The Knife Machine.

Where am I?

The following night I lay in bed, motionless. Sometimes I'd hear a door open and close, the whisper of voices and even music in the distance. This was the first time I'd ever experienced music, it was strange to me the first time. I could hear a lot of people but nobody came into my room. I found myself staring out of the half closed curtains of the window, at the deep blue night sky.

Only then did it strike me.

23, Buruaz beste, the explosion, everything. We hadn't spent much time together but 23 had pretty much saved my life. Where was he now? It got quieter as the night progressed and it was not long before it was completely silent. My head wasn't spinning as much as it had been, I was able to think. 23's voice, the shriek of jet engines, the calming grasp on my face. Where am I? I couldn't be certain I wasn't still in shadowpony. Did the plane take me back? Am I safe?

Then a noise broke my thoughts. Birds. There was a faint tint of orange in the sea blue sky. It didn't feel like I'd been in bed that long. At first, there were only a few twitters and tweets but soon, there was a melody of bird song.

Then another melody caught my attention. Catchy and upbeat in the distance. This was when I decided it was time to get up. Unsteadily, I raised my head off the rag. The black liquid had gone through the rag and was soaked into the pillow but, as far as I could tell, there was no more bleeding from my eyes. Stiff and cramped, I slid out of bed. The cotton blankets fell in a pile beneath my feet. I payed no mind to them as I crept to my door and struggled to open it. When it finally did, I was met with another door like mine opposing me.

Sunshine dorm, unoccupied, the sign read. Then, I remembered what the small android had said. Left down the hallway? I looked to my left. Beside me, as she had said, was a long hallway. The walls were green with wonky flowers painted on them, they looked like they'd been drawn by young children. There were no windows, it was lit by a line of bright blue neon. On either side of the walls there were about ten doors with strange names like petunia dorm and twilight dorm. Most had unoccupied written beside them, but there were very few with occupied written on them. On of the occupied dorms had its door ajar but it was too dark to see inside. I stood in the doorway for a minute, waiting for a noise. None came. Gently, I put my foot on the black carpet. It had the texture more like a doormat than a carpet and you could see filth splattered across it, even though it was black.

Once my first foot was out, my others quickly followed. At a quick pace, I fumbled down the hallway past door after door. The floor was sagging in places, I nearly fell over twice. I had nearly made it to the end when I stopped dead in my tracks. A loud thud came from one of the dorms. The music downstairs seemed to get louder as I slowly turned around. A dorm called cattle hill dorms door had opened. It was one of the occupied dorms. I shook it off and nervously tiptoed to the end of the hallway. Right there, to my right was a twisted staircase with a creased red carpet draping down it.

There was a clock hung from the roof. Five thirty-eight. I didn't quite understand it, I'd never seen a clock like this one or, in fact, any clocks. Shadowpony hadn't used them. The stairs croaked like frogs a walked down. My eyes cringed shut, hoping nobody or nothing would hear me. I had to get down a painful three flights of rickety stairs before finally getting to the bottom. I could now hear the music clearly, though, I still couldn't quite make out the words. Down the stairs, all lights were off; the light from the stairs and the faint sunlight was the only means of seeing anything in the dark cave-like hallways. Remembering what the small android has said, I realised I didn't really know where I was going. To the left of me was another hallway, this one was broader. The closest wall was covered in green, rusty, dilapidated lockers, the furthest wall had about five numbered doors. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen. At the the end of the hall were two locked doors with two signs written on each