Lila Hawthorne's eyes fluttered open, revealing a barren and desolate room that seemed to defy the laws of time. The air was thick with an odd stillness as she took in her surroundings. A wooden door, worn down and shabby, stood in stark contrast to the emptiness that enveloped her. Rusty pipes, like veins of neglect, stretched along the corners of the ceiling, corroded and leaking dusty water that mingled with her disheveled hair. She couldn't even open her mouth to speak, it was as if the wind was whispering to her. She had a feeling of disbelief along with confusion. However, it lasted only for a moment.
She scanned the room, before anything else. The walls, adorned with moss and weeds sprouting from tiny crevices, whispered tales of abandonment. Lila's gaze shifted to a rusty, old television beneath a pile of wooden blocks, each piece resembling Tetris blocks stacked precariously. Her legs brushed against massive, wooden boxes, forming a labyrinthine structure that hinted at a forgotten purpose. Above them, inverter clung to the wall, a silent witness to the passage of time. Its insides were far worse than the outside. She wondered if she would die if the fan would turn on. She was known for having allergy attacks from dusty places. Not that anything was done to prevent it. Nearby, a metal box lay on the cold floor, adding an element of mystery to the desolate scene. It had '1P' written on it. It must be an electricity outlet of some sort.
Only after surrounding the space did she think to ask the question.
"Ugh, where the hell am I?" she muttered, her voice echoing in the empty room as she surveyed her surroundings. The eerie silence seemed to amplify the solitude that surrounded her.
"How did I get here? Hello! Is anybody there??" she called out, a moment of anticipation hanging in the air. Yet, the room remained silent, refusing to yield any answers to her desperate inquiries.
"This is the place, isn't it?" Lila spoke almost to herself, a mix of disbelief and recognition in her tone. The abandoned laboratory, a place she had only heard of in whispers, now materialized before her. The reality of her situation settled in, and she couldn't fathom how she ended up in this peculiar place. She didn't think it was true that she would end up here, all of a sudden, there it was, in front of her, the haven of mysteries.
"I can't believe I'm actually in the abandoned laboratory. I can't believe this place is real," she mused, her eyes scanning the room for any sign of life or explanation. The desire to call someone, particularly El, surged within her, and she instinctively reached for her pockets in search of her phone.
To her dismay, the pockets yielded nothing but emptiness. Panic gripped her as she searched again and again, desperately hoping to find her lifeline to the outside world. Instead, her hands brushed against a lone letter, tucked away in the depths of her pocket.
"I don't remember leaving the house with a letter," she murmured, her brow furrowed with confusion. The letter felt out of place, an anomaly in her carefully orchestrated reality. With a mix of trepidation and curiosity, Lila unfolded the letter, eager to unravel the mysteries that surrounded her. her phone could have been lost, taken from her, or have ceased to exist in this plane of existence. Whatever it was, it was starting to seriously creep her out. She did not intend to start her day in an abandoned laboratory, but it was a better option.
The paper crackled as she unfolded it, revealing stark emptiness. No words adorned its surface, leaving Lila to wonder about its significance. The absence of a sender's name or any discernible information only deepened the intrigue. She pulled the letter towards her and smelled it. Maybe it had some kind of cyanide or toxic fume sprayed, so she instantly pulled back. although it didn't smell like she had intended, it smelled like paper. Just paper.
A sudden realization struck her—a silence that seemed to permeate the room. Lila's breath caught as she became acutely aware of the absence of sound. It was as if the very air held its breath, anticipating the revelation that the letter might bring. She tried to rip it open, but it didn't tear as easily as it looked.
With a cautious breath, Lila delved into the unfolding drama of her unexpected surroundings. The room, once a mere collection of objects, now held the weight of a mystery waiting to be unraveled. Little did she know that this letter would be the catalyst for a journey into the unknown, leading her to confront the secrets hidden within the abandoned laboratory.
As Lila navigated the space, her every step echoed with a sense of urgency. The wooden door stood as a gateway to the enigma beyond, its worn-down exterior silently witnessing the passage of time. The rusty pipes continued to leak dusty water, a continuous lamentation of the neglect that had befallen this forsaken place.
She approached the wooden boxes, their Tetris-like formation captivating her attention. Each block seemed to conceal a fragment of the past, a piece of the puzzle waiting to be fitted into the larger narrative. The old inverter, stoic on the wall, hinted at a time when this laboratory might have been a hub of activity. It must've been.
There it was, the first piece of mystery. There was something scratched on the surface of the locked door. She carefully minded her steps, and suddenly the air seemed to have dropped, as she couldn't seem to warm herself up with her breath.
Beneath the pile of wooden blocks, the ancient television lay dormant, its screen a reflection of bygone eras. Lila couldn't help but wonder what secrets it might hold, what stories it could unfold if given the chance to come to life once more.
The metal box on the floor, seemingly inconspicuous, whispered of hidden compartments and concealed truths. Lila approached it with a mixture of caution and curiosity, her fingers tracing the edges as if expecting it to reveal its secrets willingly.
The room, once an empty canvas, now pulsed with quiet energy, a palpable anticipation of revelations waiting to be unearthed. Lila, propelled by a newfound determination, delved deeper into the heart of the abandoned laboratory. The letter in her hand was not just a piece of paper; it was a key, unlocking the doors to a world she had only glimpsed in her wildest imagination. It looked like she was transformed into moments from her childhood, where she would spend hours and hours unlocking puzzles, solving mysteries, and advising solutions to major problems. But, it looked like she couldn't find a solution to her problems, let alone others.
'Professor Alice, lead specialist.' it was scratched, but it looked like there was more. It looked like a smudge of some sort from a board or a carving, it wasn't dubiously done on the door.
With every step, the mysteries of the laboratory unfolded like chapters in a book, each corner and object holding a story yet to be told.
She held the letter towards the light, hoping it would be the answer to all her problems. Or that it would at least keep her occupied, as challenges were nothing but hidden clues that were waiting to be found. She tore it open to read the letter out loud.
It was time...