I woke up to a sharp headache piercing my head as a needle devouring my thoughts. I slowly opened my eyes, but what I saw was unfamiliar. The room was completely white, like a prison cell, but everything was spotless white. The walls, the ceiling, up to the bed and the toilet that by the corner, are all in one color, as if I were drowning in a sea of life-free whiteness.
I sat in bed, trying to gather the crumbs of my thoughts. My head was pounding in pain as if someone had clicked my soul hard. I tried to remember how I got here, but my memory was blurry, like it was a wet page in an old book.
I looked around; the room was almost empty, with no visible windows or doors. The metal bed with a white sheet was the only place where something of life seemed, despite the coldness of the place. In the corner of the room was a white toilet, looking like a part of the walls, unmarked by anything but color.
Silence was fatal, as if the place was robbed of any life. The only sound I could hear was my racing heartbeat. I felt locked in a white board, no colors, no movement,no sound, no one just me and the void.
I got up from the bed slowly, my feet touching the cold floor. I felt a coldness run through my body, making me shiver. I walked towards the toilet, but stopped halfway. I looked at the white walls surrounding me, it felt like looking at me, reflecting the echo of my loneliness.
I sat on the edge of the bed, trying to think of my next move. There was something abnormal in this place, something that makes me feel like I'm in a world between dream and reality. Should I look for a way out Umm just wait.. But what did he wait basically!
The more severe the headache I could feel my memories fade inside this worthless room or purpose.
As I sank into my thoughts, I seemed to slowly fade away time. The white walls were squeezing me from every side, and it made me feel suffocated. I felt as if the hours were passing without end, and I was watching any sound break this deadly silence. I knew something was going to happen, but waiting was unbearable.
Suddenly I heard a faint voice. I looked around in confusion, noticing that a door that was hidden between the white walls was slowly starting to open. I felt a shiver run through my body, as if the air itself had frozen for a moment.
He was wearing an elegant black suit, neatly made reflecting the perfection of each stitch. He wore round glasses with thin golden tires, which were gleaming under the white light as a cat's eyes in the dark. He looked at me with his bright cold eyes, and in his gaze he reflected an unnatural calmness.
His hair was short and neatly styled, as if he had just walked out of a magazine page. His skin was pale, as if he hadn't seen the sunlight in a long time, which increased his mystery. He stepped forward with calculated steps, carrying a folding chair with him.
He stood in the middle of the room, closing the door behind him quietly, as if he was careful not to disturb the deadly silence. "Good morning." He said in a low but firm voice, looking at me from behind his glasses with a steady gaze. "I see you woke up."
I couldn't find the right words to reply, just staring at him with some sort of surprise mixed with worry. Who is this guy And what is he doing here And why am I here in the first place
"I know you have a lot of questions," the man continued, as if he had read my thoughts. "And I'm here to answer some of them. But first, how do you feel "
I hesitated for a moment before answering in a husky voice: "Where am I ... And who are you "
The man smiled at the corner of his mouth, as if his smile hides more than it appears, he opened the chair and sat off the bed, facing me.
"Let's start by answering the first question. You're in a safe place, tailored for you. As for your second question, you can call me Yunmo and I'm here to help you."
Yunmo what a name!, his family must hate him so much, this is what I thought without saying of course.
"Help me with what I asked cautiously, feeling something deeper behind his words.
Some time passed until I forgot my question, the man in his elegant clothes decided to kick out the silence sitting with us.
"I want your help to return to your normal life, in return we need something specific from you," he said in a calm voice but holding a tone of rigour. "And you know very well what this thing is."
I looked at him confusedly, my eyes wide, trying to accommodate his words. "But I barely understand what you're talking about. I don't know what this thing you want from me."
Yunmo scratched the top of his head as if forcing my words to enter there.
"Well, I want you to know that my manager is a difficult person to please, he likes perfect and perfect done at work and this is something that is not wrong with him, just that I can't take all these responsibilities especially after my last promotion, paperwork, office things, seals, accounting and others.. That's not me! So please help me until I finish early and write my report to pay him to the office and everyone goes to his house"
"Trust me," I said in a shaky voice, "If I knew what that thing was, I would have told you. But I really don't know."
Yunmo raised his arms slightly, then tilted his head and as if to steal hearing for my thoughts. "Words are like shadows, they may hide deep meanings in their folds. We're looking for the truth behind these shadows, and you're the key."
He slowly moved his hands as he spoke, as if trying to weave a web of words around me. I felt trapped between my thoughts, his words wrapping around me like snakes. "Remember, every word you say may be a restriction or a key. The command is in your hand. "
What nonsense is he saying And what is this damn thing Most importantly why can't I remember something even my name
"I don't know," I said as I shook my head slowly. "Really, I don't know what you mean by your words, but I can't remember anything specific."
His sharp gaze behind his reflective glasses pressing me hard, as if trying to wield every thought of a ship in my mind.
If you think you can lie to me, think again. This is not a game. You are in a place where there is no room for lies."
I felt my heartbeat quicken, as if my heart was trying to jump out of between my ribs. I was quickly thinking, trying to piece together the distractions of my memory, trying to find any thread that could explain what this man wanted from me.
Fear began to creep into my heart, but I decided to stay still. "I'm not lying. If I knew, I would have told you. But the truth is, I don't know."
The man looked like he weighed my words, trying to check my sincerity. He then sighed deeply and said as if he whispered to me: "Do you know what this room will do to you, it's not a place it's a tool"
His words were echoing in my mind like a distant echo" What do you mean by a tool "
Such chambers were used in the twentieth century extensively during the period of wars and to torture prisoners of war and politics. Absolute whiteness, emptiness, silence and even the food is simple and white like rice. All this is not just a coincidence. It is designed to make you feel lost, isolated. To make you lose the sense of time and space."
He swiped his hand on his pants like he's trying to flick any dust on him, and he continued."It seems meek and acceptable at first with all this, but the human mind needs stimuli. It needs colors, to sounds, to react. When you deprive him of all this, he begins to gradually collapse. He starts to look for anything to hold onto, even if it's an illusion. "
' And but what is that..' I can no longer think well and here the headache has returned.
"You start with hallucinations when you are deprived of stimuli. The sounds become faint, and memories flood your mind as a dense fog. At first, you find calm reassuring, but as the days go by, it turns into a weapon. You imagine your friends, your family, and even your enemies. But you don't know if they are real or just fiction. It's like you're walking in an endless maze so the strongest minds can break. The truth is that fear of loneliness takes a frightening shape. Questions become more pressing: Who am I And why am I here "
'Why don't you shut the hell up creator, shut up please' I try not to be affected by his words but he penetrates me like bullets so I sweat and I don't come back stronger on lifting my head. What did you do until this happens.
"You reach the point of madness here," Yunmo said slowly. "You start to cross the boundaries of yourself. Some of them start talking to the walls, until he reaches a stage where he thinks the walls are answering him."
'I'll kill him' I uttered that word in my mind without hesitation.
"Little by little," he crossed his arms. "Indifference is pouring into your mind. The ghost of loneliness begins to harass you, you find yourself thinking about things you didn't think you would think about. The boundaries between reality and imagination fade."
"Oh, I've seen people here... They reach the stage of no return" Yunmo continued in a calm voice as if to say hello to his neighbor in a shout. "They start hurting themselves, like they're trying to retrieve their feelings, or simply to prove that they're still feeling something. They injure themselves only to feel how much they live or grow their hair. There are even those who stand out on the wall. How disgusting"
Suddenly, without warning, she burst into a thunderous cry of despair, as if every moment of solitude had accumulated to form this internal explosion. With one hand, I hit the ground hard, as if trying to break the chains of solitude that surround me. My eyes met Yunmo's and in that look I couldn't take it any longer, just letting myself overflow with all her thoughts. And I'm kneeling for the ground. Hit her like a pathetic little kid.
"And but why are you doing this to me My life was miserable even before I was here! Every day was repeated with the same banality, the same boring routine. I used to live in a vortex of nothing, no purpose, no meaning. And now, here, in this white room, everything has become clearer. Misery didn't start here, it was always with me, chasing me like my shadow. I lost everything. My only friend was killed in front of my eyes, my job was lost, and my house became a distant memory even the girl I loved had died. All this pain, all this misery, is gathered here in this room.And you only want more because I didn't give you something I basically don't remember! "
Yunmo got up and with each step making a sound scratching the void after I hissed out a sob.
He stood in front of me and that's when Yunmo removed his black glasses, it was as a cover removal from an old secret. His hand moved slowly, as if time had stopped for a moment, retrieving all the micro-details. The metal edge of the glasses was gleaming in the light of the white room, as if it were the emblem of the emptiness, a sign of absolute power.
As the glasses slipped out of his ants, I felt the air pounced on me. His eyes fluttered under his eyelids as if he was coming out of a coma, as if his glasses were the barrier between two worlds.
When the shadows swelled, the terrifying truth unfolded. With every moment of stare a horror seeped into my being, as if the walls were starting to narrow around me like space itself responded to Yunmo's authority.Time was slowly flowing as if trying to prolong this moment, as my heart pounded at lightning speed.
In an instant, he put his hand on my shoulder, and with all calmness and brutality, he told me:
"Your voice is not loud in my presence."
He said it and there was no emotion in his voice, but rather disgraceful cruelty, like a blade that hid itself as he prepared to stab.
It felt cold as if the room's air had faded. My limbs froze, horror mixed with the thought of losing, as if I was losing something of my self.
Neom went back to his chair and put his glasses back on, exhaling all the air in his lungs like he's trying to get out of that Sudanese side of his figure and then lifting his head back leaning on the chair and telling me with his usual faint but less intimidating voice
"Why did you force me to take my glasses off I don't like doing this"
Then as if he was going to sleep out of my affairs and give up, he said, "You told me that you don't remember and but you just told me a lot about your life, unfortunately I didn't think you were lying so ingenious,.. Think of me as framed to write your resignation"
My thinking stopped completely when I realized that my memory came back just for a moment as I went!
This made me overwhelmed with swirls of despair. I felt myself getting lost in those depths, as a small fish drifting in a powerful stream.
I did not understand what he meant in the sense of my resignation, but my instincts sensed that my last moment was approaching.
But what happened to me a little while ago made it clear to me that my personal space had disappeared, and that every attempt at rebellion was an invitation to lose. My failed nature was commanding me to shut up, as if controlling my thinking exaggeratedly.I just gave in to reality as I usually do and cried without anyone hearing me. Between me and myself unhappy.
His phone rang! That silence cut off the sound of a phone. Naturally
The case was for NEOM.
"Pardon"
He stood at the corner and far so I wouldn't hear his talk. He was spinning in circles and raising his arms.
After a short while, he came back to me and without sitting, he told me with every screen.
"Yoho! What a lucky son you seem to like the manager, my friend, and instead of resigning you will get an upgrade,the last time he got this was 79years ago.. The bad news is that I will write your promotion report at the end"
Just silence on my part, I haven't understood it yet
"What am I doing now...." That's all that came to my mind before a gun suddenly appeared in front of me and cut my words.
Neom said with all vitality and he pointed the gun at me
"This is the fun thing about it, no one knows what you should do, just keep going as you are"
Then... Bang!