Pandemonium

Chapter 1

Her eyes opened to darkness as she sucked in a sharp breath, and began to cough from the sudden rush of air into her lungs. Her hands immediately went to the sides of the tube she was in. An eerie blue light turned on above her head and she had to blink. For a few moments she couldn't make out anything. When her eyes adjusted she looked around frantically but whatever the contraption was, it was smooth and hopelessly flawless.

"Let me out!" She yelled and began to beat her arms and hands against the inside of the tube.

After a few panicked moments she felt herself calm, reason was overcoming mindless panic. She needed to remember, but who she was and where she was seemed beyond her reach. She began to focus on her breathing, start with something simple she told herself. She looked at her clothes and began to feel along her sides. She was wearing some sort of flowing dress, it was maroon. She lifted up one foot and could just make out a small shoe, which looked like a sock with padding on the bottom. The dress wasn't actually a dress because it separated and ended in cuffs at her ankles.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to force a memory to surface. A shadowed man reached out to her; there was water and something floating just beyond her vision. The image was fading as her head began to ache. Just as it was completely out of focus he turned back and reached for her, "Penelope."

Her eyes shot open as there was a mechanical click and a slot in the perfectly smooth tube opened. Two metal bracelets clamped down on her wrists as a contraption came down and shoved a strange mask over her face. She tried to shake it off but it latched itself around her head. She sucked in a terrified breath and found that it was pumping regular air.

The metal shackles released but it was far too late, the slot had already closed. Before she could fully inspect her surroundings water began to be pumped into the cylinder. She tried to pull herself up but the water seemed to be rising faster and faster. As the last of it went over her head and it was entirely full she began to lose her focus. She tried to scream but the tube opened and she was dropped head first.

Her arms went out as she began to flail until she fell through a hole. Suddenly, she was falling but slowly, as though she were a feather that was floating gracefully. Her dress spread out from her like a daisy petals and she seemed to be making a graceful decent. She could see the floor of the great building, it was tiles arranged to look like waves. She touched down in the center where brown tiles spread out from her in a circle. The waves all went away from her, as though she were the center of the wheel and it was her spokes.

She was about to take a step when she paused. The breathing apparatus wasn't on her anymore, and she realized it seemed to be gone. She touched her face but only felt her nose and lips free of any machine. For some reason all of it seemed familiar but she couldn't remember from where. Somehow she expected it to be there and realized that nothing was as it seemed. Her fingers went to the back of her neck and she felt the two little metal circles.

She glanced over and there stood a great elk; its head had branches of cherry blossoms. It was familiar somehow. She began to run after it, calling for it to stop. It bound off with little effort and when she rounded the corner it glanced back. A great hall of mirrors gave her pause as it stood at the other end watching her. She ran after it as it disappeared around the corner.

"Wait!" She called running towards it without hesitation.

She was reflected in the mirrors as she ran. The mirrors reflected themselves back onto the opposite mirror over and over again. For some reason they almost seemed to be made of liquid but when her eyes focused on them they were solid. When she reached the other wall it was solid and there didn't appear to be a way to go. It was black, an all absorbing darkness like a black hole and there were no mirrors within a few feet of the back wall.