All I feel is an ache in my throat.
I reach up and touch the bruised skin of my neck, exhaling the second my fingertip presses against it. It's sensitive, so I start rubbing gently over my throat.
My eyes flutter open carefully. My palms touch the cold, hard floor beneath me as I sit upwards to look at my surroundings, which I can't recognize no matter how hard I try.
I'm in a small, dark room, void of any furniture, illuminated only by a single lightbulb that flickers and buzzes at the center of the ceiling.
Suddenly, like a flash of lightning slicing through my mind, I remember being strangled to the point of unconsciousness. I can see his face so perfectly, staring down at me, his fingers locked around my throat, tightening with every struggling squeak I let out. His eyes were so blue and so small, and his pupils were the size of a ballpoint.
Now, I'm panicking.
Despite how groggy I feel, I scramble right up to my feet. I stare at the only two people in the room with me: two of my classmates, Declan and Alice, who are both sitting on the floor with their backs against each wall.
Alice slowly stands up to her feet, holding onto the wall for support. She then takes a careful step towards me, and I slam my back into the wall to get away from her.
"Louie," Alice says quietly.
I take a good look at her, my lips parted as I gasp for air. My throat is still killing me.
I look over at Declan. His hair is disheveled and his clothes are dirty.
"What is this?" I finally ask. My throat burns with each word I say and my eyes are filled with tears.
This feels like a horrible dream, one that you're aware of while it's happening, that makes you toss and turn as you struggle to wake yourself up from it.
Where is everybody else? Where's Professor Kitt? Where's Kiran, Joe, Rachel, Nate, and...
"Where's Zoe?" I ask desperately, tears flying down my cheeks.
I look at both Alice and Declan, waiting for a response that they don't provide. I almost feel angry at them for being so quiet.
I push past Alice to slam both of my hands against the wooden door.
"Zoe?" I scream out, my voice loud and echoing off the tight walls. "Help!" I cry out, my voice a heavy gasp as I continue to push both of my hands out against the door, hoping that by some miracle, the door will pop open. No surprise, it doesn't. I start pounding my fist against it.
"Louie, we already tried that," Alice says, her voice shaking, and when I look over my shoulder at her, her eyes are pooled with tears, sparkling in the dull yellow light. "Please just try to be calm."
"Be calm?" I laugh. "Let me the fuck out!" I scream so loud, my temples pound. "Let me the fuck out! Now! Help!"
I kick the door hard, over and over, until my toes ache beneath my stupid hiking boots. I feel like I can't breathe, like the walls are closing in, like I'm gonna...
I whip my head towards the corner of the room and start retching. Liquid spews from my mouth. I can still taste the bitterness of the tea stinging my throat and lingering on my tongue.
I vomit until there's nothing left. Then, I slowly stand upright, my stomach still sour, as I walk back over to the door.
The last time I vomited that hard, I was nervous because of a neuroscience exam a few weeks ago. I was so terrified of failing despite spending the previous two weeks studying day and night. I wish that was my problem right now.
I stare at the door, taking in every detail of the wood, every little crack and knick in it. There are so many scratches and dents, and no doorknob - not even a hole where a doorknob should be.
The room is quiet, aside from all of our breathing.
I turn to look at Declan and Alice again. They both seem pretty worn out, sweaty and tired, and I wonder if they're responsible for all of the scratches on the door.
Declan is standing, leaning against the wall, and staring down at the floor with his arms crossed over his chest. He looks exhausted, blinking slowly.
Alice is still looking at me carefully, her eyebrows knitted together and her forehead scrunched.
"Do either of you have an explanation for this?" I ask them weakly. I know they don't.
Alice shakes her head. "No," she says.
I look at Declan expectantly. He must feel me looking at him, because he lifts his gaze from the floor to me. He shakes his head.
"We have no idea where we are or what's going on." His voice is incredibly raspy and worn. It sounds like he must have already tried screaming for help.
"Where is everyone else?" I ask.
"We don't know anything, Louie," Alice tells me. "We'd tell you if we did."
When she reaches up to rub her nose I notice her fingernails are bleeding.
I let out another cry of frustration. Then, I hold my head in a failed attempt to stop it from pounding. "Do you know how long we've been here?"
Alice sits down on the floor. "Declan and I were in here for some time until they brought you in. It was a little while ago... I don't know exactly how long."
What could be happening to Zoe? Is she in another room? Did they kill her? What happened to Professor Kitt, is he still around? Is everyone still alive?
I sit down against the wall and bring my knees up to my chest. I can't believe this is happening. I keep hoping I'm going to wake up at some point in my dorm room with Liam's arm wrapped around me, the sun shining through my blinds.
I'm beyond frustrated. I never should have gone on this stupid hike. Why did I let Zoe convince me to do it? I hate the class too, who even gives a shit about plants and science? It was a stupid elective for me, and now this is what I get.
Some more time passes, we've all kept quiet. There's nothing to say or do. I've calmed down, mostly because I feel so drained, I don't even have energy to panic. I'm thirsty and my head is throbbing so hard it's making me feel sick.
I wonder what time it is, or what day it is. Did my abnormal psych test already happen? Has it already been two days? Does it even matter? I mean, we may never get out of here. We may starve to death in this room.
I push any negative thoughts out before they start taking over my mind. I'm sure we'll be rescued soon, people are probably looking for us like crazy.
"Do you think it's already been a few days?" I ask Alice.
Alice shrugs. "I don't know."
I start gnawing on my nail. My hands are filthy, I can taste the dirt but I don't care.
I'm already close to failing my abnormal psychology class, it's the only class I've ever almost failed. I've been working so hard to study for this exam in a last-ditch effort to save my grade. All of that could not have been for nothing.
"I'm gonna end up failing abnormal psych," I say, putting my head in my hands. "I'm gonna have to retake it next semester and it's gonna fuck everything up."
"That's really what you're worried about right now?" Declan asks.
I shoot my head up to glare at him. "And what exactly are you worried about, Declan? No, seriously, let's hear it. Is it... your mom who doesn't even remember who you are half the fucking time?"
That unprovoked and unnecessary, I'm aware, but I'm annoyed and scared. I feel claustrophobic and sick, terrified of what our outcome will be. On top of everything, of course I'm going to die in this room with someone I can't stand.
I won't look at him, but I can hear Alice shifting uncomfortably beside us. "Louie, that was really-" she starts, but Declan cuts her off.
"You're an awful person," he tells me. I won't look at him.
I roll my eyes, blinking away tears. "And you're a jealous prick."
"Get over yourself," he snaps. "I can't believe that even in this circumstance, you're still such a..." he trails off, clearly biting his tongue.
"Bitch?" I finish for him, my tone vicious.
He called me that once, right to my face, it hurt so terribly. I'll never let him live it down no matter how much I know he regrets it.
He doesn't respond. I finally look at him, and he just looks back at me, his large brown eyes dark in the dim lighting. He looks back down at the floor.
The room fills with silence again. I lean my head back against the wall and touch the tender skin of my neck gently. I'm going to go crazy in this room.
I just wish Zoe was with me, she'd make everything better right now. I hope she's okay.
Suddenly, all three of us jump at the sound of a heavy bang against the door. We all look at each other, our eyes wide. My heart drops down to my stomach.
"What was that?" I whisper.
"Hello?" Alice calls out.
Then, the bang happens again. A loud thud right against the other side of the door.
I stand up, my back against the wall, and Alice does the same. We both move to the farthest side of the room, distancing ourselves from the door as metal clangs on the other side. Declan moves in front of us, his breath heavy as all three of us watch the door.
The door slowly opens.
Standing at the doorway are three people wearing identical blue linen pants and blue linen button-down shirts.
Two of them are young women with their hair cut neatly to their shoulders, and the other one I recognize as the man who strangled me. They all have very straight posture.
One woman is holding a stack of clothing, the man is standing in the middle, and the woman on the other side of him holds a pistol in her hand. It's down at her side.
They walk into the room, closing the door shut behind them. The man steps in front of the two women and stares at all three of us.
I feel like I'm going to pass out just looking at him. My entire body trembles and instinctively, I touch my contused neck.
One woman lifts the pistol, her arm fully straightened, the barrel pointing right at us. I jolt, nearly jumping out of my skin as I put my hands up slowly.
"Line up," the woman holding the pistol says.
Neither of us move a muscle. I feel like my feet are permanently planted in that spot.
"Line up, now. In a row," she repeats, taking a step closer to us. "Right now."
We slowly disperse and obey her. I stand next to Alice. I feel like I'm going to pass out, I feel dizzy and my heart feels like it's going to stop.
"Can you tell us what's going on?" Declan speaks up from the other side of Alice.
All three of the people look over at him in sync.
"Look, we..." Declan starts, and I can tell he's struggling keeping his voice calm by the way it wavers, "we're just college students. We don't have money or anything like that, I swear."
"We don't care about money," the man in the middle says. His voice sends a chill down my spine.
"Then what do you want?" Declan asks.
The woman holding the stack of clothing walks up to me. She stares into my eyes, her eyes dark with a shadow casted over them. She thrusts the clothes out towards me, making me flinch away from her.
"Take your pair," she says, almost robotically.
I look at her, my eyes wide and my mouth open.
"Take your pair," she repeats, and I see the woman with the pistol shift her weight in my peripheral vision.
Quickly, I take a shirt and pants from the top of the stack. I stare down at the scratchy linen clothes in my hand. My fingers tremble so rapidly I almost drop them. I look up at the man and see that he's staring at me, his beady blue eyes practically piercing through me.
Alice and Declan both hesitantly take the clothes as well.
"Now," the woman who once held the clothes walks back to her original place and puts her hands behind her back. She looks between all three of us, a small smile on her lips. "Undress, fully. All of you. And change into your outfits."
I furrow my eyebrows and look down at the clothes in my hands. "Right here?" I ask. My voice is so unsteady and once again, I feel like I can't breathe.
"Yes, right here," the woman responds as she narrows her eyes. "Right now."