Ten Past the Hour (Mycroft Holmes Fanfiction)

Chapter 9

The darkness hadn't let up and over the time that must have been hours, the room had gone from a relieving warmth to suffocating heat. Amy's newfound fear had dissipated again, leaving her with a burning curiosity. She stood slowly and kept a hand on the metal door. Sliding her feet out to tentatively test the floor, she walked slowly forward. The metal gave way to something smooth and strangely cooler than the temperature of the room.

She kept her hand to the wall and walked. It felt like ages before she reached a corner. Turning slightly left, she followed a similarly cool wall. She walked all four walls before finding the metal door again. Confusion knitted her brow and sweat dripped down the side of her neck. She wiped it away and walked the wall again, this time counting her steps. The floor was solid, probably concrete or stone. The room was 60 steps by 80 steps. The walls were smooth and cool all the way around except for where the door stood.

She walked slowly to the middle of the room. Her hands swung out in front of her. Her heart kicked up and her breathing grew frenzied as she lost herself in the darkness of this giant room. The heat only seemed to climb steadily and she felt like she was drenched in sweat. It seemed she had to pick her poison. Death by dehydration in the heat and pitch black or by hypothermia in the blinding, maddening white room.

Step by step, heartbeat by heartbeat, she walked on. The walls seemed to have moved away, leaving her to the whims of her fear. She stumbled along, feeling with her feet and hoping they would come for her soon. Sliding her foot forward and taking another step, she felt her heart lurch as something clicked in the room.

She looked around blindly, searching in vain for the source of the sound. A blinding flash of light struck her eyes. Crying out, Amy threw her hands up in front of her face. Lights flashed at once, blues and reds and yellows all of them flashing on and off. She shied away, trying to escape the sudden onslaught of strobe lights. The room slowly filled with sound, the volume steadily rising. She squinted her eyes open to find the walls were not cold stone but glass - televisions. They were giant televisions turning on and displaying clips of scenes that went by too quickly to be understood. Bursts of color and a cacophony of sound assaulted her on all sides. She fell to her knees. The cold unforgiving stone bruised her.

Curling into a ball, Amy buried her head between her knees and tried to shut everything out. She trembled and rocked slightly, keening in pain. Her head pounded and blood rushed in her ears, adding to the noise. Minutes, hours, days, it all could have passed in the time she sat there. The unseen speakers screamed at her. There were the sounds of laughter, of conversations, arguments, traffic, and music. And underneath it all the bloodcurdling sound of metal scraping on metal.

Amy stood and lurched forward, trying to find a door to pound on. The floor fell away from under her. She screamed, scrambling for purchase as she plummeted to the unknown depths of yet another kind of darkness. Crying out, she slowly pulled her ankle out from under her. A low hiss escaped through her teeth and she straightened her left foot out as best she could. Searching for an anchor, she found the wall of her new prison and pulled herself up. Her hands stretched up and she searched the wall. The lip of the hole was too far up, somewhere beyond her height. Above, the sounds and flashing lights continued. She fell to floor again. Her nails dug into her scalp, trying to cause pain to block out the rest.

She screamed until her throat ran dry and her lungs struggled to inflate.

Her eyes opened wide.This was what Jordan did for a living. This was what she put people through. She shook her head. How could anyone watch this for a living? Allow this to happen just for...

She stopped.

Information. That's what they wanted with her!

She stood and beat her hands against the stone. "Let me out! Let me out, I'll talk! I'll talk!" Her voice was hoarse, her chest heaved with dry sobs. Her ankle throbbed. She screamed again, weak though she felt.