It seems like I've just closed my eyes before I'm being awakened again. This time I have a terrible headache right behind my eyes. I open them, but immediately close them again. I'm lying on the floor of a room painted completely white.
Shielding my face with my hand, I shift into a sitting position and take another look. There's no light source that I can see, but the whole room is unbearably bright. Slowly my pupils adjust, and I see that I'm not exactly in a room.
It's crazy to describe, and my brain hurts just thinking about it. It's just space, forever and ever, never stopping. There are no walls, no floors, just white.
But then I see that it's not just white. There are little black specks scattered all around. I count six dots. One starts moving, then another, until I realize those dots are my friends.
We're so far away that they look tiny, and it's hard to tell who is who against the white. I stand up and start jumping up and down, trying to get someone's attention.
"You know you look ridiculous." I whip around to see that one of the dots has come a huge distance in a very short amount of time.
"Brady, seriously! You gave me a heart attack!" I take my hand away from my face to find the white wasn't so garish anymore. "How the heck did you get here so fast?"
He shrugs and replies, "It's some sort of illusion. You're not really miles away from everybody else."
I gave him an angry look for scaring the life out of me, then tested his theory. Sure enough, within a few steps I can see everyone else clearly. I turn to Kendall first.
She meets me halfway and we have one of those dramatic best-friend hugs. She is still squinting, but otherwise she looks fine.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"Yeah, I was about to ask you the same thing."
"I do have this really terrible headache though."
I reply, "Don't worry, it mostly goes away once you get used to all the white."
"Okay." She pauses, looking around. "Where are we?"
"Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 500 feet underwater."
"Jeez! What is it with boys and scaring the crap out of people?!" Kendall yips.
I shove Adam and it seems like I've pushed him ten feet away. "Yeah, stop sneaking up on us!"
He raises his hands as if to ward off another attack. "Hey, don't kill the messenger! Logan wants you to know we're all over thataway." He points and I can see a little semi-circle of people has formed.
The three of us walk over and sit down, making almost a full circle. "Hey, where's Jake?"
Brigen answers me by pointing. I can see a small form getting farther and farther away.
"Well what's she doing?"
"She's trying to see how far the white goes." Logan says.
She won't find an end. It goes on forever.
Well, nice of you to join us.
"The white goes on forever." Everybody looks at me.
"How do you know?" Brady asks.
I struggle for an acceptable answer. "I just do."
You need to get your friend back. You need to be together when it happens.
Okay... you really are a stickler for details aren't you.
"You guys know she won't give up. We should go get her." The others surprisingly agree and we start moving as a pack. The distance illusion starts making me dizzy after a while. It messes with my mind.
We find Jake sitting on the ground holding her head. "We're trapped. It never stops. We are stuck here... forever."
As if on cue, my head explodes. Well, it didn't literally explode but it sure felt that way. There are brightly colored explosions from behind my eyes, and I fall backwards. My whole sense of balance is disrupted and I can't tell up from down.
Then something clicks and military-like green words start scrolling right in front of me. I wave my hand in front of my face but it doesn't connect with the words, it's like the words are inside my brain.
I look down and startlingly realize I'm starting to flicker out. Literally, my body is flickering like a candle. I start to feel like I'm being sucked away when the voice in my head speaks.
Buckle up Anna. This is going to be a long ride...
