void.

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

The screams of absolute agony and pain echoes loudly in the chambers of my suit. There’s something out there. Some one, no, some people. A group of at least 4 or 5 creatures, wailing and begging for any sorts of aid. I tried to follow the sounds of those piercing noises in this void, but the further I went, the more strange I found the situation to be.

There’s not a single soul in sight.

In fact, there’s nothing in sight. No path, no walls, no boundaries, no light.

In any other circumstance, I would’ve taken the opportunity to run the other way and start again. Instead, I find myself completely trapped in this endless space of nothingness. A place where even my own existence feels out of place and insignificant. I tried to move forward, to run, to do something to approach the suffering souls.

It was to no avail.

The more I move the more I feel like I haven’t moved at all. It was as if there is no beginning nor end to this place and I’m moving in circles.

I tried to look down at my own feet, but it was so dark that I couldn’t even see my own body.

I can feel the panic rising beneath my chest and the sound of my own labored breath starting to drown out the screams in the distance. Hastily, I felt around my suit to turn on the emergency oxygen in fear that I would run out soon.

Nothing.

There was no button to be felt. Even more importantly, the suit wasn’t there. The chamber suit that I swore to have put on before seemed to have vanished from my body. As I cautiously felt around where I believe is my body, it is to my horror that I cannot feel that either. As if I myself have become a part of this void.

There is no concrete substance around or on me, just the mere memory of the body I am supposed to be in.

I can feel my own panic bursting in any direction possible, lighting my mind up in bright red fireworks and, if I still had a body, rattling through my body. I began to scream as loud as I could.

Not a single note came out of me.

I began to scream louder and louder. Until I’m sure I’ve mentally exhausted myself from doing so. It was only then that I started weeping. The sense of dread and fear is consuming me whole and all I could think of is that I might have died out there without even knowing so, and my soul is now trapped in this void of nothingness. Perhaps for eternity. That thought alone made me wail and cry out even harder.

Just then, a spark ignited somewhere in the distance.

I started at the spot blankly, half believing that I was imagining things, until it sparked up again.

I spare no mind to the rest of what is happening as I willed myself to go near the spark as fast as I can.

I paid no mind to the screams anymore for all I could think about is the possibility of leaving this godforsaken plane of existence.

As I got close to the spark, the speck of light started to turn into a large window to the outside and a rush of relief coursed through me.

Peering through the window, I recognized immediately that I am seeing things from inside the chamber suit.

It was only then that the true horrors of it all began.

I looked up and saw the face reflected from the glass. It was the same face I see when I look in the mirror, except she looked mortified and wrecked. Her face was covered in various cuts and bruises, and she was crying and screaming, begging to be set free.

I avoided the reflection and tried to stare through the helmet glass to get a hold of the surroundings. To my own horror, there are dozens more dressed in the same chamber suit, each crying out for someone to come help them.

Things started to fall into place as I finally realized that the screams that were echoing throughout the void, was my own.