Blank Room

By Shyank Jyoti Baruah

A perpetual ticking noise faded in and out of my consciousness.

Like a plane flying overhead, it would appear momentarily, then as it flew away from my mind, it meshed into my thoughts. Obscured within the whiteness of the small platform in which I stood, everything was a wash of a pure radiant white. The gears above me clanked and churned in unison, as if they communicated with one another. All shouting in a language that would soon be translated into the colossal arms of a clock that held no purpose.

The walls were nonexistent, at least from what my eyes were able to achieve. I am part of an experiment, however I have yet to find the purpose or even how long I've been here. I could've been born here, or I could've came yesterday, it doesn't really matter either way, I'm still stuck here alone. That's not to say that I have always been alone, they've brought a few other people here to me, they would appear along another platform that stretched off into the abyss. Some men, some women, most likely to see how my behaviour would change. My first glance at a human face, I couldn't stop weeping, and after making it safely aboard my platform, I couldn't retain myself from hugging them. An affection that would appear short lived, as I recall drifting off to sleep, and to my dismay, they had vanished. It felt like an eternity until the next influx of strangers would arrive, however now, they all appear the same. Their faces in my mind, they never spoke a word to me, only through our thoughts were we able to communicate. Our expressions, our mannerisms, they were all one in the same, mocking reflection to my eternal imprisonment. I greet them now not with happiness or goodwill, but with annoyance and intolerance. How they feed off of my anger and frustrations, carefully and meticulously calculating my every impulse, every emotion. I laid my back against the cold white tile floor until the ceaseless ticking-brought me back to the one place I was free.

I laid awake, feeling nothing but lightness and an overwhelming warmth encompassing me to the brim. I was still on the platform, but everything had shifted, it had changed. I got up and noticed my limp body had been left behind. It lay there cold as ever, yet I did not feel dead. I was rejuvenated, full of life as if I had been reborn. I took myself to the edge of the platform, closed my eyes, then let the weight of my soul drop me down. I felt myself sinking into the darkness of the pit but in that moment, something changed. A gust of wind blew me skywards, and I realised that I was flying. My God, I was doing it. I stretched my arms out as a gust of wind followed in my tracks. My mind was filled with ease, the ticking had stopped. I was relishing in the momentary freedom, but back at the surface, my shell started to shake. My body had stirred and began weeping. Crying into his lap as if a part of him had lost something. I called to him, told him to join me and leave this nightmare. He glanced up at me, edging his way towards the border to meet me, but then he looked downwards, noticing nothing but the pit encompassing all of his fears, all of his doubts. He looked at me, with eyes that harkened to all manners of fear, and he sat back down on the platform, holding his head in his hands. My essence grew heavier, and before I knew it, I was buried into the abyss.

I pulled my face upwards and sculpted my face back to formation from the floor. My eyes were blurry to the constant sleep, but I still managed to make out a faint image of a figure standing a few feet away from me. A woman, with deep brown earthy hair that seemed to stretch off into infinity. She looked curiously at me, smiling brightly, then chuckling at my misfortune.

"Have I caught you at a bad time?" She teased me.

"No, not at all. There are no good or bad times. Just events." | replied sharply. She sat crossed legged a few tiles away from me and cocked her head.

"So with all the time in the world, who needs that annoying clock?"

She said as she laid back staring upwards at the rotating machines.

"I don't have any idea. I just don't question it. It's always been there." I replied back.

"Well, whether it's been there for just a moment, or your whole life, doesn't mean you need to worship it like that."

"And who said I was worshiping it? I simply said it wasn't worth thinking about. Nothing here is! I don't-even know who you are, hell, I don't even know who I am. The clock is the only thing I know for sure is real I called back to her.

"The way you cringe every time you hear it. The way it taps away at the recesses of your mind. So alone.So damned from the world that you can't even escape it. You can't run, so you've learned to obey it.

"Who the hell are you?!" | shouted at her, almost jumping out of my own skin if it weren't attached to my body.

"I am everything you are afraid of." She said as she walked backwards along the edge of the platform. Before I could run to her, she leapt off of the edge with the grace of a swan.

"You damn fool! You're going to kill yourself! I don't want to be alone! I don't want this!" | screamed down into the pit. She floated upwards like a spirit faster than my eyes could catch, simply to caress the edge of my cheek.

"You are not a slave to time. You are not a test to damnation. You are special, you are the significant, you are the caretaker of the future." My face bellowed with tears as a mixture of sadness and fear consumed me.

"What do you want from me? Who are you?!"

"Close your eyes, focus on only my touch. I am here to save you, I am here to free you from your torment."

I closed my eyes in hope of a better place. In hope that I would leave this godforsaken room, to be free for the first time in my miserable life. I felt myself tumble forwards, but with her hand clasped together with mine, she fell alongside me. I locked my

eyes even tighter, as my stomach started to turn on itself. I could feel it plunging into the depths, but then balance itself. It would become steady, and with my hand still hung tightly clasped to hers, I could feel her body burst into the air. Taking me with her, we flew across the room and into the darkness of the never ending hallway. I held on as tightly as my grip would allow, then she spoke with an angelic softness into my ear.

"I know you are afraid, I know you have fears, flaws, doubts. I know you are tired defeated by time and a lack of purpose. But keep going, keep fighting. You are capable for more than you could ever possibly imagine. You are special. And if you are to stray, listen to the sound of my voice, and I will lead you away from the room."

I opened my eyes in finality to the open ended spectrum of the world. I no longer saw a blank tile floor, stretching onwards, but a series of glimmering stars that would go on forever. Diverging paths shone, all led to varying locations in the distance. And in that moment, with her at my side, forever guiding me in my heart, I lead on.

By Shyank Jyoti Baruah