Madness

Chapter 1: Define Madness

Chapter 1:

"Madness," he spoke in a tone no one would dare ignore. "Define it."

"No," the boy shouted into the black obis that seemed to surround him. He waited for an echo of some sort to ensure that somewhere the darkness would end; but only silence answered.

Instinct begged Noah to stay rooted in place, but the fear of having to stay paralyzed in this absence of light any longer urged him forward. With no sense of direction to guide him, the boy stumbled in what he could only assume was straight ahead; one foot in front of the other. With goosebumps prickling up the back of his neck, Noah couldn't help imagining what man could belong to such a terrifying voice. An image of something much worse than a man entered his thoughts. This only encouraged him to keep going.

It wasn't long before Noah noticed something odd about his surroundings. Scuffing his foot across a patch of flooring, he was left with an abrupt thump. Silence once again filled the empty void of sound; much too quickly this time around. Bending down, the boy ran his shaking fingers along the smooth surface of what he could safely assume was tile.

Tile meant his suspicions of the darkness leading him through a tunnel were terribly wrong. A tiled floor meant this place without light was man made. With the dawning realization that someone could very well be present in the room with him, came the end of the tile. As Noah took one too many steps forward, he slammed into a solid slab of wall. Concrete, he discovered as he let his hands guide him along the perimeter of the room. The boy had hoped a door would emerge soon and if it was locked? Well he couldn't afford to think like that.

To his surprise and utmost relief the concrete wall soon gave way to smooth metal. It's surface was cool against his skin and Noah had to resist the urge to rest his head. With his eyes burning from fatigue and his thoughts threatening to fall to the comfort of unconsciousness, the boy could not risk stopping; but fear helped to keep him moving. With sweat beading down the side of his temple and a heartbeat shaking him to the very core, fear seemed to be the only thing keeping Noah on his feet. This rang true as he ran his hand along the length of metal to reveal a long vertical bar sticking out; a door handle.

Relief flooded through Noah's system and with a strong yank he pulled back on the handle. There was the distinct sound of two metallic surfaces separating and quickly clanking back together. The boy refused to believe his only way out was locked, so he tried again. Planting his feet firmly against the sleek tile floor and rubbing his sweaty palms against the rough fabric of his jeans, he grabbed ahold of the metal handle once again and pulled. The door separated from it's frame, only to be reunited seconds later as a barrier prevented it from going any further. With a frustrated grunt, Noah was forced to let go.

To let go and acknowledge the horrifying fact that he was trapped inside the room of utter darkness. For how long though? Hours, days, months even. As the crushing feeling of anxiety began to bare down on the boy, light came to his rescue. In a flood of sudden brightness a panel of fluorescent bulbs came to life above Noah's head. Blasting the room in a ray of unnatural light, he was forced to shield his eyes until they could properly adjust to their newly lit surroundings. When he was finally able to look up, the light revealed something to truly be fearful of.

Noah had been right in assuming the place was not a tunnel, nor was it simply an empty room. Taking in the sight of the operating table in the centre of the room and a wall of metal cabinets gleaming before his very eyes, Noah forced himself to swallow the bile that rose in his throat. The boy had to come to the conclusion that he had been locked inside a morgue and it made his stomach churn violently. He was all but ready to heel over and puke his guts out across the sterilized tile, when the voice resurfaced. "Noah," the boy's name was spoken mockingly on an octave he didn't expect the voice to possess.