File #7 (on hold, I'm sorry)

Awake

There's a sudden and loud clang, it is the sound of something big falling on metal that wakes me up. I jolt upward not sure where I am. And it takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the sheet of darkness surrounding everything in this room. Finally, I can manage to see a couple of feet in front of me and what I see is stranger than the loud clang. 

I find I've woken up on what looks like a sleeping bag on a metal table. I jump off the table and try to walk around to find out where I am. Chained to a wall on my right are shackles of all types and sizes, some have even clattered to the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces. 'Ok this is strange', I think to myself, then of course things got even stranger. All the lights in the room suddenly turn on. With the lights turned on I spot a mirror up against a wall to my far left. I slowly walk to the mirror and take a long look at my reflection.  

The first thing I see when I look in the mirror are my startling golden eyes and hazel hair with the tips a slight twinge of green. Then I realize what I am wearing. I have a black tang top and similar colored leggings or pants on, however, there is a golden number 7 and stripe running down on the side of my pant-leg. Upon closer inspection of my reflection I can see faint scars running along my cheeks and neck, and I notice even more running along my arms. Thankfully, whatever wounds I had have seemed to close. Finally, tearing myself away from my reflection I begin to take in more of my strange surroundings. 

It was a rather large room. The table I woke up on had been at the middle of the room surrounded by other tables full of testing tubes with strange liquids inside that I couldn't place. I try to find anything that either will be of use to me or help me figure out where I am. On the walls there are coat hangers, and all but one jacket has been shredded to pieces. The one jacket still on its hook was pitch black with a golden seven and the zodiac symbol for Sagittarius on the back. When I look at the other torn jackets, I see they are numbered from one to twelve and each had a zodiac symbol on the back. I cautiously grab the jacket still standing on its hook, tie it around my waist tightly and look around for anything else I can use. I find a satchel with a full canteen of water and a flashlight. I take the flashlight and clip it to my pants pocket and fold up the sleeping bag and place it into the satchel. Looking around I don't find any . . . edible food, but I am not hungry so that might be a good thing. But I do find one more useful item, a key chain with one key hung on the ring. I stuff this in my pocket promising I would find it's use later. 

As I turn to try to leave the room, I hear an eerie ringing from one of the locked cabinets to my right. I debate whether I should run, when the key I put away starts to feel warm inside my pocket. I pull it out and it seems the same, but it is slowly heating up in my hand. When I can't stand the ringing, I march over to the cabinet and unlock the door. I reach to slowly open the cabinet cautious knowing anything could be inside, only when my hand is on the handle, I realize there could be a bomb inside, but my curiosity wins out and I swing the cabinet door wide open. 

Inside I find a strange device, it's a small and thin rectangle of metal with a tinted blue glass screen. Next to it I find a pair of earpieces with similar markings to the piece of metal. The ringing continues and I realize it's coming from the box; I look to the screen and find a golden button has appeared on the screen. I gingerly press the button and I hear a humming from the earpiece, so I hold it close to my ear. 

"Hello, are you there?" a voice says from the device. Confused I don't answer, after a moment of silence the voice responds. "Hmm a quiet one are you, I wasn't told that". 

Finding my voice, I ask, "who are you?" I am responded with silence, ". . . that is not important at the moment Your trial begins now." 

'What trial' I want to ask, but the glow on the device fades and the sound cuts out. The door to the room I'm in opens and I am allowed passage into the next room. 

I slowly creep towards the now open door. Once I'm in the room I see it is sort of a lab lightly illuminated. There are testing tubes filled with strange liquids that scatter the tables all over the room. I turn to look for anything that might explain what is happening and why I'm here. . . I don't find much.

There is a sudden rumbling sensation through the room. I stand defensively my arms outstretched preparing for any kind of attack when it occurs to me, perhaps the people who put me here won't be too happy about my disappearance. Once this notion enters my mind I am immediately filled with terror, but I do my best to hide it realizing someone could be watching. Then a gigantic screen that was behind me lights up filling the room with a blinding white light. Then one single light appears on the screen, congratulations. 

"Congratulations" I silently mutter, "for what". Then a maniacal chuckle starts playing as if on cue, startling me. The chuckle seems to be getting louder as I stare silently at the screen. The words seem to be trying to pull a memory from the depths of my mind, but the memory refuses to surface. The laughing is driving me nuts I look to the screen trying to find a switch or any buttons that could turn off the laughter, whispers of the word congratulations echoing through my head. 

Suddenly I can't stand it anymore I turn to one of the tables scattering the room and I find what looks like a set of hunting knifes. I instinctively throw one at the screen, the knife sticking into the screen as the haunting word and laugh begin to glitch out of the screen. Thankfully the laughing also begins to fade. 

I shakily take a breath walking back to the screen pulling out the knife and staring at it. The knife somehow seems familiar as if I have seen it before, or used it before. Then a flash of red appears in my vision and I collapse. Looking down at the knife in hand I can almost see the blood of a kill dripping off, I drop the knife. The clattering on the floor brings me back to reality and a memory surfaces. A haunting voice saying "Congratulations" only they aren't using it mockingly, almost as if they were truly proud I had killed someone with the knife that now lay in front of me. 

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Hello, thank you for reading this. This is a story I have actually wanted to write for a while. Also if you have any tips along the way then I would be grateful. I hope you enjoyed it.

-Artemis