Last Week’s FFF: Bionic

(Isolation, Part 1)

Bright, yellow light filled the windowless room.  Ted raised his hand to shield his eyes from it’s brightness.  He waited anxious moments for someone to enter the room and tell him that the experiment was finally over.

As he waited, he was filled with both great relief and murderous rage.  It had been five hundred days since he’d last seen or talked to another person.   It wasn’t what he had signed up for.  Not exactly.  He wasn’t sure if he was going to hug or strangle whomever came through that door.  

But, then, no one came through.

Was this part of the experiment? he wondered.

He took small steps towards the door, contemplating if he should stay inside or leave.

His stomach growled.

He looked at the empty cubbies.  500 days of food, gone.  It hadn’t even been a day since he’d had his last meal, and yet, he felt like he was starving.

He edged closer to the door.  Surely, it’d be fine if he were to go out and eat.  The researchers would understand.  And if they didn’t, who cares?  They’d forgotten about him.  They had left him isolated and alone for nearly a year and a half.  He didn’t care about their approval anymore.  He didn’t care about keeping his journals or messing up the study.  He was hungry.

His resolve began to fade as he neared the door.  This place, this room, it had been his everything for so long.  Outside of this chamber was bigger and alien.  From what he remembered, there were long hallways that stretched through a building as big as a warehouse.  And the outside world beyond that.  It was safe in here.  Comfortable and familiar.  It wasn’t just his prison, it was his home.

“Is this what you wanted?” he yelled at the open door.

There was no reply.

“Why don’t you just come in here and tell me what you want me to do?  Should I leave?  Should I stay?  Is there even anyone out there?”

He was getting more agitated.  Still, no response came.

He laughed at the absurdity of his own indecision.  He may have signed up to go into this box, but they couldn’t keep him here any longer.

He summoned his courage, reminded himself that agoraphobia wasn’t a legitimate fear, and walked towards the door.  Though it was open, the intruding light was too bright for him to see through.

As the brightness increased, he turned his head.  He noticed his journals on the desk.  He wondered if he should take them. He dispatched the idea.  If the scientist wanted to know what he had been through, well, then they could read it.  He continued on.

He was only inches away from the door when he heard a static sound from overhead.  He turned back to the room, searching for the source of the sound.  It crackled once more.

Then, for the first time in 501 days, he heard a voice.

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To my readers: sorry that this story doesn’t really have an ending.  I know I just talked about how that’s bad.  But, this one isn’t meant to.  It’s part 2 of a three part story for a series of challenges on the terribleminds blog.  Great resource.  If anyone decides to finish the story, I’ll post the conclusion link here.  And, hey, if you want to finish it, post it below, or a link to your own blog finishing it 🙂