Second Life: A Second Chance

They Follow Only Apollo (II)

Two days in length have passed by me since I had been first introduced to the center building. Today is the second day, with the realization of my presence in the dome coming afoot. The longer I stay underneath this dome, the quicker time seems to fly by, or so it would seem. Regardless, even as time moves quickly under the dome, today marks the complete opposite of that movement, given that the first challenge of the two week program has just been announced. 

Standing inside the interior, facing directly at the mouth of the staircase on the right half of the center building, I begin to recall to myself the numerous amount of times I have been reminded to report to the last floor the second a challenge is to be announced from the dome's innermost walling. I recall being assured time after time again that I would hear a short and loud ringing tone that would echo on for several seconds, before diminishing just as quickly. The sound as I was told, was to be emitted from the dome all throughout, meant to serve only as a way of marking the arrival of one of the three challenges present in the program. However and contrary to popular belief, the noise given off by the dome's walling was far from a ring, sounding much like a deep sounding siren than a ring, with a low pitch that would vibrate throughout the groupings of buildings all underneath the dome's walling for minutes on end. 

Moving on from discussing about the sound emitted upon the arrival of a challenge, I continue my way up the staircase, approaching closely towards the third floor, with nothing but a few steps left to go. With my head continued to be held high, I climb up the last of the metallic stairs as the thought of Amarante begins to fill my mind. As I attempt to shift my thoughts from her into something else, I give in to my fondness for her, taking a short look back at what had happened earlier yesterday between us following a discussion on how to approach a possible competitor. 

"It works in any situation. Just make sure you understand your opponent's state of mind when you observe them, but only if you two are looking at each other. It doesn't work any other way or else they will know you're watching them. It's a bit tricky to do but it works," Amarante teaches me.

"Really? So knowing how to read their body language is the key?"

"Yep, but make sure you do it carefully," she answers back, smiling now.

"Well, how interesting," I say, feeling very satisfied with her explanation on body language and a person's stance. 

"By the way, can I ask you a question?" Amarante poses to me.

"Sure," I say, feeling intrigued in what she might ask of me.

"Can we be a team? I know it sounds stupid but while in the program, no one I know is going at it alone. Everyone has a partner or two to depend on for mental support and you and I don't really have anyone to do that...so I think it would be very beneficial for the two of us to be program partners. You know the saying, 'two always beats one, that's why the best have always won!' There's a reason why that's a saying. Teaming up is always better than going at it alone. "

"Of course," I say, sounding very relaxed and in agreement, forcibly sounding that way in order to hide the large amount of content I have just being in her presence. 

After agreeing on a partnership with her, Amarante leans in slowly towards me, with her arms stretched out, ready to give me huge hug, perhaps as a way to possibly cement our newfound partnership. Given the circumstance of the hug, I embrace it almost fully, allowing her to hug me somewhat tightly before I pull away just as quickly, making sure she would not accidentally feel a part of me that is too inappropriate to mention at this time. Recalling her hug from yesterday, I begin to find it odd how much I now think of her. Every second I spend with her makes me feel saner, and every minute after makes me want her. I cannot stop thinking about her.

Looking up again at the shortening set of stairs leading up to the last floor, I approach the last staircase step with a sense of calmness as my feet finally greet the third floor's cold metallic surface, with my eyes focused on the strengthening visibility of the sole room that exists on the entire floor. As I step out of the staircase and onto the paved third floor, a feeling of anxiety kicks in, a proof of sorts on how my mood is in regards to the first challenge, one of unease.

Set on completing the challenge as quickly as possible, I rush through the white and wooden doubled doors of the sole room in an almost bursting motion, opening the doors completely to reveal a bright yellow-white background, with clarity increasing tenfold from the diminishing blurriness caused by the light. Somehow stuck with the belief that I would be the first to arrive, I enter the room with a surprised look on my face, with I realizing how much I am not early. I may even be the last one in the entire program to arrive as I spot lines of several colored clothed people waiting to begin the first challenge.

Looking ahead to the booths at the front of each line in the room, I find that there are only six available for the entire challenge, with each one containing a single metallic iron colored door and a two-light red-green bar right above it. Looking back to the end of the line, I realize that although the entire room is filled with nearly sixty people in total (of the approximate two hundred enrolled in the program), I still manage to catch a few familiar faces in line. 

Looking away from the booths and onto the people waiting next in line, do I catch the beautiful female in front of the white walled backdrop. Amarante, shining in beauty of appearance like the sun, the female whom I had spent all day with yesterday, the one who graced with her ever so charming presence, stands at complete boredom from waiting in the line, until she spots me. Immediately after seeing me enter the room, she smiles directly at me and waves, albeit in a somewhat cheery manner, unlike her previous presence. Soon enough, the bar above the booth she is waiting for switches from red to green, signaling her turn to enter inside.

As I watch her walk gracefully to the booth, I turn half of a whole circle, looking around to see if I am able to spot anymore familiar faces in any other line, as I stand in line for the fifth booth. Quickly, I spot Yoshida, who notices my quick glance. Having noticed me, he waves at me quite cheerfully, prompting me to do the same. After waving at Yoshida, do I hear a click sound from Amarante's booth, the fourth booth, where I see her coming out of an opened door, appearing exhausted from what she had seen. As prompted as I am to ask her what she had seen given my worries, I refocus my attention to the line I am currently waiting on, noticing how quickly the line ahead of me has shifted frontwards, with two people in line absent as they have already had their turn in the booth ahead of me.