Down the Hole

Chapter 1: The Auction

I couldn't tell you when it happened. I just remember waking up with my head groggy. It felt like marbles rolling around knocking against one another in my skull. There was a prickling sensation radiating in my palms traveling in a slow line to the numbness of my legs. A foul taste accosted my mouth. All around me there had been lights until my vision blotted with black and eventually I slipped into a dulcet wasteland of slumber. I don't remember dreaming. I doubt I even did. But when I came to I was certainly not in the same place I fell asleep in. The air here was heavy and weighed on me. I felt like someone took their hands and shoved me so brutally at the chest that I could scarcely breathe until I sat up. The air deflating out of my lungs. Somehow the ground was soft and held my weight. My head lulled to and fro until finally I was able to gain my bearings. I still had no idea where I was but I did know it was a place I needed not to be.

Danger began erupting in my mind. Red flashing across my membrane. Panic coming back to me as natural as blinking. I needed to get out and escape. My mind was ready and it would've crossed oceans, my feet however, failed me. I went down fast and hard thudding against the wooden floorboards. Every time I moved it moaned and I willed my legs to move. Just...move! My adrenaline was rushing through my veins but my limbs were still disobeying their commands. Whatever drug was used to get me here had worked effectively and I begged them to cooperate. The room was lit but there was no splash of color. It was black and white making me a little dizzier than when I first opened my eyes. For a brief second I thought I had gone colorblind until my senses returned.

I crawled until my shaking fingers barely latched onto the silver handle of the door. I could smell all sorts of spices from baking and strong wines permeating in the air under the door. It was an odd thing to be kidnapped and but be in a place where daily life seemed to be bustling outside this room. No matter how much memory I tried to muster it was blocked. Besides that I couldn't think about that now because I needed to get free of this madhouse. There was no lock to pick nor was there any way for me to take the hinges off the door. My best bet would be to bend the wood until it splintered.

There were no sharp objects to carve into the frail flesh of the door so I had to improvise. I laid on my back kicking away at it. I watched the bottom of it shutter ever so slightly which gave me hope to keep at it until the door finally creaked in defeat and bellowed its rout by coming off one hinge askew. I clambered over the carcass sliding to the other side and immediately knocking into the thin hallways wall. It took me a moment to balance and my bleary vision focusing and fuzzying wasn't helping either. I ran gaining ground but to where was another story. It felt like a hall with endless rooms and an unlimited supply of them. There were no turns. I could only go straight. Maybe the drugs were making me hallucinate because no matter how far I got I was going nowhere. I heard one of the doors creep open and before I could even turn to see who came out I was being dragged through. The world spun as I was carried down a series of mazes. My memory came in flashes. They were quick and fleeting. I swore the world broke apart and fell away under my feet and I was falling. An endless abyss.

The smells grew stronger grounding me here, now, until a light filled with gold attracted my attention. I felt the floor beneath my feet as I was being dragged. The smooth linoleum was cold but for right now it was helping me stay sane. The kitchen was filled with busy bodies that I could briefly see. They were scrambling to make some sort of dish. There was a door painted red and inside everything was designed around that color. A woman glanced up from under her large hat eyeing me as I passed. Everywhere we went I could see the various colors and combinations that cleverly crafted the rooms. Where were these open doorways moments ago when I needed one? I heard the faint roaring outside the door we were heading to and before I could rationalize what was happening I was thrust up onto a stage.