Jack in the Box (7 page)

He wound up again.

"It was a joke!" I screamed as loud as I could.

He froze.

I turned my head and let out all my breath. Blood started to run from my nose. "It was just. . . a joke," I moaned.

He breathed in and out heavily. Slowly lowered his hand.

I couldn't believe what was happening. My head pounded.

Si just stood there.

I let myself completely collapse, lying on the toilet. And I could faintly hear Si's footsteps as he left the room.

→

The dream changed again. I didn't know sleep could be so exhausting.

I saw tears dripping from my face. Now I was in a small room. Next to a bed. My dorm room.

I was on my knees, crying and angrily muttering things about Si. I rummaged under my bed for something. Came back with a small object. A cell phone. I turned it on and selected my dad's contact information. The 'call' button stared me in the face. I breathed quick breaths and wiped my eyes. My thumb shook as it hovered over the button. I stared at the phone with blurry eyes for several seconds.

My hand began to shake along with my thumb. I squinted. My hand lowered. I breathed out and tossed the phone onto the bed. Stood up.

The room was dark. Clothes all over the floor. A sink and a mirror were in the corner of the room. I walked over to them and looked at myself. White tissues were in my nostrils. A bit of dried blood on my face.

I took the tissues out and inhaled through my nose. My breaths were beginning to slow now. I splashed some water on my red face and dried it up with a towel. Put my hands on the sides of the sink and leaned forward. I stared at myself. Took a deep breath. Felt my face. "You're okay, Jack. You're okay," I said softly. It seemed that Si hadn't hit me as hard as he could've. I was lucky to have have been battered the way I had been and end up with just a bloody nose. It wasn't broken. I was okay.

Something caught my attention in the mirror. Something on the floor. I turned around and quickly walked over to it. Picked it up. A book bag.

"This isn't mine." I searched for a tag. Found one attached to a zipper. "Property of S.R. Silas." My eyes popped open. This was Si's bag.

I quickly went to the door and locked the thumb bolt. Turned around and leaned against the door. "He's been in my room," I said in a low voice.

I bent over and opened the backpack. Just a few items were inside. A bottle of water, a lighter, a permanent marker. I closed it and looked around. Nothing seemed to catch my attention. But then I saw my desk. A drawer was open.

I ran over to the desk and pulled out the drawer. A group of papers were inside. I'd seen these before. They were the prints I'd made and shown my dad. It was the big project I’d been working on.

The first page was fine. I looked at the next one. My hands shook.

It had burn marks all over, as though someone had put it over a flame. "No," was all I could say. "No, no. . ."

The next page was torn up and scribbled on. The page after that was blackened from burns like the first one had been. Page after page, all of them defaced. I looked back in the drawer to see that several had been drenched in water, wadded up, and left in a clump.

I bit my lip. My hands shook even more. I flipped through all of them. Scribbles. Burn marks. Obscenities scrawled across almost every single paper. The shaking grew uncontrollable. I screamed and  threw them across the room.

The room felt even darker. I darted across the room to a small closet. "Silas. . ." I growled as I threw the door to the closet open. Tears were rolling down my face again. "It'll take me months to-" I looked back at the pages.

I slammed my hand against the wall. Leaned into the closet and grabbed something from a shelf. Looked like a bottle of liquid. I shut the door to the closet and walked across the room. Took a deep breath. Unlocked the door and opened it. "Silas. . ."

→

I was in a hallway. One side was a wall of windows. The other had several doors. By the looks of the place I could tell I was once again in one of the college buildings.

I noticed Si walking down the hall in my direction.

I tilted my head down. Looked up at him with my eyes.

He stared at me with hatred as we crossed paths.

After several more steps, I suddenly stopped. Turned around.

Si was walking toward one of the doors.

My eyes followed him down the hall.

He opened the door, and immediately a bucket of water fell on his head.

I stood and stared.

He wiped his face off. Turned his head to look at me.

I acted surprised.

"A bucket of water. . ." he said in his low voice. "That's your way of getting me back?"

"I didn't. . ." I shook my head, still feigning ignorance.

"You just keep asking for it, don't-" He stopped. Reached up and touched his head. He was feeling it, I was seeing it.

His hair started disintegrating.

"What?"

I did nothing but fold my arms and watch. And even in the dream, I could feel that I was smiling.

"Jack! Jack, what did you pour on my-" his mouth flew open. His hair was completely gone now, but I could hear a noise. It was a sizzling noise. "Jack, what's happening?"

I got rid of my smile and observed.

The sizzling grew louder. And Silas started screaming.

"My head! It's in my head!" He clawed at his skull. Grabbed it tightly and started shaking it violently.

People started gathering around. Some trying to help, some just watching, not knowing what to do.

Silas kept screaming. No one could help him because he wouldn't stop moving.

"Jack! Jack!" He screamed.

I walked over to someone in the back of the crowd. "What's happening?" I said with a concerned voice.

She turned toward me. Her eyes shaking. "I don't know. But he won’t stop screaming some guy's name."

"Is he going to be okay?" I said.

Her eyes darted to Si with every scream he let out. "I wish I knew. . . I seriously wonder who this ‘Jack’ guy is. Do you know him?"

I shrugged and shook my head.

She turned back around and said, "Yeah, me  neither."

I watched for a few more seconds.

Whatever was happening to him was over now. Si was on the floor; someone had made a call, and help was on the way. He breathed heavily, but other than that, he didn't move a muscle.

I slowly backed up while all eyes were on him. Turned. Walked away.

And then the smile came back.

→

I shot up in bed. Breathing gulps of air. My  left hand was on my head. Gripping my hair. I loosened my fingers and lowered my hand. A few hairs were stuck to the fingers. My stomach churned.

What's wrong with me
?
I rubbed my hands together. Was that real? Had that really happened? Had I really done that?

I didn't have too many memories, but of all the people in them so far, I was the worst.

Brian entered the room. "Good morning!" he sat down and started eating.

I ran my fingers through my hair
.
Should I say anything
?
I watched him happily eat his meal
.
He already knows. If I bring it up, he might make me angry and then I'd end up pinned to a wall again
.
"Good. . . Morning."

"Go ahead and eat, Jack."

I pulled out a chair, sat down, and started eating. French toast. Once again, it was amazing. Trying to distract myself, I said the first thing unrelated to my dreams that came to mind. "This can't be good for me."

Brian swallowed. "What can't be good for you?"

"Sleeping this much. I'm spending more time asleep than I do awake."

"Well, yeah, but that's kinda your fault-"

"-And I'm getting only one meal a day." I crossed my arms.

". . .also your fault," Brian pointed out.

"Whatever," I threw my hands up. "I'm just saying there's a design flaw in this test."

"Have you considered that maybe those things are part of the design?" Brian asked.

I paused. "Yeah, okay," I said passively.

He smiled and took another bite. "So, what'd you dream about?"

I ignored him and stood up. Walked toward the door. "Come on, Brian, lets do this." I turned the doorknob. "Again."

seven

"Hang on there, Jack," Brian rushed up to the door. "Change of plans for today."

I kept my grip on the doorknob. "What?"

"Today, I'll walk with you for a little bit."

I turned my head toward him. Raised both eyebrows."This isn't a trick, is it?"

"You're worried? I'm not the one with the gun." He said, pointing at the firearm.

I let go of the door handle. "Okay, then, what's up?"

"Come on," he grabbed the handle and opened the door.

We walked through a few rooms. Side by side. Completely silent. Kept walking. Still no talking.

Brian finally broke the silence. "So, how's it going?"

"Well, I'm just trapped in a weird building with no  sense of direction, trying to complete some unnecessary task for the purpose of escaping."

"Yeah. . ."

"You know how it is."

He grinned. "Yeah. . . Well, breakfast was pretty-"

"Okay, what's this about?" I stopped walking.

He stopped a few feet later. Turned to face me. "Alright. I want to make sure you're clear on something. Something very important."

I shifted my weight to my left side. "Okay. . ."

Brian hesitated. "You remember the rules."

"I do. . ."

I don't know how to describe his face. It was dark. Like he was going to give me some big admonition. "Then understanding the rules, you know that if the time comes, when you try to. . ." he paused.

I let him think. I said nothing.

". . . subdue me, try to subdue me. . ." Brian looked down and rubbed his temple with his fingers. "If that happens," he brought his eyes up and locked them with mine. "just know that I will, I will do everything I can to stop you."

I was slightly disappointed. "Yeah, I kinda knew-"

"-Don't get me wrong, I like you and everything, Jack. But just like you, I'm bound by the rules of the test. I can't kill you, but I can still do a whole lot."

Then I understood what he was doing. He was warning me. But I didn't understand why. "Is this part of the test?" I asked him.

Brian laughed a little. "No, it's not. But it's still within the rules."

"What do you mean?" I asked. It seemed like he was doing all this because he was actually concerned about me. For what reason, I didn't know. If he had done this before, which was made apparent from the note left by the dead guy, then the last thing he'd do is try to help out a test subject. In any way.

"I have rules, too, Jack. One you already know is I can't kill you."

Well, not directly
.
I was still thinking about that guy. He had just killed himself, and he was happy about it. Whether Brian admitted it or not, he had power. Not just in the test. In the mind, too.

"Another thing is I can't give any hints. . ."

That made me laugh. "Yeah, figured that one out."

He laughed too, but quickly got serious again. "Yeah, well, what I'm getting at is. . . This is borderline illegal.
I
ca
n
explain things about the test, as long as I don't give hints.

"Well that stinks for me," I said jokingly. But it was really true.

"I know," Brian turned around and walked toward a door. "But rules are rules."

I watched him grab the handle. "Yeah? Whose rules are they?"

He didn't reply. He opened the door.

I slowly walked toward Brian. He went through the doorway when I came up to it. He turned around. Looked me straight in the eye. We stood less than two feet apart. "Goodbye, Jack." He shut the door.

I opened it as fast as I could. Brian was gone.

"Thought so," I entered the room. Closed the door behind me. I was about to keep going, but I heard the door open and close behind me. I quickly turned around to see what it was. Nothing
.
Well, that's one more thing that doesn't make sense
,
I thought at first. But then I realized what it was. It was Brian.

I laughed. He'd been hiding in the corner.

→

Walking through hell was never bad. It just wasn't that great. It was boring. Is that what hell is supposed to be? Boredom? I knew there was more to it, take the fact I could never leave and the only way to get out was by catching or killing the only other human being I knew, but still.