Chapter Text
The only thought that could come to my mind upon first entering this strange place was, “Where am I?” Something I said aloud in a quiet voice. My voice could only barely be heard above the low buzzing of the fluorescent lights above. These lights illuminated the haunting, sickly yellow colored floor and wallpaper of the dank and musty room I had seemingly spawned into. My thoughts wandered. I was not initially panicked, although I could feel quite a bit of unease upon gazing upon the strangely familiar scene. I could have sworn I had seen this place before. Perhaps in a dream. Regardless, I glanced behind me, recalling that I was leaning against the wall of my campus building before disappearing into this place. I walked back to the wall and laid my hand on the tacky wallpaper. I pushed against it, but nothing happened. Stunned and beginning to feel an onset of anxiety, I pulled my hand back. The cheap wallpaper nearly stuck to my hand, and a noise like that of peeling tape followed the removal of my appendage. I could feel myself sweating under the lights above. I had no idea where I was, only that I had to leave. Now.
I walked at first. Despite the dread forming in my heart, I sauntered along in no general direction. The situation became increasingly frightening as I came to the realization that these rooms were repeating randomly. Walls were placed sporadically about, and sometimes even archways made of the same material as the walls would stand in the middle of the rooms. Some rooms were large, some contained multiple other rooms. Even further, some rooms were narrow. So narrow, in fact, that I could not fit through them. I even recall individual walls sitting idle in the middle of nowhere. Panic started to set in the moment I realized I was getting nowhere fast. I was hyperventilating. My entire body was drenched in cold sweat, and I felt I had no choice but to run. I sprinted through the nonsensical labyrinth before me, not knowing in the slightest where I was going. If ever I reached a dead end, I would simply turn in another direction and start running that way instead. That’s when I recalled the cellphone in my pocket. I came to an abrupt stop in the middle of a short hallway. I dialed my friend’s number, but the call dropped immediately. Perhaps his phone had died, I reasoned with myself. I then called my mother, whose call also dropped upon dialing. Now having a full blown panic attack, I called almost everyone in my contacts list. Even people I had not spoken to in ages. Not a single call went through. Not even my call to 911 was answered. Defeated and out of stamina, I fell to the floor and simply began to cry. This had to be some kind of lucid dream, right? But it felt too real. There’s no way this was anything but reality.
Coming to my senses once again, I stood up and surveyed the area. I had no clue what time it was, nor did I know how long I had been there. I thought back to what I was doing before this. I had just arrived at my university campus, waiting for classes to start. I had a test I had studied for all night last night, and I groggily leaned against the wall. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, I had moved through the wall and was now standing somewhere completely different. This horrid, yellow, musky place. Surely this was just a side effect of sleep deprivation. After all, I pulled an all-nighter. The more I tried to reason with myself, the more dejected I became, as the reality of my situation began to sink in. But this will end soon, right?. I just have to keep moving...