Horizon

Chapter 1

           

Have you ever woken up from a dream, or a nightmare, and wondered where you were? Have you slowly opened your eyes and muttered to yourself, "Where am I?"

            Sure, right? It's probably happened to all of us at least once.

That feeling usually doesn't last long, as your eyes start to adjust to the light in the room. When you start to see pieces of furniture, or objects around the room, your brain immediately start connecting your memories with what you see. After a few seconds of confusion, you can relax knowing that you just woke up in your bedroom.

            Yeah...that didn't happen for me.

After a few minutes of falling in and out of sleep, I blinked the heaviness out of my eyes. Looking into the shadows, I could see the outlines of furniture. I couldn't tell whose it was, however. It was the same with the bed-sheets. I couldn't remember ever feeling those sheets. Within seconds, I knew that I wasn't in a room I had been in before.

"Huh?" I mumbled aloud, still groggy from sleep. "I'm not...this isn't my room."

When I couldn't recognize where I was, fear started to radiate within me. As my eyes kept adjusting to the darkness that still covered the room, I couldn't make out anything I could remember. Now, I was seventeen when this happened...but it's not like I was an idiot. My mind immediately kicked itself into gear as I thought about places that one might find themselves waking up in.

            After a few more seconds of analyzation, I couldn't even figure out what happened the night before I woke up.  I racked my brain trying to remember, but I felt like there was a hole in my mind. The residual sleepiness within me scurried away, as I started to think about other possible scenarios I could have been in.

            "What the..." I muttered confusedly. "Where the hell am I?"

            I sat up from the bed, and pulled the sheets away from me. The thought that was most important to me at the moment, was, "Am I in danger?" With that in mind, I moved the sheets that were covering me, and ran my hands across the surface of my legs. I couldn't feel any cuts, scrapes, or bruises on my legs; and they seemed to be perfectly functional. I did a quick check of my chest, arms, and head; and found that they were also fully functional. Other than a mild soreness, which I could feel across my entire body, I felt fine.

            "Okay," I muttered within myself. "What's next?"

            I calmed myself as best as I could, and struggled to figure out what was going on. I was on a bed, but I wasn't tied up. That meant I was free to leave the bed. However, that didn't mean I could just walk out of the home I was in. The door to the bedroom was shut. I couldn't tell if that was for my privacy, or if whoever put me here didn't want me to leave the room.

            I figured my next move was to figure out if there was someone standing by the door, or not. As quietly as I could, I slipped out of the bed, and slunk to the floor. Resting my head on the floor, and looking under the door; I couldn't see any sign of someone standing directly in front of the door.

            Beside the door? I couldn't tell.

            As I stood back up, I moved over to one of the dresser, and quickly put on what I could find: a pair of black athletic shorts that were just a little too small, and a white undershirt. I didn't know what I was going to find behind the door, but if I was going to meet my maker, then I was going to do it with some clothes on.

            As I was getting dressed, I noticed a blank piece of printer paper on top of the dresser. I hastily grabbed it, and folded it a couple of times. I moved back to the door, and gently slid the paper out through the bottom of the door. Somebody who could have been standing by the door, should notice something shooting past their feet. After a few seconds of waiting, I guessed that no one was anywhere near the door.