Steps to Nowhere

“Hello?” I call out into the darkness. 

Nobody responds. 

“Hello??” I try again, my voice echoing across the room. 

I begin to panic. Who am I? What am I doing here? I try to remember, but my mind is as empty as this room. I can’t even remember my own name, let alone where I am. I desperately search my mind, but there is nothing, just plain emptiness where my memories should be. 

I sit there in the darkness for what feels like hours, but it could be minutes. There's no way to tell time in the pitch darkness. Eventually, I get up and walk around in search of an exit. I keep my hands stretched out in front of me, but I don’t find anything, not even a wall. This room must be even bigger than I thought. There’s no way to tell if I’ve made any progress, and my mind feels like I’m moving in circles. There is no other sound but my breathing and a low hum coming from all around me, like a machine is being powered nearby. 

Suddenly, my foot hits something metal, and I trip and almost fall flat on my face before saving myself at the last second. I hear a click and a sharp white light explodes all around me. I shut my eyes immediately after being in darkness for so long; the light is almost blinding. Eventually, I turn around to see what I tripped on. It's some sort of metal briefcase. I get up and go get it when I notice something else. There are strange colored markings all over the floor. I see no pattern, no way to tell why they're there. Inside the briefcase, there is a thin book titled Escape. I open it up and look through it, but it’s completely blank. Frustrated, I toss it aside and look around for anything else that may help me find a way out. There’s nothing but the markings on the floor. I lean back against the wall, feeling defeated. 

What am I doing here? This has to be some type of cruel joke. About to give up, I go and look at the briefcase again for good measure. There's a strip of paper inside that I missed the first time. On it are 13 colored shapes all lined up in a row. They look like they match up with the floor somehow.

Looking down, I realize I am stepping on the first shape labeled on the paper. The next one is just slightly off to the left. I follow the trail until I am standing on the very last shape, facing a blank space on the wall. I reach out to touch it, jumping back when a compartment slides out of the wall, revealing a shallow drawer with another book, titled Decode. This time there is writing inside. The book is filled with shapes and symbols, similar to the ones on the ground. It seems to be some sort of code, and I somehow feel that I’ve seen it before.

I try as hard as I can to remember, but it’s impossible. I have no memories before waking up in this room. Somehow though, I can tell this code is what I need to escape.

Beneath the book, I find a small silver key, but I don’t find a keyhole anywhere. I go over the book cover to cover at least six times, trying to make sense of it all. I lay out the book on the floor, poring over the pages, getting frustrated because every time I think I get closer to solving the puzzle, the answer seems to slip away. Eventually, after what seems like hours of reading and walking around the room studying the floor, I start to recognize a pattern. I didn’t notice it before, but each colorful shape has a small number somewhere beside it. The symbols in the book must represent the numbers, leading me to find another path of shapes. This path is a lot longer than the first one winding around throughout the entire room, and it takes me a while to decode it all and find the right way to go. Soon I have it all mapped out, and I know what to do next. 

I walk along the path, my heart racing with anticipation, until I finally reach the end. I see a small keyhole in the wall, something I never would’ve noticed before. I use the silver key, turn the lock, and a handle emerges from the wall, along with a door frame. I hesitate. There's no telling what’s beyond the door, but I somehow know that it’ll be better than staying in here. I turn around to face the only place I have any real memories in, looking around one last time. Taking a deep breath, I open the door and step through. 

The door shuts behind me, leaving behind the only place I at least know some things about. I am stuck in yet another room, this one much smaller than the last, a bit larger than the size of a closet. In the center there is a single table and chair, and on the table there is a book. It is oddly quiet in here compared to the constant mechanical hum in the last room. I open it with shaky hands, and the only thing written inside in big bold letters is Remember. 

I feel like all the puzzle pieces in my mind have been suddenly put together. My memories all pour in and I am overwhelmed with all the new information. I know who I am, what I was thinking when I volunteered to participate in an experiment to solve puzzles and be tested to push the limits of my mind. Everything I did was being carefully analyzed and watched by a group of researchers trying to understand the way the mind works. I remember now that I am not only the test subject, but one of the researchers. As I begin to settle into this new reality, I realize that the experiment isn’t over. The rooms, the puzzles, the symbols- it was just the beginning of the many tests to come. Looking around the room, I don’t see any visible clues. But now I know that there is a way to escape, I designed this for myself to figure out. So, I sit down at the table and start to think.