Maybe it was a video game. Maybe my mind was trying to tell me something. But I couldn’t leave that place. That building. I always reappeared there.
That’s what made me think of it being a video game. But it wasn’t.
I had to get to my destination, New Jersey…I think. Normally I take a train but today I walked. For whatever reason.
I wore heavy clothing, it was winter, and I had to go through this apartment building. There was no other way. That’s the only way I was going to get where I was going. Like in a video game.
The building was brick and old. I could tell it had been there for a long time, and what was inside it was also old. They have been there. Waiting.
For me. And only me.
I entered the building, low lighting lit the place. Yellow and dull. No one greeted me. I had to walk up the stairs to continue. To get to my destination. I walked up the stairs. I was sweating in my winter coat and boots. I was able to get to the third floor, but then I decided to go downstairs. People were there this time. An older woman.
“Which floor?” I asked chuckling, “I keep forgetting.”
She stared at me with those gray eyes, “It’s the third floor.”
“Great, thanks.” I made my way back upstairs, three flights. But then it stopped. The stairs and the building. Some…man was building a ceiling out of wood.
“What’s going on?” I asked confused.
The man, I think I knew him. “You can’t go up here anymore.”
“Why not? I need to go on this floor to get to Jersey.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” The woman stood at the bottom of the stairs, “We gave you a chance. But now you belong to us.” She nodded at the man. He grabbed me by the arm tightly. I could feel the pressure through my thick coat.
“Hey knock it off. Let go of me!” I struggled but then it was dark. I couldn’t see anything. They had kidnapped me.
I awoke in a poorly made bed room. It was small, no bigger than a walk in closet. My head hurt and I sat on the bed.
“Hello?” I tried opening the door, think is…it was unlocked. I opened it further and found myself on the top floor of the apartment. No one was around. I could get out of here. I looked over the stair ledge. Silence. As if the building was empty. Was it a glitch? What had happened?
So, of course I tried to leave. I ran down the stairs to the third floor. I knew which floor it was when I arrived.
I ran, through a door after the stairs, I needed to get through a window. It was cold. A storm was brewing. But this was the only way.
I remember falling out the window, breaking something, but it was black again and I was back in that same room.
But it was different this time.
A man stood in the doorway.
“You’re causing us a lot of trouble.”
“Where am I? What do you want from me?”
“We just have to keep you here. You’re not allowed to leave. You have come too often.”
Black out.
Why couldn’t I leave? What did they want from me? Was I supposed to learn something? Give them something?
I remember trying more and more until there was a glitch. I reappeared in that room. But I figured it out. How to escape. I had to give them exactly what they wanted.
Me.
I left the room and searched for the people holding me here. The thing was, they weren’t doing anything. Me leaving was what kept me here.
So I have to stay.