The White Hall Dash

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here. I rose from the crinkly paper used as a mattress and yawned. Slowly but surely light filled my eyes like the sun usually would. I blinked and looked to my left to see a pure white wall. I suddenly realized I didn’t know where I had been taken to. I jumped out of the small white cot I had been unconscious on, my back hurting like hell. The hard pillow and mattress didn’t do my back any favors. I looked to my right, and I saw a humongous mirror that covered the entire wall. I wouldn’t have normally noticed the eggshell colored rim because eggshell looks so similar to white, but against the pure white wall it stuck out like a sore thumb. 

How did I get here? Where was everyone else? I screamed and screamed for help, my ears throbbing from the pain, but I still screamed. When my body started visibly shaking, and I ran out of breath, I continued screaming. I wondered if there was even anyone on the other side of that wall. What if they wanted me to suffer, and they delight in my screams for mercy? What if everyone is dead and I am the only one left? Maybe I should stop screaming and just leave? doaBut as soon as I touched the door to leave, another person walked in. I was so relieved I started crying uncontrollably.

“Don’t tell anyone I did this. Not even your sister” the serious looking man dressed in a suit and tie said.

“Sister?” I asked the serious looking man.

“Oh. Umm…I said sister, didn't I…I actually meant me.” The stranger fumbled to try and fix his mistake. 

The pitiful excuse would have made me laugh if I knew where I was. The stranger kept staring at me as he slowly walked to the door. Unfortunately, on his way out, he bumped into the wall, and in his embarrassment, he left the door slightly open. I ran out the door the second he foolishly left open. I got maybe two feet out the door before a loud siren started to wail. I felt my ears throbbing again. The sirens wailed loudly, too loud for me to think. I looked behind me to see a tranquilizer aimed straight at me. I collapsed on the shiny white floor and lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I tried to get out of my restraints, but my arms, neck, and legs were tightly strapped to a propped up piece of wood. When I tried to scream, I realized that I had a piece of duct tape stuck across my mouth. I looked to my right and saw the same eggshell mirror as before. I looked to my left and saw the pure white wall. Either I was in the same room as before or all the rooms were the same. However, when I looked at the dent the foolish stranger left, I knew this was the same room as before. The pure white walls eerier than the first time.

 Some people walked through the door in white lab coats. They were dressed identically except for a tall woman with a floor length lab coat that was noticeably longer than the knee-length lab coats the other men were wearing. The other three people had the same black rimmed glasses that made their eyes look bigger than a normal person’s eyes could possibly be. They also had a watch on their wrist that looked like it was monitoring something other than the time. Maybe a heart beat? 

“She’s awake” they excitedly whisper.

A tall woman that was obviously the head of my kidnapping approached me.

“Look, you are never going to escape this room, but we don’t want you to think we are the bad guys here. Tell us what you need in order for you to cooperate with us.” She said while motioning for one of her robotic henchmen to take the piece of tape off my mouth.

“Where’s my sister? What’s going on here? Where am I?” I nervously asked.

“Valid questions, however we can only answer one I’m afraid. We are far too behind schedule. Come on boys take her to room 40P3,” she sighed, which made the bags under her eyes a little more pronounced.

Two of the three henchmen picked me up and rolled me through the hallway. This hallway was different from the hallway I had seen when I escaped. The color slowly returned. First the sickly yellow, then a deep navy blue, and a bright red made the hallway appear more like a kids room than a sterile white hospital. The hallway had what looked like a fluffy navy blue carpet, and some posters of various phrases an elementary school teacher would have. After what felt like a couple of hours, I finally got to see room 40P3. My whole body started shaking. I wasn’t mentally prepared at all for what was inside. I kept telling myself that it’s nothing. Nothing will happen and my sister and I will be let free forever. Free to live a life full of ups and downs like all other lives have.

The door had an eight number code. I made sure to memorize the code when the woman entered it on the keypad. I just need to remember and we can escape together. 12345678 which was not very secure. Escape is so close I can taste it.

Behind the door a tiny little girl laid on a small mattress, her eyes closed. She was lying so still I wondered how long she had left to live. Her arms, face, and body were connected with wires to her various blood and nutrient bags. We couldn’t escape together. Not like this. I remember playing tag in our yard, but it’s all fuzzy now. Was that even her? 

The tall woman saw my shock and started to say “Your sister has a very rare form of cancer that affects her heart. Your parents decided to have you to transplant a healthy heart into her. Your very existence is only to help your sister. Isn’t that what you want? To help your sister?”

“Do I…have a name?” I hesitantly asked with tears in my eyes.

“Um…sure. Your name is…Olive” She said and looked at the picture of an olive tree beside my sister’s bed.

The tears burned as they rolled down my cheeks. Am I still a person or am I just a vessel for my sister? They can’t force me to do this. I can’t die now. I’m just a kid. 

One of the tall woman’s henchmen took out a paper with a place to sign and whispered just enough so I could hear “In order for her to sign the consent form, we need her actual name”

“But her parents never gave it to us” she angrily whispered back.

While the other henchmen were whispering, I loosened the ties, but it wasn’t safe enough yet to escape. I can’t die now, I kept repeating over and over in my head. Even if it wasn’t safe to leave, I couldn’t stand to look at the body that I had doomed to die, so I ran.

I memorized the path to escape when they dragged me over to my sister. I memorized it for her. The tears falling on my shirt snapped me back to reality. If one of us had to die, I would rather it be her. 

“Stop her!” a person I had assumed was the tall woman had screamed, “Block all the exits!”

I ran past the colorful corridor, past my white prison, and ran faster than the guards, adrenaline fueling my body. I kept running even until the prison I had escaped was merely a speck in the distance. I didn’t want to stop. There was no place in the world that could make me feel safe again. 

Soon enough it was daylight. The sun warmed me up, but I still felt cold. Maybe my sister magically got over the cancer, and she, with tears in her eyes, forgave me. Maybe she is still in that circus-like prison with those clowns that call themselves parents. One day, maybe I will forgive myself, but for now I can’t help thinking about the life my sister would have led if I had chosen to save her.