Killing Me Gently

Chapter 1

"Okay class, today we are learning the proper sentence structures of the novel...."

His voice was trailing off in my mind. There's just something about today that feels off for me. I guess we all have one of those days every now and then. I sit at my desk, spinning my pencil between my fingers, drowning out today's lecture. It was, in a word, colorless. I've never experienced a more uninteresting professor in my whole college career.

When he released class, I headed to my car to drive home. The weekend was up ahead and, even though I don't do much on the weekends, I enjoy the days off from school. As I approached my car, I noticed a little business card poking out of my window. I picked it up and read

"Dear student, are you in need of some extra cash? Go online to the link below and we can help you find part time, full time, seasonal, and even odd jobs!"

Then it included a little web url on the bottom.

At first, I didn't put much thought into it. Honestly, I felt like it was a scam, until I got into a car accident and couldn't afford the bill. Seemingly out of nowhere, I saw the business card on my nightstand and I went to the url. I filled out a few submission forms for odd jobs and I got an email back to a facility testing a new serum to help depression.

The facility, to my surprise, looked very professional. It was clean and they made sure that I was disinfected before entering.

"What brings you in today?" asked the woman leading me to my room.

"Uhh...you guys were hiring for test subjects and I need the money." I responded.

"Ah. So the money. We get that a lot." she smiles at me.

"Here's your room." she says while opening the door. Inside is very...standard. The walls and floors are white and in the middle of the room is a sink, some cabinets, and a medical recliner. She leaves me to wait in the room and shuts the door. It's boring but for $100, it's worth it. After a while, a man comes in and explains my right to deny the treatment and by doing so, I forfeit payment.

He injects the serum into my neck and it stings as it enters my veins. I feel a burning sensation within my body, then the sensation turned into agonizing pain. I start clawing at my neck reflexively, to the point of bleeding, to the point where I have to be restrained. The man ordered anesthesia for me to be put to bed. A woman put a mask on my face and started the machine. My vision darkened around the edges until eventually my world went black.

I woke up in a bed I didn't recognize. The good news is that I wasn't restrained anymore and I no longer felt any pain. Instead, I felt unadulterated happiness. The clock next to my bed read 1:15am and that's when I saw it.

A light. A purple light.

I got out of bed and stumbled over to the doorway. Making my way down the hall, the light gets brighter and brighter until I reach the room that it's emitting from. A plasma ball floats in the middle of three pyramids. I should have just gone back to bed but instead, I moved toward it. What was the harm in just a closer look? Mounted to the front was a sign telling me not to touch it. Obviously this created the need to reach for it.

I touched my fingertips to the ball, seeing the little purple lines move around my finger and then, the center of the ball started glowing brighter. The light grew until it was covering my entire soul. It became almost unbearable and for a moment, it felt like my bodily functions had stopped working. When the light faded, I was hyperventilating and dizzy. I vomited not once, but twice.

Once I calmed down, I left the room and tried to go back to bed, only I couldn't find my room. Actually, the whole building looks completely different. I started freaking out as I desperately tried to find the exit and that's when I heard it.