Light.
A light bulb is switched on above my face, blinding me despite its dim setting. I squint and turn, my entire body coiling on my right side as I seek protection from something I wished for a moment ago. Clarity. Illumination.
An explanation for all of this.
I remain curled up on my side for a few more moments, my eyes shut as I hide my face behind my palms. Waiting. Listening. But I don’t know what for.
There may be light now, but there’s still no sound other than my own erratic breathing. I’m still alone. Whoever switched on the light above my head is not here with me.
Realizing this helps me overcome the crippling fear that turned me into a ball of wool, entangled in my own confusion and anxiety. I open my eyes before my body unfolds, opening up to the room and finally facing it as I sit up straight.
The room looks just like it smells—like nothing. It’s simply a gray, dark cell. Four concrete walls embrace me—no windows, no pictures, nothing. Nothing, except a stainless steel toilet tucked away in the corner to my left. A cold shiver runs down my back at the sight of it.
This can’t be good.
My eyes travel back over my shoulder, finding a door about ten feet away from me that has the same color as the dark gray walls. It looks heavy, and locked.
Against better judgment, I make a move to get up and try the handle, but my body won’t let me. My legs give out as soon as I try to stand on my feet and I tumble to the cement floor, landing on all fours. I mewl in pain as I scrape my knee on the ground, my weak hands barely cushioning my fall and sending painful warnings along my wrists.
Grimacing, I shift on the hard floor, only now realizing that I’m not even dressed properly. I’m wearing nothing but a white nightgown that ends above my knees. White lace adorns the hem around my legs and the short sleeves that partly slipped down my shoulders, almost exposing my boobs as I sit bent over. I reach up, my fingers digging into the fabric covering my chest. The material is delicate, almost see-through—and I’m not wearing any underwear. I start trembling, sitting on the cold concrete with my bare ass, just a thin layer of white protecting my frail body.
My vision blurs as tears water my eyes when my mind is finally clear enough for the panic to set in.
Hysteria, desperation, fright. They all overcome me at once, joined by a sequence of questions I have no answers to.
Where am I?
How did I get here?
But most importantly:
Who am I?