Chapter One

“Today’s my birthday,” I whispered in a faint hush. There was no reply; the room remained still. They were both lying on the ground, asleep. The room was dark; there were no windows, just a few air vents situated in each corner of the room. The only thing that stood before us was a locked door with no keyhole. There was no sunlight, it was all manufactured. Fluorescent bulbs served as our sun. They were turned on during the day then off again at night. We were given no beds, not even a pillow. The only other thing in the room was a toilet, concealed behind a bamboo wall separator, and a leaky faucet. We avoided using the sink; if we did we would be forced to hear the thing drip on for hours.

“And how the hell would you know?” A voice grunted from beside me. He lifted his head from the un-swept tiled floor. I could only see the faint outline of his body in the dimness of the room.

“It was my tenth birthday when they took me away. I was in the middle of celebrating at my party.” I began to explain.

“How many times do I have to hear this story? What makes you so sure it’s your birthday?” He disagreed. Time had lost all perception here; there were no calendars or clocks on the wall. There was no way to tell what day it really was.

“We will get apples today,” I answered.

“We always get apples, that doesn’t mean anything.” He said.

 
“We had apples the first day I was here. They feed us a different fruit each day, out of a cycle of seven fruits; Apple, banana, grape, pear, strawberry, peach and orange. There are seven days in a week, fifty-two weeks in a year. This will be our three hundred and sixty-fourth apple. And I will be seventeen today.”

“Damn, you keep track of all this? What about a leap year? Have you factored in that?” He said, making his usual smart remarks.

“Why do you always have to bring my hopes down, Dice?” I retaliated, raising my voice in frustration.

“Keep quiet now, Bri is still sleeping.” He reminded me. It was quite obvious why he immediately changed the subject.

“Fine then, I’ll go back to sleep.” I grunted back. I lowered myself down on to the cold floor. I brought my arms in close together and used them as a cushion for my head. I stared at the light fixture above, which still hadn’t turned on. I presumed it was still early morning and the light probably wouldn’t be turned on for several hours to come. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep with happy thoughts that something special would actually happen on my birthday. Of course, nothing would happen, but it was comforting chancing that possibility.

The lights had awoken me hours later. It was bothersome to continue to sleep. The room flashed from its pitch-black state to a dull fluorescent glow. The overhead light fixtures began to flicker repeatedly.
“Happy birthday, Erik!” Brienna said as my eyes fluttered open.

With a long yawn, I sat up. “Thanks, did Dice tell you?” I glanced over at Dice, who gave a small grin in return. He was so unpredictable sometimes. Dice was very taciturn about his private matters, never mentioning his past and was often quiet about some things. I always wondered about him. Every time we tried asking him, he would never answer. He always gave us the same response; that it was nothing special, or he would just change the subject.

“What are you guys going to give me for my birthday?” I asked, a wide grin spreading over my face.

“What do you want, seventeen punches and a pinch for an inch?” Dice teased.

“I’ll give you a kiss on the cheek.” Brienna offered.

“That won’t be necessary.” Dice said sternly. “I never got anything for my birthday.”

“That’s because you never told us when your birthday was.” Bri explained.  

 
“October thirteenth, I’ll be nineteen then.” Dice muttered, turning away from us.

“Wow, didn’t realize you were such an old timer.” Brienna said in jest.

Dice was still turned away from us; I could sense the tension in him by the way he was sitting. His arms were crossed, muscles tightened, and his breathing grew heavy. Brienna inched her way towards him, crawling over the muck on the floor.

“Dice, is something wrong?” Bri asked, gently tapping his shoulder with the tips of her fingers.

“Nothing, just don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” He answered, rejoining the two of us. It was clear that something was bothering him about his past. What it was �" I wondered.

We sat around, doing whatever we could to pass the time. We mostly just talked, comforted by any human interaction we could get. The time we spent in the room was immeasurable. I felt like a pet trapped in a cage, confined to such a miniscule area while a vast world remained waiting. Unfortunately we had no big wheel or tube pipes like rodents did. We were more like venomous snakes, circumscribed to our rectangular prism. They feared us and tried to make the least amount of contact, wearing surgical masks and biohazard lab suits when they were in our presence. I wondered what made us so different, so poisonous that they had to protect themselves from our plague.

A booming knock arrived at our door. It caught me off guard; I nearly jumped when I heard it. Three more knocks followed soon after, and then a clicking sound. The door creaked its way open, sliding the thick metal inward into the wall. A man in a white lab coat stood forward, his face protected by a gas mask. Resting beside him was a tall metal cart with platforms wide enough to fit a person or two. He pushed forward on to the metal cart, strolling it past the doorway. The cart stopped and the man reached inside one of the compartments. He pulled out a large tray of food and gently placed it on the tiled floor. As predicted, there were apples, red apples, the colour crimson. Next to the apples there were three plastic bowls of oatmeal, three metal spoons, a 2L bottle of water and three cartons of 2% milk. The man didn’t say a word and continued on his way out, leaving our only meal for the day behind him. The door slid shut with the three of us all staring down at our food.

Without hesitation, I grabbed a metal spoon and a bowl of oatmeal and brought them closer towards me. I dunked my spoon straight in to the mushy substance, scooping up a large portion of oatmeal and then shoving it into my mouth. I swallowed it all down with much difficulty. I was tired of eating oatmeal, it was the only thing they fed us, other than the seven pieces of fruit which apparently made up for our lack in nutrients. I had no choice but to eat it and even so it was never enough. They only fed us just enough to survive, to keep us living. I set my spoon gently on top of the bowl and watched the others eat. Dice ate rather quickly, but Brienna was barely touching her food.

“Is something wrong, Bri? You’re not eating.” I asked as she fiddled around with her spoon.

“I’m fine. I’m just not up for oatmeal today.” She answered coldly, holding her stomach.

“Take our apples, we’ll have your oatmeal.” Dice suggested. I grunted silently to myself. Dice was at it again, it wasn’t hard to miss.

“Thanks, but I’m fine really.” She said modestly. She tucked her hands inside her sleeves, something was definitely up. Brienna wasn’t usually the kind to play with her food and her tone of voice was much lower than usual.

“Bri, let me see your hands!” Dice urged. He crawled over and grabbed her arms gently. She nervously slid her hands forward, revealing her hands out from her sleeves. I felt my eyes widen. Her hands were pale and swollen; they trembled as she held them out.

“What’s wrong? Please tell me.” Dice begged in such a gentle voice, one I rarely heard him use.

“I’m just a little cold. There’s nothing to worry about.” She reassured him.

Dice shook his head then slid his hands underneath her fringe and felt her temperature.
“Bri, you’re burning up.” He announced, in a slow, anxious tone.

“Oh god.” I started to panic then gradually calmed myself down after realizing how stupid I must have just sounded.

“How long have you had this fever?” Dice questioned, now removing his hand from her forehead.

 
“Only about a day. I’ll be fine Dice, please don’t worry about me.” She spoke as if nothing was wrong, but I could see panic in her eyes, she was just as worried as we were.

“I’m not going to let you die, just like Melissa did. Please Bri, just let us help you.” Dice begged once more. For once I saw a different side to him, a persona I had never seen him act upon.

“I’ll eat. Just don’t worry now.” Brienna assured him, grabbing her spoon and now eating at a leisurely pace.

“Melissa.” I whispered to myself. Her name hadn’t been spoken for quite some time now. Her death was tragic and sad, bringing nightmares for weeks after. I tried to shake it off, to forget her name was even mentioned and move on, but her whispers still echoed in her head. I closed my eyes and thought of other things �" anything to help me forget. I succeeded to keep my mind off her, but only for a moment.

The three of us continued eating our meals, until our bowls of oatmeal were wiped clean. I reached for my apple and then held it in my hand, staring at it for quite some time. I imagined the stem being lit on fire, acting as a candle and the apple as the cupcake. With the small flame dancing on the wick, I blew softly on to it, making my birthday wish.

We had finished eating our apples, not leaving a single trace of anything consumable. Several minutes later the door slid open, the same man had come back to collect our tray and garbage. He grabbed our tray with the three bowls, three empty milk cartons, three apple cores and two spoons resting on the tray. He placed it on the cart then exited the room, closing the door behind him. 

I stared over at Dice who had an innocent look on his face. It was obvious that he had the missing spoon. I knew Brienna wouldn’t have kept it and I knew for sure I didn’t have it. I kept quiet and sank back on to the floor with my head resting on my hands, staring up at the dim light fixtures.

What was Dice going to do with that spoon? Even if he could eventually pry through the bars on the air vents, they weren’t nearly big enough to squeeze through. There was no keyhole on the door, so there was no way he could pick the lock. He couldn’t dig a hole, because that would man breaking up the tile. Besides, they came in to check on us once a day, so they could easily find out about the hole. The only other explanation I could think of would be him using it as an entertainment device; of course a spoon wouldn’t make the best toy either.

“Tired?” He asked, appearing down on the floor beside me. I was somewhat startled by his immediate presence. Perhaps he was on to me and knew that I had figured out his little ploy.

“No, just bored,” I answered. He kept quiet, not even flinching.

“What are you doing with that spoon?” I demanded.

“Spooning? Does it look like I’m spooning her? Do you even know what that means?” He sneered, getting smart with me.

“Spoon, as in eating utensil. What are you going to do with it?” I made myself clear.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have any spoons.” He answered, furrowing his brow. “See?” Vigorously, Dice shook the top and bottom of the ugly Maxis brand pajamas they forced us to wear. I bit my tongue; Dice was innocent all along. We both got off the floor and stared at Brienna in unison. She sat lonesome in the centre of the room, running her fingers through her long, ginger hair.

“What would Bri be doing with a spoon?” I asked in a humorous manner.

“I don’t know, but if you want me to ask, forget about it.” He answered, crawling back in to the centre of the room. I snickered at the two of them then slid back down on to the floor, again resting my head upon my hands.  

Minutes later, there was another knock at the door. This knock was much more powerful and much louder than our usual food knock. I got off from the floor and stared intently at the door. It was for the spoon, why else would they be knocking at the door? After all, our weekly tutor came on banana days. I gulped in fear as I heard the click from the other side. The door slid open, with another man dressed in a white suit and surgical mask greeting us at the opening. He marched forward in to the room, holding a clipboard which he read over a few times before addressing us.

“Zero-one!” He shouted my number; an unfriendly scowl was plaster on beneath his mask. I promptly got up from the ground and stood up straight, my body shuddering in cowardly fear.

Why was I being blamed for the stupid spoon? I didn’t take it. I whimpered to myself.
“It’s time for your shower.” He announced. Immediately I felt the one-hundred pound pressure release from my shoulders. I had forgotten that apple days were my shower days. We were only given one shower a week and mine just happened to fall on my birthday.

I walked over toward the man with somewhat of a smirk on my face. This was just about the only time they allowed us to leave the room and it was always so brief. I turned around and faced my back to him. He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and handcuffed my hands together. Both Dice and Brienna gave me envious looks as I was about to leave the room; of course the two of them were probably happy to have some time without me. After I was handcuffed, the man grabbed me by the shoulder and held on to it with his death-like grip. I walked out in to the open with the door sliding shut behind us.

My feet were immediately cold, stepping barefoot on to the cold metal flooring of the hallway. The hallways were terribly bright. The glare hurt my eyes, as I was not used to being in such a luminous environment. Pipes ran all around decaying brick walls. The floor crunched as I stepped over a pile of paint chips, which had fallen off the walls several years ago. I stared down at my once pale feet now darkened by the brushing of death. I continued walking down the long narrow corridor, passing several rooms identical to ours. I tried to keep my head up, avoiding the sight of bugs that crawled over the floor: spiders, centipedes, millipedes, worms, ants, pill bugs and cockroaches, just to name a few. The screeching jet sound of steam could be heard coming out of the basement turbines. The ceiling rumbled, as fluids flew past the pipes, dripping green liquid out of every leak or loose end.

The building was a factory, under unknown operations. They told us so little about what was going on. To be honest, I didn’t even know if there were any others besides the three of us. We were always trapped in the room and we never crossed paths with anyone on our way to the shower.

We turned right at the corner and proceeded walking just a few feet further. I stood against the pipe free wall and waited as he opened the door to the shower. He held a key card that all of the workers used to open the doors of the factory. I heard a clicking sound then saw a green light flash at the machine. The door slid open, lighting up the hallway with a bright glow.

I took a step inside the room, surveying the surroundings. The room was rather small and completely tiled. It reminded me of one of those shower rooms they had at campgrounds. There was a low-pressure showerhead on the far centre wall. A towel rack with a clean white towel hung steadily on the far left wall away from the shower. Below the rack was a shelf with a clean set of clothes ready for me to change into afterwards. Following that shelf was another; which was empty and for me to place my dirty clothes on.

I kept myself adjacent to the shower, so that the man could take off my handcuffs. He pulled a small key from his pocket and unlocked the handcuffs, blocking off any possible escape with his muscular arms and legs. Once I was free, he pushed me deeper in to the shower room.

“Hurry up, don’t take forever!” He mumbled whilst closing the shower door. He then left to wait outside. I undressed myself and placed my dirty clothes on the shelf. I walked over to the showerhead and turned the knob left, putting it on hot. The warm water relaxed my enervated body. I felt so dirty, having not taken a shower in a week; but then again, I was used to it. I stood underneath the water, enjoying the warmth and freeing my head of all thoughts. After standing for a couple of minutes I reached for the dispenser and pushed down on the shampoo. I threw the liquid on to my hair and began to lather it, scrubbing off any possible dandruff.

I stood underneath the warm spray some more after my head had been completely rinsed off. The room started getting rather steamy, with the water running on high for so long. I prolonged my standing a little longer before soaping, just enjoying what little luxury I had. The drainage water started to gargle little, making an aberrant sound out of the usual. I ignored it and stood underneath the water some more. The drain repeated itself once again, but I continued to ignore it. And if things weren’t strange enough, a faint whisper leaked itself out from the showerhead. I crossed my arms, holding on tightly to myself, perplexed at the unexpected.

“Errriiik.” The voice grew louder. I nearly leaped forward as I heard my name called out. “Who is it? Where are you?” I asked, voice shaking after each syllable. The showerhead began to screech even louder, pouring out more gallons by the second. The fog started getting heavier and heavier, almost to the point where I could barely see my own hands. “What do you want?” I shouted.

The pouring water from the shower stopped for a brief second. When the water returned, it began to mist instead of its usual spraying. Tiny droplets, crystal clear, began to form above the dense, thick, fog. I looked up; trying to see what was being formed through the haze. I was only able to get a peek of what was forming and it looked like just another layer of vapor. Within seconds, I felt a gush of fresh air blow straight at my body. The breeze extended its way down, sinking swiftly to the ground. I looked down at the ground and saw the faint outline of my legs shaking in fear of it all. That same layer of mist was now surrounding my foot, looking as if it would crawl up at any second.

“What the hell do you want with me?” I demanded. Abruptly, the shower stopped screeching. The room grew silent. The only noise to be heard was the faint dripping sound of the water droplets leaking out of the showerhead. My breathing grew fast yet heavy. Fingers trembling, I cautiously reached out my hands to turn the water off but then suddenly drew them back when the water turned from hot to blistering cold within a few seconds.

“Errrikuuur, think back.” The voice spoke softly. The mist began to writhe its way up my leg, wrapping itself in spirals like vines. I crossed my arms firmly, holding my body as tight as I could. The coldness of the mist trickled its way north, leaving goose bumps on each area it passed.

The mist slithered its way past my hip, inching its way towards my stomach and up my arms. It felt like a cold blade was being lightly scraped against my body. It screeched louder as it began to envelop my shivering arms. I looked down at the mist in terror as it began to subside itself right in the carriage of my arms. I gasped and spluttered out a small choking noise as the alien-like substance began to reform itself. My body trembled in shock, my legs shook to the point where I was beginning to lose my balance. I slipped on the wet tiles and fell straight down with the mist still leeching upon my arms. The substance got even more frigid, sticking to my skin like solid ice. The mist began to take shape, appearing more and more life-like until the figure had fully formed.

Its face leapt out at me, causing me to crawl back far enough that my head made strong, excruciatingly painful contact with the cement wall behind me. I screamed at the sight of its face, loud enough to make me wonder what the man on the other side was thinking. Its haunting face blinked in such a ghost-like demeanor. The figure began to quiver as if it was having some sort of seizure. Horrific enough, the face morphed out of its ghastly-like appeal in to a more familiar face with much softer features. Immediately I recognized the new figure.