The Science Experiment

It was cold. I shivered as I came to. Opening my eyes, everything seems blurry. This causes my heart to pound; what happened to my vision? Normally, I could see fine; why was everything blurry? Was this what needing glasses was like?

Jackie, breathe. I scolded myself, before shutting my eyes again. This time, I took a deep breath before opening them again and much to my surprise and excitement, I could see. My excitement was short lived, however, when I realized I didn’t recognize where I was. 

I sat up from my position on the harsh concrete before taking a proper look around. It didn’t matter which direction I looked, nothing looked promising. 

The room was small. By what I’ve seen on TV it couldn’t be any bigger than your average jail cell. There were no windows, just a small doggie door which begged the question, how the hell did I end up in here? 

I racked my brain trying to think of the last thing I remembered. I went to get coffee with Jayce. We got our coffees, but he insisted on taking a walk instead of sitting in the cafe. After we got to the park- nothing. 

Jayce. It had to be Jayce. Did he have something to do with this? Was he the one who put me in this jail cell? 

“Hello? Is anybody there?” I ask, crawling towards the doggie door to see if it would budge. I’m surprised when it does, and I waste no time in crawling out of the room. I stand up on the other side and am met with more disappointment and confusion. It looked like I was at the end of a long hallway. 

The floor was grey, the walls were grey, hell, even the damn ceiling was grey. Whoever designed this place obviously was obsessed with the color grey, I thought with a grimace. It took a few moments before my feet would move from beneath me, but I began to make my way down the hall, to see where it ended. 

It was dimly lit; a few flickering lights overhead was the only thing showing me the way. My thoughts and mind were racing, trying to figure out what I was going to do. Was this a trap? Was this some sort of sick joke? 

“Jayce!” I called, hearing the echo of my voice. It sent chills down my spine, and I found myself wrapping my arms around myself for comfort and warmth. It was a warm, bright sunny day somewhere above ground. I only wore jeans and a tee, I scolded myself for not wearing a sweater. It’s at this moment I stop and try to examine myself; it didn’t seem like I was injured. 

I still had my shoes on, that ruled out any injections in my feet. I could see no visible marks of a struggle, just a few scratches from what I could only assume were the pebbles that were spread across the floor. 

“Jayce, this isn’t funny!” I hollered, trying to get myself to stop shivering. I’m amazed I’m still able to keep walking, the adrenaline coursing through me must be the only thing keeping me going. I’m scared; I’m scared shitless. 

No secondary voice is heard. It’s just me, myself and I in this hallway, the long hallway that seemed to go nowhere. 

Well, not nowhere, I thought with a sigh of relief. At the end of the hall were two doors. They were both the same color, can you guess which? If you didn’t guess grey, then I can only assume you haven’t been paying attention. 

I go to reach for the door on the right, after all, when it came to washrooms the women’s room was always to the right. Why was that, might you ask? Because women are always right. It may have been dumb logic, but it made sense to me in the moment. 

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” The voice causes me to jump back from the door, my heart rate increasing significantly. It didn’t sound like Jayce; though it was hard to tell. 

“Jayce?” I question, my eyes darting from door to door. 

“No, but it could be” the voice replies, piquing my interest. 

“What do you mean, it could be?” I ask, confused. “It either is, or isn’t” I threw in, regretting being so sassy given my current situation. 

“Oh, Jackie” the voice sounded like it was coming through a speaker, though as much as I looked around I could see none. “I didn’t go through the effort to get you here for your sass” 

“Then why did you take me?” I ask the voice, genuinely curious. I didn’t think I had any enemies, did I? 

“Interesting question, and maybe I’ll answer it” the voice laughs, which causes my blood to boil. “But I think you have a choice to make, first” 

“You mean which door to open?” I ask, not thinking twice. I mean, what else could it possibly be? What else could this mysterious voice be referring to? 

“You’re quick.” the voice seems genuinely surprised. “But not quick enough, I’m afraid” 

“Quick enough for what?” The annoyance shows in my voice this time, I can’t stop it. Was this some sort of prank? “This is getting annoying, Jayce. Just tell me which damn door to go through, and we’ll end the worlds worst first date” I sigh, awaiting his response. 

“I told you, I’m not Jayce” the voice booms, and I crack a smile. 

“Knew you weren’t. See? It was an easy question to answer” I nearly snap, but am able to come across as sweet. 

“Enough!” The voice commands, the boom of his voice causing me to jump again. “Pick a door.” 

“And if I don’t?” I ask, folding my arms across my chest. I no longer feel cold, I feel warm. I’m sweating, anxious, but feeling confident. Confident I’m in no dangerous situation. Confident I can fight my way out of this. 

“Do you want to stay in a dimly lit hallway for the rest of your life? No other doors, no windows, no ways of escape?” Damn. He raised a good point. “That’s what I thought” he teases, which leads me to believe he can see me. 

“So what happens if I pick this door?” I ask, pointing to the one I was about to open before he rudely interrupted. 

“There’s no fun in telling you” the voice scoffs. “But I can tell you, there will be dire consequences if you choose wrong.” 

“Dire consequences?” I ask, nearly laughing. “Please. It’s just a door. In a really lame underground prison? Or something. I don’t know, but there’s an awful lot of grey around here, don’t you think?” I ask, trying to knock whoever this was off their game. “I mean, have you ever thought about sprucing the place up a bit?” 

“Silence!” The voice yells, but this time, it doesn’t startle me. 

“Please, I’m not scared of some mysterious voice in the sky” I tell him boldly. “I’m obviously not the first person you’ve taken, which leads me to believe you just like to create an illusion of power” I rattle off, certain that I have no idea what the hell I’m even taking about. 

“Illusion of power?” The voice asks, and he seems genuinely curious. 

“Yeah. You get off on having the person here struggle to make a choice. You thrive off them terrified to make one. You watch them until they can’t take it anymore, and just choose one to end their suffering” I ramble, and I’m quite sure I’m right about this. If he was bent on hurting or killing me, I would be given different options, different circumstances. 

“My, my, Jayce did say you were feisty” the voice sounds almost impressed. “It’s really too bad it has to end this way” 

“What has to end?” I implore, suddenly feeling a little anxiety return. He obviously sees and senses my feelings shift, and feeds off them. 

“Hmm. That’s the question now, isn’t it?” He laughs, and my heart is pounding. What if I change the wrong door? Was there even such a thing as a wrong door? Or a wrong choice? 

“So, I’ll ask you again; pick a door. But remember, the door your pick could have dire consequences” he reminds me, though I hardly need reminding. 

“Where’s Jayce?” I wondered aloud, as I looked between the two doors. There was nothing different about them, they both looked the same. This was slightly frustrating; this made it harder to make a choice. 

“Behind one of the doors.” I can almost hear him smiling as he speaks. I don’t know whether or not to believe a word he says. Who’s to say this isn’t all a trick? 

To hell with it. Not putting any more thought into it, I went with my original choice. I picked the door on the right. 

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I opened it, but this certainly wasn’t it. 

“Jayce, thank god you’re okay” I rush to his side, as I see him in the same position I found myself in what felt like hours earlier. 

“Jackie?” He mumbled, his eyes fluttering open and shut. “It’s a trap.” 

“What?” I ask, hoping I didn’t hear him correctly. “What are you talking about?” I ask Jayce, who seems to seemingly snap out of his trance like state, an evil look on his face. 

“Which door you chose had dire consequences” the voice startles me. Before I even have the chance to react, Jayce grabs me, and the mystery man begins to pace around me, like the villain he is. 

“It’s really too bad you had to choose this door” Jayce whispers in my ear, sending chills down my spine. 

“No...” I whimper, tears springing to my eyes for the first time since I woke up. This was it, wasn’t it? I got too cocky, thinking I could escape. I got too cocky, thinking I knew what was happening here. 

“I told you she’d pick the right door, man” Jayce chuckled, getting up and throwing me to the ground. 

“Yeah, yeah, you guessed right” the other man, the voice answered back. It sounded like they placed a bet on what door I was going to pick. 

“There was no question, man. I just know her better than you” Jayce snickered, the other man rolling his eyes. 

“Wait- what’s happening?” I interrupt their conversation, bringing their attention back to me. 

“What’s the score now- like, 8-4?” Jayce asked the other man, who looked back with a grimace. “It’s for science” he thinks he clarifies things for me, but it only gives me more questions. 

“For science?” I’m floored. This whole charade was for science? 

“Yep. We study to see the choices people make when put under extreme circumstances” the man with Jayce explains, though it still doesn’t answer any of my questions. 

“I- I’m going to the police” I blurt out, and this causes them both to let out a hysterical laugh. 

“Oh, Jackie. That’s cute. But you won’t remember what’s happened here today to do that” Jayce smiles softly. Before I can even ask any more questions, I feel a sharp pinch on my right arm, before I feel drowsiness overtake me. 

“Better luck next time” are the last words I hear before I lose consciousness.