Darkness Englulfing

Chapter Three

Katherine

Despite the dream, she did not wake with a start. She was not breathing heavily. In fact, she felt at peace.

Her eyes opened groggily and she reached up to rub them before she blinked a few times lazily and her eyes focused on her surroundings. She wasn't in bed. She wasn't even at home. In fact, she didn't know where she was. The panic returned quicker than a blink of her tired eyes, and she immediately felt more awake.

The room was so bright. The white walls burned her retinas with a similar force to that of the sun. She had to squint for a moment before she got used to it. She looked down at the pajamas and toward the bed that she was laying in. White sheets, white pillow, white comforter. She felt like it was some sort of hospital, as she had never seen the same levels of cleanliness as this except in the operating room she saw when she had to have surgery as a young girl.

Had she actually fallen out of her window?

Glancing around the room, she saw a small, white clock with black numbers. She hadn't been able to hear it's quiet ticking over her panic yelling in her mind, and she was able to determine that it was 8:00 in the morning. She was supposed to meet Henry at 9. Although if she was in the hospital, she doubted she would be able to make that appointment.

A small beep caught her attention and alerted her to a small screen embedded into the wall next to her bed. There were two words on the screen. It looked like a computer, but she had not seen anything like it in any hospital room she had ever been it.

The screen read: Get Dressed. She looked around the room for a closet door, but she couldn't find one. She couldn't see any door actually, and that realization caused another tight, painful force to grip her heart. There wasn't an immediate way out of the room besides the window. She quickly made her way over to it, and saw that she was a long way from the ground. She guess about 20 floors, but that was just an estimation. She turned around, leaning her body against the window behind her and leaned her head back to set on the glass as well. She could feel the coolness from the glass through her hair and after taking a few deep breaths trying to calm herself, she looked at the screen again. It still said get dressed, so she must have some way to access clothing.

Running her hands over the pristine white walls actually proved to be useful. She felt a small button that, when pressed, opened up a panel in the wall next to her. It shocked her at first. She hasn't even been able to see any indication that the wall there could be moved and she spent a long while just looking at the new entrance, wondering at the technology that must've been used to produce that result.

The door opened into a bathroom. It was not very big, maybe three feet by four feet, but it held a sink, a shower, a toilet and a mirror. It also held toothpaste and a toothbrush, both of which were sitting on the sink in a small glass cup.

Running her hands over the walls again found another button, this one opening another door. It opened into a closet where stiff white clothing was hanging. She grabbed one of the white shirts and a pair of the white leggings and changed quickly, not sure where to put her other clothing. Making her way back to the bathroom, she brushed her teeth quickly and returned to the screen by her bed. It now read: Head to Breakfast.

Katherine was very confused, to say the least. If she was in a hospital, why weren't any of her family members there? There was nothing that would lend to the idea that anyone but her had ever set foot into this room.

Looking at the nightstand, another realization came to her. She didn't have a phone. Where was her phone? Had Lilly or her grandmother taken it? That only proved to confuse her even more, she did not have a way to contact anyone and see what was going on.