Author Games: Circle

Introduction

The light was null and void. Cancelled; I could see not where my neighbor resided, not where I stood, and not even the hands in front of my face, not for all the waving and shaking and adjusting in the world. This, naturally, was the primary cause of my panic - the heavy breathing, the cold sweat, the bobbing knee. I didn't want to move, though. To move in unknown terrain, especially that of which had gone unseen in the pitch black, would've been a dumb thing. And I was not a dumb thing.

Instead, I listened. There were others there, all around, a big cluster of them, all breathing and sweating and bobbing just as I had. Some called out. Some cried. Some screamed for their mothers. Admittedly, some probably wet themselves, but I had no way of knowing that. I assumed only because I was very near to it myself. Nonetheless, every sound seemed to bounce against a wall and come right back.

Keep calm. If you're collected, the rest might chill too.

Calm.

When the lights thudded to life above us, all fluorescent and glaring, it sent the room into immediate havoc. For the first ten seconds, at least. People began to adjust. People began to see other people.

"Do you know why we're here?"

"How'd you get here? I don't remember how I got here."

"Where the hell are we?"

All blanks, drawn across tight-lipped women and the creases of an old man's forehead and in the doe eyes of a child. They were all situated in rows, all of them connecting to create a circle.

The room itself was a circle. No doors. No windows. Just a glossy black dome pinning us in.

I was beginning to think wetting myself wouldn't have been the worst thing to have occurred in that moment. And it wasn't, because something far, far worse happened in its place.

~

Welcome to Author Games: Circle! Over the next week or so, more updates on this will be posted, so stay tuned.

Reservations open on June 27th, at 5:00 pm PST. Hope to see you there!