Esoteric

Chapter 8: Silence

Mary awoke to pitch black silence. Her body was crawling with goosebumps the minute she peeled her eyes open. Sitting up and rubbing her neck, she saw the light from the other side of the cafeteria flooding from the window and breathed a sigh of relief. Stumbling to her feet, she walked over to the window and pressed her hands against the wall in search of the door. She knocked over the trash can and jumped back as it made a rattling sound on the floor. Finally, she reached the door and pushed it open, squinting her eyes at the familiar blinding lights.

Molly was seated at the table they had been at the previous day. Mary approached her while running her hand through her hair, trying to fight the sleepiness that was taking over. She sat down across from Molly, covering her eyes from the lights.

"Oh, you're awake. Congratulations! Another night survived." Molly sarcastically said, taking a bite out of a chocolate chip muffin.

"What is your problem?" Mary said in between a yawn, keeping her eyes down at the table. "And what happened to the lights in there?"

"Oh yeah, I turned them off because it was too bright to sleep in there. You're welcome." Molly explained.

Mary sat up and reached for the last muffin that was left. She bit into it but didn't enjoy it as much as last nights feast. It felt dry and hard, so she took a sip of cold water to wash it down.

"I was thinking today we could do more exploring. Ya know, case the joint a bit." Molly suggested, gingerly getting up and putting a plastic wrapper in a trash can.

"As if that's not what we do everyday." Mary sighed.

"There's nothing else to do. I divided the food into piles for each of us to carry."

"Why don't we just put the food into one of the empty trash cans and roll it around? There's way too much here for us to carry." Molly said in between bites.

"Are you serious?" Molly put her hands on her hips and looked like she was holding in laughter.

"Um...yes? Taking all this food with us will slow us down, it'll be easier if we just use something to carry it."

"Fine, whatever floats your boat." Molly finished with a shrug.

"Also, what about those footsteps we heard last night? It might not be safe to go out yet." Mary said, suddenly remembering the scare from the previous day.

"We were fine the entire night, I think whoever it is must of left. We should be okay."

Mary didn't answer, instead she shivered at the fact that Sylvia or someone else could be waiting at any moment to pounce on them as soon as they entered the hall. She tried to ditch the thought by distracting herself with placing the food in an empty trash can. Mary could feel someone's eyes on her, and turned around to see Molly watching her in amusement.

"What?" She asked, dumping more food into the trash can.

"Nothing. It's just a really creative idea," Molly responded, putting a hand over her mouth.

Mary could only roll her eyes as she finished placing the last items into the trash. She rolled it over to the door and turned to face Molly.

"We can take turns pushing it. I'll do it first."

"Sure. Genius thinking, it can also double as a weapon in the case of another fight." Molly scoffed.

"Thank you. I would love to fight someone with a trash can." Mary said sarcastically, pushing the door open and taking the trash can with her.

Molly chuckled and followed her out the door. Mary slowed her pace and made sure the coast was clear before continuing. She shrugged after seeing no one, and went on her way.

"We should go right, since left is the way we came from. There's only one way from here."

"Obviously," Molly said.

They continued down the hall, hearing the squeak of the wheels from the trash echo. As far as Mary could see, there was nothing but a long stretch of hallway and lights ahead of them. The thought of walking even more began to make her feel exhausted. Her feet were already aching from the walks she had endured during the past few days.

"Do you have dreams?" Molly said, shattering the silence that had fallen upon them.

"No, why?" Mary asked, keeping her eyes straight ahead.

"I don't have them either. It's weird that we have absolutely no memory, or even dreams. It's like we don't even have an imagination."

"I wonder what made us lose our memory. Do we even have one to begin with?" Mary began to pick up her pace. The whole building felt terrifying and she just wanted a way out.

"We have to. There has to be a reason as to why we're here." Molly said.

Mary exhaled. The conversation they had just exchanged motivated her to keep moving. She couldn't let anything stop her from finding an exit.

"Stop.." Molly said, once again interrupting Mary's train of thought.

She turned around, and noticed that Molly was a few steps behind her. There were two metal double doors with no windows. They had a polished look and reminded Mary of an elevator. Mary gasped at it, and suddenly looked behind her from the way they had came. The cafeteria doors were no longer in sight.

"Is that...an elevator?" Mary questioned, feeling the cool touch of metal on her hand.

"I think so.." Molly looked around the door in curiosity.

"There's no buttons. I wonder what it's for," Mary observed, stepping back and marveling at it.

Suddenly, the doors slid open, making a beeping noise as it did so. A group of girls were packed together inside the small elevator. Mary jumped back, and the others looked equally as shocked. Silence descended upon them.