Stay still
You remain frozen – body feeling physically incapable of movement as you lock your joints, and stare on in horror as the
door raises with torturous slowness. The space beyond is shrouded in darkness – a corridor not unlike that which you are
right now - but, as the threshold reaches half open, you see it nonetheless.
Standing perfectly in the center, almost so still as you feel yourself remaining, skin pale, and dressed in plain black
jumpsuit. Tall, slim, and showing no outward signs of gender, the figure was something that could possibly be seen as
resembling human, yet in another way it is the least human thing you have ever seen. There is a strange way in which it
holds itself that gives no question to the fact that it is not something of this planet... if you even are on a planet any longer.
"Good. You show no fear." The thing speaks, its mouth hardly moving, and leaving you guessing whether it has teeth
behind it's thin, colorless lips. It's voice is strange and high, but it has no accent at all – almost a strange lack of such. "It is
good to see that the results have improved."
Your jaw drops, and you gape, watching as it walks forward slowly and looks you up and down slowly. It seems almost
fascinated by your appearance in some morbid, perplexed way - a curiosity that you share with frightened urgency. What
do I look like? What has happened to me? You can't remember a single thing as to how you got here. The last thing you
recall was putting on the costume, and then absolutely nothing.
"Come, child." The thing speaks once more, and gestures forward toward the corridor leading on behind you, and in front
of itself. “And do be obedient.” It reached down to the region of it's midsection, and produced a sleek black length of
tapered metal with a handle that looked something like a pistol - failing to even meet you in the eye as it began moving
forward at a brisk pace.
You turn and begin to pace after through the featureless passage, not daring to speak a word, and not daring to lag a step
behind – the device at the figure's hip a constant reminder of the danger you have found yourself in. From behind, the
strange thing's movements seemed even less human than it's appearance had first made it seem – long, loping, and almost
entirely identical between each stride. But, if your hands were any tell, you weren't exactly entirely human yourself
anymore.
On and on both of you make, passing only a few doors to either side – smaller than the one through which the thing had
come - until the passage terminated into a larger archway. The door here slid open with the same noise as the first had, and
beyond was revealed a small, well lit room of the same materials as the corridor, where a white and steel circle table took
up center place, and arrayed about it were the only other pieces of furniture in the room – a set of two chairs formed from
some unidentifiable black metal.
“This is where you'll be staying.” The creature stepped inside, and gestured once more for you to do the same. You follow,
and tilt your head to the side to see a side of the room that you hadn't seen before. At first, you think it to be simply a wall
made out of black, but then you notice tiny pinpoints of light sparkling back out at you from the mass of oblivion, and you
soon realize what you're looking at. That must mean... Your jaw drops slightly. We're in space.
The creature seems hardly interested by your hesitancy and surprise, however, and spins on its heel to make its way back
toward the door, giving you little time to ponder on your surroundings. “You needn't remain here long. I will return, and
we shall begin.”
Before you can speak or move, the door is sliding closed, leaving you blinking and struggling still to stay upright in the
center of the room, staring after. Once alone completely, however, and when the echoing footsteps of the thing
disappeared into the distance behind the metal, your eyes wander back to the window, and you approach – taken out of
even your fear and confusion by the depthless sea of black presented before you, truly beautiful in a vaguely terrifying
way.
The closer you get, however, the more clear the shifting fragments of your reflection start to show in the glass, and it isn't
long before your mind forgets about the space beyond, and freezes once more at what it sees. Your body is clad in a black
tracksuit, but the parts outside it – much to your shock – appear more like an animal than human. Long chiseled features
resembling that of a male fox, so much as you had assumed of the costume earlier, complete with guard hairs extending
from your blurrily visible cheeks - everything.
Beginning to panic, you begin reaching to touch parts of your body, half in disbelief that your reflection would follow.
However, logic followed suit, and the image of yourself kept suit - meeting you with the same undeniable results as your
own hand – coming into contact with fur, muzzle, and tall, soft ears no matter where they reach. You feel a deep, heavy
sensation settling in your stomach, and you stagger back half-voluntarily, watching as a long, white-tipped tail sways
behind you with the abrupt motion. What have I become?
Your panicked eyes glance to the door through which you had come through, then to the black window and the space
beyond. You must decide what to do, and now. Any minute now, the man – or whatever it was – could return, and if when
he had said 'we' had been implying what you thought it had been, he wouldn't be alone this time. Attempting to leave such
a seamless, sealed space isn't going to be easy, but if it was worth trying is entirely up to you.
Written by Doppelfoxx on 30 January 2022
The end (for now)