Insane

The computer screen was the only source of light that lit up this dark room. It was half-past midnight, and I was still typing away, going through emails and replying to each one of them. I found myself slowly drifting away to sleep in which I wouldn't even attempt to fight the urge to, knowing that I haven't been sleeping for three consecutive days. 

My phone chimed for the first time in weeks, indicating that a new text was received. And it was from an unknown number,

"Ellie, this is Jackson, don't go anywhere for another week. I promise that I'm going to solve everything."

Sigh.

Another week in this awful place. I've been eating the same canned food, wearing the same dress, and doing the same stuff for weeks. The mysterious stench emanating from the room one level below mine is beginning to become unbearable. I'm sick and tired of waiting for the one thing that seems to become impossible for me to achieve. And at this point, the only thing that I could do is wait.

Finishing the last sentence to my email, I immediately clicked send and was ready to call it a night. 

I woke up to a loud bang, followed by the familiar odour which fills up my olfactory senses rather quickly. I soon to realise that I was held captive. My hands were tied in a very restricted manner, and all I could see was darkness. 

"Hello," was the only word that I could muster up the strength to say. Before I knew it, I was face-to-face with a masked, half-naked man. He was pale and skinny. In his hands, was a tub of clear liquid and a ladle. 

"I was told to feed you," he said, hoarsely, as he scooped the strange, thick liquid into the spoon before shoving it into my face. Prior to invading the entrance to my oral cavity, I heard him whisper a "sorry."

My body was already weak, and I was sure that the peculiar substance fed to me was to blame. The scrawny man from earlier was no longer in sight, and the only thing that I was capable of doing was nothing. My eyes never stop wandering across the empty room, and I soon realise that it's the forbidden, rancid room. 

Ever since I came here with Jackson, I was always told not to trespass this area. It's not like I ever could, considering it was locked the entire time. Now that I'm finally inside, I don't see any reason to hide this space, but who am I to say? I'm just a useless, good for nothing girl.

It felt like days had passed, and I was beginning to realise that I might be staying here forever. Maybe if I was given a pen and paper, I would be able to write my last will.

"This is ridiculous," I sighed under my breath just as soon as the same masked man struts into the room. Only this time, his face was in plain sight.

Ignoring my presence, he continued to walk further to the end of the room where there is an old cupboard present. He then begins to create another form of concoction in the same white tub as earlier.

"What do you want from me?" I whispered since I was too exhausted and weak to function. Not knowing if he'd heard me, I tried to speak up louder to which he flinched, but still unbothered.

As he was coming up to my direction, I could finally see his face clearly. And the first thing that I'd noticed from it was the multiple bruising, the same ones that I would notice every day as I looked into the mirror.

He seemed tired, and honestly, I would say that I could see myself in him.

He quietly feeds me, all the while I comply.

"You know that you could've run away a long time ago? Why didn't you?" He murmured, eyes glued to the floor beneath me.

Yeah, why didn't I?

"Who are you?" I asked, completely disregarding his questions. He looked at me for a while before opening his mouth just to close it back again. His eyes started to roam around the empty room, cowardly.

Are we being watched?

"You should leave," He said once again before retreating back to the cupboard. Turning away to leave, he looked at me one last time and chuckled.

"Just so you know, you were not tied up, you could've left,"

What did he mean? I'm well aware that I'm restricted. I can't move, and neither could my hands.

"What do you mean?" I was able to ask before he left.

He stood there for what I thought was an eternity and said "You were drugged. That's why you're seeing stuff," with that, I lost sight of him.

And just like magic, I was suddenly able to raise both of my hands up in the air.

My heart was beating out of my chest, and I was unable to breathe. The tightness in my lungs due to the fear of being caught by whoever it is that is watching me makes it even harder to think.

Breathe.

Now is the time to figure out the way to escape. As I scan the room thoroughly, I spotted the cupboard that was used profusely by the mysterious man. I stood with my weakened lower limbs and limped towards it, only to find nothing but food. Perfectly normal looking food, used to feed me while I was down here. Not some strange clear liquid.

"What are you doing?"

I froze. It was a man's voice, but a different one from my previous encounters.

"Ellie, I told you to stay upstairs, why would you disobey me?" He said softer than before. Relieve washes trough me once I realised that the voice belonged to Jackson. I quickly spun around to face him. He was covered in blood from head to toe. It's as if he just had a huge hunt, or killed a person.

No... this is the drug talking.

"Jackson, you have to get me out of here," I begged, running towards him with my frail body. I jumped for a hug, to which he reciprocated. It was easily my first human contact after months of isolation.

"No, you stay," he whispered into my ears as I felt it. A sharp pain jolted through my body.

"I'm sorry that you're like this," he admitted before letting me go.

I fell to the ground, right in front of him. My eyes were fixated on his before losing my consciousness once again.

And now, this is my permanent life. I had to live obliviously in this dimly lit room. Where all I could do was wait for something that seemed impossible for me to get.