water began to fill the chasm. Aiden glanced over in the direction of the boy's banging.