Move two hands’ span up...
The tenth layer…
Firmly press down.
Lara slowly stirs awake, her mind chanting these words on a loop.
Her blurry vision clears to reveal an enclosed, fairly large space, painted in white, sterile and quiet. No door, no windows or any outlet of any kind.
She grunts, sitting up slowly as a dull ache pierces through her head down to her shoulders and hands. It feels like she'd lifted something heavy the day before.
Her brows furrow in confusion - she can't remember anything. Who is she? Where is this place? Why is she here?
Move two hands’ span up...
The tenth layer…
Firmly press down.
The words come to mind again. She nods to herself and crawls to the opposite wall, running her fingers along the smooth surface with her eyes closed. The motion feels familiar but somehow the full grasp of the memory eludes her.
Clenching her teeth in frustration, she measures two hands’ span using her thumb and index finger. She feels faint ridges on the wall. Layers!
On the tenth one, she presses down firmly and a soft click follows. Her eyes dart around the room, until she sees a tiny black bulb in a corner of the ceiling. Almost invisible, and blinking red light.
The white walls shimmer in response to the click, transmuting into transparent glass. She gasps, seeing there are identical rooms bordering hers, each with someone curled up in a corner. Just like her.
Fragments of memory flash through her mind. The painful shots at the back of head. The silver-plated head gear that resets her memory every night.
Except the words looping in her mind. They stayed behind while everything else disappears by morning.
She notices there's no one monitoring the enclosed rooms, except a large screen held against a wall that fenced the white rooms. Some codes flicker on the screen nonstop.
Panic sets in as she crawls towards the door and pushes it open. Cold air rushes at her just as the crash of big waves fills her ears. She stares in shock, her jaw slack.
She was on a large cargo ship.
In the middle of the ocean.
I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "the tenth layer".
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Image credit: Vika_Glitter