World Over | #SHAWROCKETPRIZE

Chapter 1

Run. Run.

The only word I could think of. It played on in my head played like a broken record between the walls of my skull. My body ran out of adrenaline a long time ago, and the fear pulsing through my veins kept my legs moving. I didn't know why I was still running. Deep down, I knew it wouldn't harm me. Not physically, at least.

Every few minutes I could see my surroundings changed just out of the corner of my eye. Bushy strong trees wilt before me and die off, ending the cycle of life. I envied them, as they no longer had to share this hell with me.

When my breathing strung into brief gasps of air, I began looking for a spot to finally stop. To hide. Yet, this was useless too. It would find me in mere seconds. It watched over me like I was a hamster on a wheel, unaware of a much bigger world behind the glass. Running, running. Always running.

Yet, I still tried each time. Over and over and over again. Isn't that what insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting something else to happen? I wasn't sure if I was in denial of my deteriorating state, or I had come to terms with my inevitable doom. 

With a sudden beep, my body forcefully froze. The forest background of the simulation faded to an endless black. The sound of machine starting back up mocked me, reminding me that it would always be back. It was an endless, fruitless cycle of torment. Over and over and over again. 

The last simulation had preyed on my fear of the unbeknownst. An eerie, dark forest with beastly roars echoing in each direction. It took pleasure in admiring the crippling dread written all over my sweaty, exhausted face. Each time, the simulation was different from the last. If it were not for my deep hatred for it, I would be amused at its creativity.  

The simulation unpaused, and my body fell down like a rag doll onto the ground. I looked around at my surroundings, and before me, it transformed into an endless hallway. White. White. Everything was white. The doors were white, and oh, the windows were painted white too! White, oh—

"Carmen!" a young boy's voice called my name, interrupting my train of thought. The first time I have been referred to. The first time I have heard a voice that was human. My heart sank. It sank down to a spot in my core I never knew existed. It was taunting me.

I paused, and my eyes swole with tears when I finally connected the pieces. That voice. I know who that voice belongs to. I know that voice.

"Eric!"

I cried out, racing towards the source. My exhaustion turned into adrenaline as a slither of hope dangled in front of me like a fish to a cat. The same word came on loop in my head. Run. Run. 

I could see a few meters ahead of me, at most. Nothing. There was no dead end, no final door. Nothing. A continuous pattern of pristine white doors and windows, that also displayed nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. 

Every muscle in my body burnt like a fire, destroying me from the inside. It had blinded me once again with my own selfish wants. And when I felt my body about to give up and collapse, he appeared. 

Eric. 

He was just like when I last saw him. Blonde curly hair, just like mom and dad. Brown eyes. They stood out against the white. And I ran, I ran, I ran. 

But no matter how far I ran, he never seemed to get closer. Always a hand reach away, but I was never close enough to grab him. To hug him again. I've forgotten the feel of human contact. My body ached down to the bone, but I ran. 

I called out his name, but he never called mine again. 

"Eric! Eric!" my voice grew louder, and even as my body came seconds away from succumbing to exhaustion, I managed to scream.  And as if on cue, I collapsed to the ground. 

And just like that, he was gone.

It had done that. It tricked me, yes. It always did. But, never like this. Never like this. I looked around, and once again, I was helpless. The hunter has won. I was not the cat, I was the mouse. 

I did the only thing I could think of, as if it had any humanity. I pleaded with it. "Please!" My exhausted voice screamed into the void. "Don't hurt him, don't hurt my brother, please—" 

"Carmen."

My heart stopped once more. It wasn't my brother, this time. For the first time, it talked. No, not talked. Screeched. Its voice was an infernal cry, scratching the inside of my brain. To my surprise, it had finally decided to answer my cries.

"If you wish to see your brother again, you must make your sacrifice."

It took pity on me, or at the very least it decided it can benefit from my anguish. For once, I was grateful to it. I nodded as hard hard as my weak form would allow me to move.

"Please. Anything." 

"You must survive."