The Lab

I woke up to a sea of grey. Flashes of light displayed in all corners of my vision. Moments continued to pass, and my body slowly adjusted to the assault of all senses.

Then it dawned on me. I felt nothing. Actually, that’s not right. I could feel. It was something else.

I slowly began to gain feeling within my face. I slowly wiggled my eyes back and forth and my head to follow. The room was dark, except for the bright light over my head. It was nearly blinding but attempting to look around the room helped me adjust and familiarize myself with my surroundings.

The clearer my vision became, the easier it was to tell that this wasn’t an average room; it was a lab, and I might have been center stage. Yet, oddly enough, there seemed to be no one around. At least not that I could see.

The table next to me was filled with oddly shaped knives, and utensils only fit for a dissection. The walls were lined with tubes and capsules with, I think were fluorescent liquids. But you could only see the color’s proper brightness, I’m sure if the room had adequate lighting.

Just then. It hit me. I realized that strange feeling.

I wasn’t lying on the chair; I was actually levitating!

From what I recalled, the world didn’t have this technology. So all that wouldn’t have been possible. Right? There must’ve been some type of hardness around me that I’m not feeling or some invisible string, maybe some kind of drug. That would also explain how I got there. The bottom line was, this had to be nothing less than a dream because none of that should’ve been possible.

As each minute passed by, I slowly gained more feeling throughout the rest of my body. That was a good sign. I thought maybe I could wiggle my way out of that stance to see if I could find a way to get out of here. Also, I would be hard-pressed to think that someone else isn’t there. I thought, maybe try calling out for someone?

“Hello? Anyone there?” I called out. But I wasn’t actually sure if the words left my lips because I couldn’t hear the sound of my own voice.

I waited a few moments, listening intently to see if someone would respond. To see if someone would walk through the room. But, the only response that I received was silence. I guess that was a sign that I should try to break free even though nothing was holding me down technically. My only issue was that I was suspended in midair.

Growing restless, I decided it was time to get out of this situation. The last I recalled, I was at home making a cup of tea. I was getting ready to set up my computer to do some work. I’m not sure how I ended up here. That’s a question to figure out, though, after I get out. I don’t have time to think about things like that here and now. The important thing is just taking a deep breath and logically think out, what would be the best way to escape from this position? I was being held in one spot, but by no means did I feel restricted in any way. Once the paralysis of my body begins to wear off, I should be able to reach out for something to free me.

With this thought in mind, I began to wiggle harder. Focusing any energy that I had into gaining complete control over all of my limbs. And it seems like the more I tried, the looser my body became and the easier it was for me to move.

First my eyes, then my head, and slowly my fingers and toes. The feeling of full-motion was all coming together, but I have some shred of hope, and the important thing was I couldn’t start panicking because then that would be the end.

When I gained the entire movement of my arm, I reached towards the table that held the strangely shaped knives. The feeling was odd, but by just simply wiggling my body in the direction of the table, I was able to slowly inch my way there wow still suspended in the air. Sure, I’m not entirely positive how this is occurring, but I’ll take what I could get.

Just then, there was a loud bang over in the direction behind me, and I crashed landed onto the chair. I lifted my head to see if there was something there.

I called out again, “Hello? Anyone there?” just like before, I was only met with silence, and I couldn’t see anyone in the distance. The only shadows were the machinery and equipment used and who knows what type of experiments. To be safe, I grabbed one of the knives off of the table and slowly began to swing my legs around to the floor to attempt to stand.

My body felt heavy as if I hadn’t used my body in a long time. With no indication of where I was or how long I was knocked out, I couldn’t say for sure how long it had been. I slowly stood up, steadying myself on the chair until I was in an absolute upright position; when I felt I had gained my balance, I let go of the chair and started to put one foot in front of the other. Who knows where I was? Who knows what type of mystery lie within the rest of this facility? Who knows who put me here? At this point, I’m wasn’t willing to stick around any longer to find out.

I began looking at my surroundings and noticed a sign on the wall. It wasn’t in any language that I was aware of. Quite frankly, it looked like nothing but scribbles that I would see a 3-year-old making. Looks like this wouldn’t give me any indication as to where I was.

Just then, I had a thought, if I continue to trace the wall. Eventually, I will find some type of door, right?

My eyes still weren’t fully adjusted to the darkness; I put my hands on a sign and slowly began to move them up and down against the wall. I was careful to look out for anything that seemed like a button or any other sign of something that would potentially be dangerous because I knew in this unknown place one wrong move and it could be the end.

Even though I was doing everything that I could to be careful, it was difficult not to panic. I was in an unknown place with materials and technology I’d never seen before, with no recollection of how I even got there.

Feeling that there were many odd shapes I kept coming into contact with, none of which seemed as if there would be a knob or button to get out of there. The fluorescent tube of liquid up close looked toxic and borderline lethal; who knows what would happen if I came in contact with that and some accidental brushed my finger? I wasn’t about to get curious enough to find out.

Continuing along, my hand reached a point where there was roughly a 2-inch dent in the wall. Tracing my hand diagonal, it looked to be approximately 2 1/2 to three feet wide. Could this be the door that I was searching for?

Although this could be some random grove in the wall, I decided to trace my hand vertically to see how far down or up it reached since I couldn’t see clearly in the darkness. While doing so, that’s when I found it. The button!

I didn’t know if this was the button to open the door, but it seemed like one. So I had to at least try. If not, who knows how long I’d be stuck there.

From what I could see, it was clear and a spherical shape; it was a bit oversized for my hand, which I wondered why it would be that big? I took a deep breath and decided that on three, I would push the button. Whatever happened, I would be prepared for. Whatever was on the other side of this door, I would anticipate, and I would never give in to any fear. At this moment, that was the only promise that I could make to myself.

3…2…1

I pressed it.

Like an airlock that you would only hear in the movies and on spaceships, the door began to slowly open, and light began to leak through the crack.

I lifted my hand over my eyes due to the brightness coming from the other side of the door. It was so bright I thought that it would blind me.

As the door fully opened, I waited for a moment to allow my eyes to adjust to the light. Instead, what stood before me were a plethora of trees and green foliage. I stood completely still and listened off into the distance, hoping that would give me some indication of if there were others outside. Instead, I heard nothing but silence, not a person, not a bird, not a single leaf rustled in the distance. From what I could tell, the only one that was out there was just me.

I took a step forward out of the doorway and began to walk towards the nearest tree, I put my hand on its trunk, and the touch didn’t seem like the average tree. It almost felt like rubber. I thought that this couldn’t be a real tree, but who would go through the trouble of placing so many fake trees around this area? I turned around to look at the building from which I was just walked out. What I saw, I’m not sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me or if this was some sort of game that I was in.

In front of me was an old red barn that looked like it had been abandoned years ago. The color was fading, parts of the wood were breaking off in various places, and it looked like it had no substantial roof. From what I could see, if it rained, everything on the inside would be wet.

In disbelief, I started to walk around the perimeter of the barn, looking at each detail, trying to make sense of everything because, as far as I’m concerned, none of it made sense thus far. From what I have just seen on the inside, none of what I’m seeing should even be remotely possible.

I’m not saying that I was in the middle of a sci-fi movie, but that’s the only thing that this could be, logically speaking. There’s no way an entire lab could have been held in a barn in the middle of nowhere.

There were no wires.

No other signs that electricity could even be run through here, yet all of those machines were up and running to full capacity inside. So the source must’ve come from somewhere.

That’s when I heard a sound coming from behind me. My heart rate started to pick up, and I was afraid to turn around, but I knew that I had to. I was dying to know what this was.

I turned.

Standing before me it was a tall creature with no nose or ears and eyes that look like a reptile. It looked to be smiling at me? We stood there staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity, and then it finally spoke.

“Hi, I see that you have finally woken up. Did you have a nice sleep?”

At that moment I realized, I wasn’t on earth any longer.