Stuck

Level One ♕ Awakening

A short shriek escapes my parted lips before I have the chance to even open my eyes. My body had already taken in its surroundings before my vision could, and it obviously didn't like what it felt if it'd caused such an instinctive scream.

I sit up, leaning on my hands groggily for support as I drift out of my sleepy state, and look around. My sight is hazy, so I feel a little awkward for my harsh awakening, since I wasn't able to see a threat of any sorts. I blink a few times, patiently waiting for a proper view to kick in.

"Perhaps it was just a nightmare," I say to myself, talking about my cry.  My voice echoes, bouncing off the walls thrice before fading into a forgotten echo.

I feel the comfort of a bed-- a messy one, at that, but still a bed nonetheless-- beneath me. That was reassuring next to the fact I couldn't see very well. So I push myself into a full sitting position and cross my legs.

But minutes pass onto hours and I'm still next to blind. At this point, I'm scaling the room with my hand against the wall to support myself, peering around to see if I can find anything. The only thing my eyes register is the outlining of objects and colours. Ths information is completely useless to me because the room is practically covered in grey and there appears to be hardly any furniture. Grey walls, grey bed, grey bookshelf, and a grey metal door. That was the only thing surrounding me in this small room I'm in.

"Oh," I whine. "Where am I? I don't recognise this place at all..."

I trail off, trying to match this atmosphere to any memory I have. Trying to remember how I got here in the first place. To remember...

"Remember!" I cry.

I throw myself towards the bed and stand as tall as I can on the mattress and pound my fists against the wall. I rake my nails over the bare colour. "I can't remember anything!! Who am I!? What's going on!?"

A sudden crackling like that of a microphone sounds throughout the room. I turn around and look for the source.

After a few seconds of silence, I feel my heartbeat pick up and I crouch into a kneeling position, waiting for something to make its attack. But then I hear a clearing of a throat, and then someone speaks.

"Congratulations," comes a booming voice. I wince and smack my hands over my ears from the volume, his voice raspy and unpleasant. "Seven of you have passed the first Level, the Awakening. We shall begin with the introductions, offer a small explanation, and then proceed onto Level Two, Dexterous."

The wooden headboard of the bed has its left side stuffed into a corner, one wall running along it's left side and another behind the header. I'm looking up, having found the source of the voice. It has to be coming from a speaker on the ceiling, but all I can see is a grey blob over an even darker grey wall.

"I am Mister Plummer. I am the reason you all are here."

Just about the same time I let out an angry shriek, I hear several other horrified but muffled voices going off around me, alarming me further. I-- and the other voices in unision-- fall quiet from shock of hearing others.

"Hush, all of you," he says even though we're already withdrawn. "If I hadn't stepped in, you'd all have died either too painfully or too painfully boring. Now, meet your Patron. Say a hello, and get to know each other, since you're life is in their hands as well as your own."

I wait for a minute, expecting someone to come over the speaker as well, introducing themselves. What I didn't expect was a female voice to sound off right next to my ear.

"Hello, I'm Mallory."

"Ah!" I whip around, my lips pulled back over my teeth in a snarl, but nobody is there. The same, fuzzy room hasn't changed and I don't see anyone. "W-what...?"