Beats

The sounds of a horn echoed in my head endlessly. Bright lights filled my memories, and prevented me from thinking about anything else. I couldn't concentrate on what was going on, I couldn't hear what was around me, all I could hear was quiet. I lay there for what felt like an eternity, staring into the dark. Slowly I began to regain my senses, the cold hard floor, a soft wind hitting me, and a dim light passing through my eyelids. Despite this, I continued to hear nothing.

I opened my eyes and squinted at the bright florescent lights above me. I stared at it for a while, trying to think about where I was. I couldn't remember anything besides the horn. I tried to get up, but was shocked when I couldn't move. I continued to try for a few more minutes before my body began to react. I let out a sigh of relief as a tingling sensation filled my body. Seemed my arms had just fallen asleep, though why had it taken so long for the blood to flow back into them?

I pushed that thought to the back of my mind as I sat up and immediately noticed what I was wearing, a plain white shirt and white pants. I wasn't wearing shoes or socks either which I found a little unnerving. I couldn't remember much, but I knew that I didn't like these clothes. I looked to the side and noticed a fan on a nearby shelf. The blades were spinning, but no noise seemed to be coming out from it.

I slowly got up and walked up to it, holding on to the shelf as my legs violently shook. I could clearly see the blades move, and I could feel the breeze, and no matter how hard I listened no sound came out of it. I looked it over, noticing that it didn't have either a cord or power switch. I began to notice various other things on the shelf, pencils, pens, paper, boxes of crackers and cookies, cans of soup, and a large box. I looked inside of it, and instantly let it fall to the floor as I stepped back.

I stared at the clothing that was now on the ground. A black jacket, blue jeans, and a dark blue shirt. All of the clothing was covered in a dark red liquid which seemed to have dried a while ago. I inched towards it, afraid to find out what it was. When I got near it, the smell hit me. It may have been drying, but it still reeked of blood.

I jumped back as far as I could, crashing into the wall behind me. I kept staring at the clothing, it seemed familiar, like I had seen it before. After I managed to calm down a little, I neared it once more and picked up the jacket and looked it over. There were some rips and tears, and the shirt and pants seemed to be in similar shape. Before I knew it, I had put on the jacket. My body had moved on its own, and it felt so right to wear it, it even fit me.

I sat down on the floor thinking about why I could be here. I spent minutes, hours, I don't know how long it was. No matter how hard I tried to come up with an answer none of them seemed right. I then let out a soft sigh and was about to try to take a nap when I noticed what looked like a doorknob coming out of the wall. I got up and inspected it. It was strange, there didn't seem to be any cracks on the wall to make a door visible, and the wall felt the same as the other walls. I soon decided that it was probably just a distraction, something to mess with my head. Despite those thoughts, I decided to humor whomever put it there by turning it.

Instantly I was blinded by a bright light and a smile spread across my face. It wasn't what I then saw that made me happy, but what I heard. People talking, metal striking metal, water running, and footsteps. When I could see again, I looked around, goofy grin on my face. There were people everywhere around me, doing various things ranging from eating to playing video games. I noticed that along the wall there were more doorknobs, and above each one was a plaque. I read the one that was on the doorknob behind me, 'Jonah Carver'. I stared at it for a moment, that name felt familiar...

"You must be Mr. Carver."

I jumped at the voice. When I turned, I saw the voice belonged to a middle aged woman with curly blond hair and large thick glasses. She was wearing a dull beige dress. I stared at her confused as she wrote something on the clipboard she was carrying around. After a moment she sighed and looked up at me, "You are Mr. Carver correct?"

I continued to stare at her as I tried to think. "Um...I-I'm not sure honestly..."

The woman wrote something down on the clipboard and turned around, "It seems you must have hit your head fairly hard before coming here..."

"W-where is here?" I looked around as I followed her. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves with whatever they were doing. Occasionally one of them would look at me and stare for a moment before going back to what they were doing. One of the things that caught my attention was what they were wearing. Each one wore different clothes, different shoes, and none of them seemed to be dressed like me, which would explain the occasional stares.

"Please take a seat."

I looked around and noticed that I was in an office. Bookshelves lined the walls and in the center there was a desk, where the woman now sat, and a chair in front of it. I sat down in the chair and heard a door slam shut behind me. I turned around, only to see nothing but a bookshelf.

"J-just where am I?"

The woman began to type on a computer, and all I could think about was where the computer could have come from. I was about to ask when the woman cut me off.

"There's no way for me to tell you lightly, so instead, I'll let you figure it out on your own. That way the shock won't be as great. Rose Hewitt, could you step into my office for a moment?"

The woman had just spoken into a microphone which had appeared out of nowhere. I reached out to try to touch it but it was gone before my arm could reach it. The woman shot a nasty look at me, sending me back into my chair.

"You wanted me Miss?"

I turned around and looked at the girl I assumed was Rose Hewitt. She wore faded blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a rose on it. Her short red hair caught my attention for a moment until I noticed that she was staring at me, causing me to turn back around.

"Yes Rose, I need you to look after Mr. Carver here. He is a case four, loss of memory. Could you give him a tour of the area, but please do not tell him where this is, the shock could prove to be too great for him and then, well, we'd have nasty situation on our hands..."

"But Miss, I-I ca-"

"You have to. Trust me, this is not just for his benefit but also for you, after all you need to recover from your own trauma as well."

Rose didn't respond, but from the way the woman returned to typing on the computer I could only assume she agreed. I received my answer when she grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me up.

"Let's go bub, the sooner we finish this the sooner I can get back to my own business."

She turned around and walked towards the bookshelves which vanished showing an exit back into the hallway. I stood there shaking for a moment before I followed after her. I had a lot to take in at once, but all I could think about was her eyes. They were black eyes, but when they looked at me, I could see nothing but hatred in them.