Jacqueline Druga: Reset

Something clicked. At least a little.

Nora Lane. Yes. It is Lane. That’s it. I’m from… I’m from Akron Ohio.

The monitor above the desk was blank, yet the power was on. Outside her room door she could see a light, possibly a hall and Nora, not only in a mental search for who she was, sought out physically where she was and reached for that cell like door.

Unlocked.

It was her chance to venture out, find answers. She hoped.

She fought the foggy memory, trying to decipher how she ended up in that room. But all she could recall was the final few moments leading up to her black out.

That and the vivid dream she had just before she woke up choking.

The door slid, almost automatically into the wall with a hiss and she stepped out. Her legs weren’t strong, they felt rubbery, her eyes failed to focus fully and the painful knot of hunger grew.

The dream. A few slow steps and when she thought of it, the husband, the children, she was positive they were reality.

But why did she get a lump in her stomach at the thought of them?

Answers she didn’t have and she figured it would eventually all come to her. Just like the simple task of walking with ease would return.

She felt as if she had been sleeping for days. Her head started to pound, she guessed if she had been sleeping that long, she was dehydrated. The hallway seemed like a mile journey, her weakened state and faulty sight caused the hall to seem slanted causing a vertigo that sickened her some.

Door after door, just like hers, lined that hallway. All of them closed. It was brighter at the other end of the hall and she set that as her destination. All she heard was the electrical humming surged in and out as if it were going to go out at any moment.

A part of her felt as if she was alone, but there were so many doors. Were there others, like her, behind them? She tried to peek through the glass panel of the first door, but the room was dark and she couldn’t see inside. Then she reached for the door. It wasn’t locked. Just as she started to open it, she heard a scuffing of a footstep. Or at least that’s what she thought it was.

She tried to call out but her voice only gurgled, so Nora decided to look for the source of the sound. She couldn’t move very fast. It was taking everything out of her to walk.

It was another fifteen feet, a few doors later and she came across an open door. She walked inside. It was exactly like her room, Down to the monitor, the bedding on the mattress, the opened bag of clothing and the chamber. Only the blue, gel like fluid looked dry and dusty. With stiff knees she crouched down to touch the fluid. She ran the powder like substance across her fingers. Someone else emerged. Someone else was there.

Where?

Grabbing the edge of the bed for support. Nora stood. She now had a quest, to find whoever it was, that had been in the room. But they could have been long gone.

One more step toward the door and a man appeared. His presence startled her to the point, that not only did she jolt, she lost her balance and stumbled back and on to the bed.

“My God,” he said, reaching for her. “I am so sorry. Number Seventeen, right?”

She couldn’t answer. Seventeen what? What did he mean? She took his hand and used it as leverage to stand. He looked upon her with familiarity and a partial smile. But Nora couldn’t return the smile or anything. He obviously was far more aware than she was. Nora… was clueless.

Four doors down was a storage room with boxes of water, juice, and dry goods. Nora sat on a box, downing her second bottle of water. She could feel the hunger in her stomach, it hurt some. But she started to feel better.

He had brought her to the room, and reached out midway through her water and stopped her.

“Easy or you’ll vomit. I did,” he said. His voice smooth and deep with southern Kentucky dialect. “Can you talk yet?”

Nora opened her mouth and tried. Her voice felt stuck. She shook her head.

“Can you cough?” he asked. “Whatever substance we absorbed or inhaled, gets stuck in the throat, lines it. It needs to soften or liquefy more. Try coughing.”

After a deep breath, Nora cringed and again shook her head.

“Are you hurt? Did you fall?”

She lifted a finger and cringed a little and nodded that she did, but then waved him off as a signal that she was all right.

“It will itself work out. Give it a few minutes.”

Great, work itself out , she thought, I’m going to cough up another fur ball .

He handed her a cracker. “Try eating this. I know you’re hungry. I was. Still am. But my stomach still feels funny.”

After accepting the cracker, Nora looked at him. His face was strong and chiseled with a hint of boyishness that offset any guess on his age. His dark, short hair was still damp, he wore the exact same clothing as she did. Preplanned, pre-bagged clothes. She deduced he had more than likely just went through the same routine as her, wake up covered in goo. Snippet video, pee, shower, rinse, repeat.

Yet, what was up with the stranger? He seemed unaffected by all that was going on. Or perhaps it was an act.

He pulled up a box and sat down across from her. “I hope you talk soon, because I need someone to talk this over with.” He shook his head then handed her the remainder of her water.

“I know you’re seventeen because that was the number on your door. The only other room with a light. My name…” He placed his hand on his chest. “Is Jason. I’m sorry. I should have told you that. I’m sure your name isn’t seventeen.”

She shook her head and drank more water.

“I haven’t seen a clock yet. I checked my room, none of my belongings are there. Then again, I don’t know if I would know if they were mine. Does that make sense?”

Nora nodded, it did make sense to her.

He lifted his hands. “I’m gonna just keep talking until you can. Is that okay?”

Nora closed her mouth tightly to convey her agreement. What else did she have to do but drink that water and listen? Besides, she did want to know what was going on with him. Who he was. What he had to do with everything.

“So I don’t know how long I have been up. My guess is about a half an hour,” Jason said. “I just know when I ventured out of the room, the hall was lit, but all the rooms were dark. I couldn’t call out, my voice wouldn’t work. It was confusing. This room wasn’t far, door was open. Almost as if set up like that on purpose. Or maybe it was on automatic, like my lights. Like yours. I found the water. Drank it like you. I paced a minute or two, threw up…” He cracked a partial smile. “Then coming back up the hall, I heard water and saw your light on. I went to get you water, figuring, and heck if the same thing happened to you that happened to me, you’d need it. I planned on meeting you but you beat me to the punch.”

Nora brought the bottle to her lips.

“I just was confused. I mean all I got was some short video, cut off after the guy told me to take a leak and shower.”

The video.

Upon hearing that, mid drink, Nora cocked her head and when she did, the ‘it’ dislodged in her throat and the water in her mouth involuntarily shot out.

Jason inched back.

As if the water went down the wrong pipe, Nora violently coughed, and the spell ended with the expulsion of a small dime size chunk of the blue gel substance,

“There it is,” Jason looked down to it. “Now try talking.”

Nora exhaled, then breathed in. “I…” She paused and smiled, the words came out with ease. “I’m Nora.”

“Nora, pleased to meet you.”

She shifted her eyes around. “Where… where are we?”