Test Subject

The Alarm

Should I write something back? I don't know what to do. I stare at the note for a while. What if it ain't a scientist? Curiosity is what really drives me to write back.

I pick up the note and pencil and lean the paper on the wall.

Yes, I'm Vienna. Who are you? Are you trying to trick me?

I think this is pretty straight forward. I take the paper and fold it back up. I take it to my closet and put it on my shoe rack and place a folded jumpsuit on top of it.

What if someone else finds it? And I get in trouble? A jumpsuit out of place would make it seem obvious that something is up. I take the pencil and paper and put it underneath a black shoe that is on the ground. The shoe sticks about an inch off the floor due to the pencil being underneath it, but I think it is a better way to hide it than on the rack.

I close the door slowly and back up to my bed and sit. For some reason I feel excited about this.

*****************

The next day (I asume), awake to the banging on my cell. I crawl out of my bed and rush to check the closet. I slide the door open and pick up the shoe the note is under. The note is still there. Being careful, I place the shoe back on top of the note and pencil and close the closet door.

I open my bedroom door and see a guard standing outside the cell with chains in his hands. I was hoping to see the guard who actually talks to me, but instead he is just a different guard. I walk up to the cell door.

"Turn around," he commands.

I sigh and turn around. I put my hands out in front of me ready to be chained. I hear the cell door unlock and the guard slides the cell door open. The chains rattle in his hands. He then chains each of my legs just like a person in prison. He stands and comes in front of me. Just as he is about to chain my hands, an alarm goes off.

I jump from the loud noise. The lights go out, but a red light starts blaring from witin the room and the guard shoves me to the ground. I land on my knees and then fall onto my side. My knees start to throb, but I stay quiet. "Stay down!" The guard yells.

He puts two fingers to the ear device in his ears and stands there for a few seconds. "Understood," he responds.

He pulls out a hand gun from his belt and makes his way outside the cell door. He slides the cell door closed and locks it. Staying on the ground, I watch as he runs out the room's door.

The alarm is extremely loud! I put both of my hands over my ears hoping to block out the sound. I look around only to see the entire room in red due to the emergency light blinking. What is happening? I hear a loud whistle from outside the door.

Not knowing what to do, I sit on the floor with my hands over my ears. The guard said to stay down, but should I really just sit here and do nothing? This could be a good chance to try to do something while the attention is not on me.

I crawl to the cell door and try opening it, but it remains locked. I skake the door as if it would magically unlock itself. I push myself against the bars of the door with force a couple times trying to break out, but it won't budge. My arm starts to sting in pain and for a few seconds my arm goes numb. The alarm is so loud that I can barely hear the metal rattling.

I sit on the floor and try taking the chains off my legs. "Come on!" I scream in frustration. I don't worry that someone will hear me because the alarm is still ringing.

In defeat, I sit down on the floor and lean against the table. I can't remember the last time the alarm went off. It must be years since it last rang.

I sit there staring at the red light blinking as it illuminates the room in red.

Curious about something, I try to stand. It's a little hard trying to stand when two of your legs are chained together with only a few inches of space in between. I head to my bedroom and head to the bathroom. As I open the small steel slot door from the laundry, I try to take a peek inside. I can see a faint red light blinking down below. This really shows me how far up I am from the basement. The red glow is barely visible.

What if this is my only chance to try to escape? Thinking this, I try different ways to fit into the laundry slot. The problem is that I don't fit! My head can barely fit inside.

The red light still blares from down below. I wonder if I can see exactly how far down the laundry slot goes. Pulling my head out from the slot, I take off my right shoe and hold it inside the laundry slot. Should I drop it? This will probably be my only opportunity to be able to actually see how deep it goes. I was punished for doing something like this before.

I stick my head inside and peer down. I release the shoe from my grip and watch as it falls down to the bottom. The light is not bright enough for me to keep in sight, and so the shoe slowly fades away as it keeps going down. By the looks of it, the basement is really far down. I stand there waiting to hear it hit the bottom, but with the alarm still going, the sound never comes.

Since I just dropped a shoe down the laundry slot, it would mean it's at the top of a laundry pile? I don't know how this works. I try to rush to my closet, but the chains tied to my feet slow me down. When I open the closet, I take all my black jumpsuits and rush back to the laundry slot. One by one I drop them down the laundry slot. This way, when the clothes goes down, they would pile on top of the shoe and that way, hopefully, no one would see it.

This plan won't work, but it's worth a try. There's no way a shoe could go unseen while doing laundry. I just wish whoever does laundry, slacks off.

Dissapointed, I take my head out and stand there clueless. What else could I try? Nothing comes to mind.

Just then, I hear multiple heavy footsteps and yelling rush in the room. I quickly leave the bathroom and make my way to the cell door. Guards bust in with weapons and make their way around the room. A few of them come towards me and point their weapons at me.