Max was floating. He didn’t know where he was, or why he was there, or when he got there. All he knew was the warm sensation pulsing through his body. It radiated somewhere around his abdomen to every point in his body and then out through tip of every finger and toe. He didn’t need to open his eyes. He felt completely safe and just wanted to keep feeling the warmth in his body. Then all at once he dropped to the hard floor beneath him with a sickening thud.
Then the cold set in. Max turned his head, shivering, on its side, and started to open his eyes. Everything was a blur, and all he could see through his half opened eyes was utter darkness from every angle. But then his eyes adjusted, and he could make out a dark silhouette. It was a woman.
“Get up, Max,” said the woman, who appeared to be seated in a chair. Max could not see her face, but could see the outline of her body, and her long, slender legs.
Max instinctively started to get up, but failed in his attempt. The biting cold was creeping up his body like many deadly snakes, and he could feel his limbs ache as if the invisible snakes were tightly coiling around his body. He felt constricted, and could not move.
“Max, I told you to get up,” repeated the woman. Max could not tell whether the woman was angry or not, and didn’t know how to respond. All he knew was that he desperately wanted the soothing warmth to radiate through his body again. An answer escaped his frostbitten lips.
“I can’t,” he whispered, cold breath disrupting his vision.
Then the woman got up. Max watched through chattering teeth as she gracefully stood and came over to him. She seemed to glide across the dark floor, a strange light following her the entire way. But for some reason Max could still not see her face, even in the strange light. The woman reached Max and bent down near his legs.
“Just relax, Max, I will make the cold go away,” the woman said softly. Despite her words Max felt the cold escalate as she came nearer. Soon he could not feel most of his body. The woman reached out her hands. Max looked up into her face but again could see nothing. A dark shadow veiled her appearance.
Then she grasped his hands, and Max waited for the cold to intensify. It didn’t. Surprisingly, her hands were soft and very warm. Max immediately felt the warmth he longed for enter his body. It filled his every sense and he relaxed. His teeth ceased to chatter, and a smile took its place.
“Thank you,” said Max.
“Now can you get up?” she asked, standing up to her full height. Max moved his arms and legs. They were fine now.
“Yes, I think so,” replied Max, sitting up, “But where am I?” The woman didn’t answer him. She simply reached out her hand. Max took it, and instantly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The woman pulled him up onto his feet and then went back and seated herself in the chair.
“Now Max, I need you to do something for me,” the woman asked, getting comfortable.
“Anything,” replied Max, without thinking.
“Good,” said the woman. Max had no idea what he was about to be asked to do, but he felt he had no choice but to do it. “Max, on either side of you is a door,” she said, gesturing with both hands. Max turned, and saw a plain white door with a gold knob on each side. He wasn’t sure if they had always been there.
“I need you to choose one for me,” she continued, “But just one.” Max almost smiled. This was it? All he had to do was choose a door? He was about to point to one when the woman raised her hand to stop him.
“What is it?” asked Max, “you told me to choose a door.”
“Yes, I did. But I left out an important detail. The door you choose is the one you must walk through. You can’t change your mind,” said the woman.
“What’s the difference between them?” asked Max.
“The doors? Nothing. The only difference is what is inside them. So choose, Max, which door you will step through.”
Max felt a little uneasy now. What could be inside the doors?
“What if I don’t like what’s in it?” he asked.
“By then it would be too late to turn back. The door you chose is the door you stick with.”
Max heard two clicking noises. The two doors had unlocked. He didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t sure which door to choose. He looked both ways and tried to judge them, but both doors were exactly the same. A few seconds passed, and Max could not decide.
“I don’t have all day, Max,” said the woman.
Max turned to her. He didn’t know what was inside the doors. He didn’t want to know.
“Neither,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“I said neither one. I don’t want to choose.”
“I’m afraid I didn’t give you that option,” she said, standing up. “You have to choose.”
“Why?” said Max, watching her come towards him once more.
“Because, if you don’t choose, you’ll have to stay here.”
“So?”
“I’m here.”
The cold hit Max with such force that he fell to his knees, feeling as if a thousand icy knives had penetrated him. His breath came in forced gasps, and he felt his body begin to harden with ice.
Numbness set in, and his consciousness wavered dangerously. Max felt himself starting to go, as his vision blurred completely, and he could not distinguish what position his body parts were in. He tried to speak, but his lips were frozen shut. His nostrils also began to stick together, and he was running out of space to inhale through.
Max’s mind went blank, and he couldn’t feel himself. He couldn’t feel his thoughts or the pain in his body. Somehow he became detached from himself, and could swear he was merely looking down on some boy that resembled him freezing to death. But that boy grew farther and farther away, until he was nothing but a speck. It was completely dark now, and Max didn’t want it to be dark.
So he opened his eyes.
Max woke with a jerk, and found himself in a strange bed. He looked around nervously, his head pounding. He was in a small, dark room, with a dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
He couldn’t see far beyond in front of him, but did notice a small red light. It blinked at him repeatedly. Max looked at it curiously, and was slightly amused by it’s soft glow.
But what Max didn’t know however, what that the light was coming from a small camera hidden in the shadows, which had been recording him while he tossed and turned violently in his sleep, and continued to record him now.
Well done ireally enjoyed reading this!
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