[Clock ticking]

How long have I been in here for? Days? Weeks? Months?

There’s no way to tell time—no blinding rays to tell me that morning has come or darkness to tuck me in at night. Just me, my four walls, and the endless ticking of a clock I can’t even see.

[Pause with ticking]

I tried counting the ticks one time; desperate to grip on to some sort of understanding of the world around me.

One, two, three, four five six...

Stopped before I got to an hour cause I thought I’d go mad—but maybe I’m already mad.

I don’t know why I’m here, I don’t know who brought me here, hell I don’t even remember my own name...

Is my family waiting for me at home? Do I even have a family? Friends? Something about the emptiness in the pit of my stomach tells me that nothing waits for me beyond the confines of my walls.

As I let this cold emptiness trickle through to my veins, my eyes wander around the dimly lit room. It stops on a red door on the opposite wall from my bed.

My door. I forgot about my door—my only source of refuge that keeps me from drowning amidst the relentless nothingness that surrounds me.

[excited music]

I spring up from my bed and stumble hungrily towards it.

I slide my hand down routinely on the cold surface until it finds a disc-like knob that protrudes only an inch out of the door. My fingertips grip around the circumference and I turn.

[click click......click]

The knob slides beneath my fingers as it retreats into the surface and the door begins to slide into the wall to my left.

[steps]