Tabula Rasa

Chapter 1

                    Gradually I woke from a deep sleep, and without opening my eyes I knew it was either very late at night or very early in the morning. My whole body felt wooden and I opened my eyes groggily without moving. I could not perceive any light wherever I was, the darkness was not distinguishable from the black behind my eyelids. As my eyes adjusted to the pale light I threw the sheets off, exposing my naked skin to the chilled air. I felt for the edge of the bed and my searching fingers met a leather belt loop secured to the bed. With my other hand I felt the other side of the bed and found another undone strap. Further exploration revealed two more straps at my feet, one beside my head, and a final one laying beside my ribcage. 

                       I slipped out of the bed, my bare feet meeting cold, hard tile. With a feeling of detached curiosity I padded across the tiles to a thick wall of sound proof glass. I pressed my palm against the cool surface and strained my eyes to see what lay on the other side. Faint shadows swirled in my vision, I couldn't make anything out of the darkness. I turned away and walked in the other direction, only to meet another wall of thick glass a few yards away. I paced the perimeter of the tiny confinement, for that is what it was, and discovered nothing but more glass walls. A distant feeling, reminiscent of anger, flitted through me but was gone in an instant leaving me feeling chilled and hollow. I took a seat on the bed in the center of the box, the only piece of furniture in the room. Goosebumps raised on my exposed skin and I became aware of my immodesty. Lazily, I reached for a thin sheet on the bed and covered my shoulders with it. A growling sound made me start from my lonely perch, but I realized it was only my stomach. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered when the last time I ate was.

                   Blinding, white lights came on all around and above me with the loud sound of a switch connecting. My eye sockets burned and watered weakly, an aching pain swelled in my head and my vision was a wash of burned out white. Instinctively, I covered my searing retinas with my hands and curled over. A loud buzzing from the white lights above filled my head and disoriented me. I stumbled off the edge of the bed, the sheets falling to the tile floor. As my smarting eyes adjusted to the violent white light I lowered my hands to my sides. Not caring that I was wholly nude I approached the nearest glass wall and pressed my hands against the surface and stared through. My glass cage lay in the center of a mirrored room with a sealed steel door on one wall. I was surrounded by impenetrable glass walls at least 2 feet thick and four reflecting mirrors. 

                  I saw a girl standing in one of the mirrored walls looking intently at me with her palms facing me. She stood nude and unnaturally pale, her bones were prominent and her muscles were small but toned and tight. Long white hair fell past her waist and gleamed brightly in the artificial lighting. Wide pale pink eyes, framed in thick white lashes stared at me in the mirror and reflected my emptiness. I turned my back on the girl in the mirror, but I found her staring at me emptily from the other wall. Startled by her sudden appearance I took a step back, bumping into the slick glass wall. 

                       Faintly bewildered I whipped around and long, white hair swept into my face. I stood still then, facing the pale girl again, and looking into her vacant rose colored gaze. I raised my right hand to eye level and maintained eye contact with the girl before me. She too, raised her right hand, looking me dead in the eyes. I dropped my hand to my side quickly and she mirrored my movement. I stood silently and motionlessly and stared at her reflection and she stood opposite me, equally silent and still. With a hiss and a loud click the steel door on the wall to my left burst open and the sounds of three, no four, marching footsteps entered the outer room. I didn't turn to look at them approaching my glass container but out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of four human figures in black suits striding quickly towards me. Ignoring them I stood frozen watching the woman in the reflection. She didn't waver and I had no intention of moving before she did. I heard a second hiss behind me on the left and a rush of cold air entered the room through an entrance I hadn't noticed before. 

                        I watched in the mirror with disinterest as four figures in black gear rushed behind me from all sides seizing my arms and legs too tightly. I didn't struggle, I didn't do anything. They pinned me facedown into the white tiles, one of them pressing their knee in the center of my back. I didn't squirm when the breath was crushed out of me and my arms were tied tightly behind me. One of them grabbed me by the back of my scalp and dragged me up off the floor. I stood between two of the figures, black shiny helmets hiding their faces from me. The one on my left gripped my thin shoulder and my bound wrists. The other pressed the icy barrel of a firearm against my temple.

                         I remained emotionless as they prodded me forward, and followed the figure before me silently. We left the glass confinement, and exited the mirrored room through the big steel door. Outside the door was an endless series of indistinguishable halls that the leader seemed to be able to navigate with ease. I lost my sense of direction entirely after the fourth or fifth turn down yet another empty white hallway. Minutes later, we reached a large gateway, with two metal doors sealed tightly. The leader flipped open a small box beside the doors and typed in a code too quickly for me to see. The box emitted a beep and something inside the doors turned. The doors slid open and once again we were marching forward briskly. In these faceless white tunnels, the occasional steel door would appear on our left or right. We passed through endless halls and past dozens of doors before coming to a halt at the end of one dismal hall. The guard opened the door with a small key and we stepped inside its looming frame.

AN: Hello there! Thank you for reading the first chapter of Tabula Rasa! <3 I hope you enjoyed it; let me know what you thought! See you in the next chapter! C: