You Remember

You slowly open your eyes to darkness all around you. The room smells stale and cold, like the copper pennies your grandmother used to hoard. The smell made you nauseous. A visit to her house would stick the scent onto you, pleading for you to make excuses not to come again. Sometimes, she would visit your house, staining the sweet scent of your mother's citrus candles with her stale copper pennies. Just thinking about it makes you sick once more.

You pull your legs up to your chest and hug them. That's when you notice that you are no longer in the itchy khaki pants and uniform polo your school makes you wear. You are now in gray sweatpants and a thin, white t-shirt that doesn't stop the cold from sneaking through your veins.

You push yourself off the ground, determined to figure out what has happened or, at least, where you are. That morning, you were on your way to school, ready for your chemistry test. Now, you are God only knows where. You feel along the wall until you reach a corner. Then, you count the number of steps you take until you reach the next corner.

Fifteen.

You repeat the process. Each wall is fifteen steps. You feel back along the walls until you come to the door you discovered serrated into the metal. You feel the edges of the bolts and pat around, trying to find a handle that will open the door. There is none. You start to feel dizzy from the sickening scent being forced into your system. You slide down against the cold wall until you finally find the floor. Some tears fall from your eyes, but you ignore them. You try to take a few deep breaths, but the inhalation of the copper drives you mad, madder than before.

Before?

Frustrated, you turn back around and feel the door once more, hoping a handle had appeared. That's when you realize the metal isn't smooth like the walls. It feels...irregular. You aren't sure what caused the damage to the door, but there's no time to worry about it yet. You begin pounding your fists onto the metal, over and over and over again, until your fists fix into the indents on the door. The sound resonates throughout the room, bouncing off each of the four walls. You scream. You cry for help. No one is coming to help.

There's no escape.

You slide back down onto the floor, more tears falling from your eyes. You can't stop them from falling. You can't do anything. You don't know how long you've been here or how long you'll have to stay. Without thinking, your head starts lightly hitting the wall behind you. Light. Light. Hard. Harder. Harder. Harder. You ignore the pain that comes with the weight of each hit. But, somehow, each hit brings forth a memory, a piece of time that was lost to you. Suddenly...you remember. You remember, you remember, you remember.