The world inside the screen

I sit laying on the floor. My back is as flat as possible, my head spinning, and I think to myself,

"Where else could I be?"

The lights flickering in my head, my eyes lull themselves shut. The sound of rain takes my brain by the hand and takes it onto a runaway train. Everything is loud, but not for long. I can't focus, but then instantly it becomes clear. The spinning, the sounds, the focus, it all straightens up. It becomes clear.

"Hello." A systematically calm voice breaks the silence. I turn around, this isn't my living room. This isn't my house. It's nothing, just squares everywhere, tiles maybe. I open my mouth reluctantly.

"H-..." What voice you could muster up is cut short. "W-... F-..." Nothing is coming out, no matter how hard you try to speak. The empty room is immense. It engulfs you into itself.

"What is your name?" The voice interrupts your attempts at speaking. You want to respond, you want to know where the voice is coming from. A pulsing light comes from the wall behind you. Obliviously, you are looking around for a source of the voice.

With the edges of the light reaching to the corner of your eyes, you turn around. The royal blue light turns green. What is it? Is it the source of the voice? You walk closer, cautiously. You go to speak,

"schzhrcherz" You speak, but it is not your voice. It sounds like static, as if your voice was hidden underneath the hissing. After you finish speaking with no help from the static, the light stops. It stays solid green. You try again, and again. At least there is sound coming out now. Frantically, you try to ask what is happening. Panic creeps into the back of your mind. What if you are stuck?

A ding rings throughout the room. It is long-lived through fading into your brain. The light starts glowing. Increasingly, the green light turns into a blinding white light that fills the room. You start to lose the ability to tell the difference between what you see or if your eyes are just blinded now. You close your eyes to hopefully protect them. The sound dies out finally, and hissing as if gas was released can be heard.

"Welcome..." You raise your head and you are greeted with normal vision. A person, no, a machine, standing there waiting for you.

"Hello?" The word finally escapes your lips. "Hey, I can speak again!" You look up to the machine. What is it? What does it want? What was that hissing? We'll just have to find out. Turning around inspecting the room, you make sure nothing out of the ordinary happened to the endless tiles that surround you.

"You are the newest member. Welcome. What would you like to do?" The genderless, nearly featureless machine speaks. Its mouth impression doesn't move. It almost looks more like a doll, crafted to be seen, not function. You turn around at the sound of its voice. Is it supposed to be comforting or something?

Presumably unphased, the thing turned around. It didn't move after that. So still, that it reminds you that it is not alive, just a robot. Just a creature for your own pleasure. Should you respond? If your memory serves you correctly, they fall asleep after some time. Maybe you should let it do that. Then you won't have to bother with it.

The figure seamlessly glides across the floor into the wall. It nearly is consumed by the pristine tiles. There, goodnight mysterious robot, sleep well. With a sigh, you blink and when you open your eyes; you are back at home in your living room. You're on the floor like before, flattened. This time, with the chill of cooling the sweat on the back of your neck, you sit up.

Weird.