You wake up with a start, disoriented and confused. Instead of the warmth and comfort of your bed, you find yourself lying on a hard, cold, metallic floor. Blinking rapidly and shielding your eyes with your hand, you try to make sense of your surroundings through blurry vision. You're in a cylindrical room, about five feet in diameter and nine feet in height, with smooth, shiny walls that resemble foggy polished steel. A low-pitched mechanical hum fills the air, its source indiscernible. The room appears to be empty except for you. You can't help but wonder where you are and how you got here. Wherever "here" is.
The room is brightly lit but oddly you cannot locate the source of the light. Just like the mechanical hum, it too is as if it is just there, without any origin. As you shake off the fog of sleep, your brain starts to rev up and get clearer. You take a little harder look around. Taking in as much detail as you can in such a bright, barren room. You notice there are no windows, vents, or any other features on the walls. But wait! What's that? You see the outline of what may be a door or something. You move closer to the wall and examine the rectangular outline. It is barely visible, but you can feel it with your fingers. It is slightly indented from the rest of the wall. The outline is in the shape of a door, about three feet wide and eight feet tall from the floor but not qite to the ceiling. Definitely big enough for a person to pass through.
If it is a door, there are no handles or locks. You try to push it. Nothing happens. You try to slide it either way. Nothing happens. It seems to be locked or sealed somehow. You bang on it with your fists, but it makes no sound. Baffled by this, you pound on the door again with all your might and scream at the top of your lungs. You can hear yourself, but there’s no reverberation. The sound seems to be absorbed by the wall, with no echo at all. You know you aren't deaf because you can hear yourself frantically breathing. You heard your own voice coming out of your mouth. You can still hear that melodic drone of the engine, or whatever it is. You feel trapped, frustrated, and most of all... frightened.
Next to the door, you see a small, black panel. It is about two inches wide and an inch tall. There are two buttons on it. One of the buttons is blue and the other is yellow. They are both pulsating. Brighter. Dimmer. Brighter. Dimmer. You wonder how you missed this earlier since it is so plainly obvious now against the stark backdrop. Just two buttons dancing to a beat, vying for your attention. Begging to be pressed.
There are no labels or instructions on the panel. No graphical queues. You wonder what the buttons do. They might open the door and you could be back in your room. Or maybe, upon opening the door, you will find yourself face to face with certain doom. That wouldn't be a good thing. Maybe this is an elevator and those are up and down buttons. The possibilities are endless. All you know is you have to get out of this room somehow. You feel like an animal on display in some alien traveling freak show circus. Feeling naked even though you are clothed.
You walk the circumference of the room, dragging your hand along the wall. You find no other anomalies along your way. You realize your only option is to push one of those buttons and hope for the best. But which one should you choose? The blue one? The yellow one? The blue one? The yellow one? This is a big choice. Perhaps the biggest one you've had to make in quite some time. You have no clue what the consequences might be. You close your eyes.
Your thoughts drift back to earlier in the evening when you were in the safety and comfort of your bedroom. Your safe zone. Your sanctuary. Your kingdom where you reign over the whole 110 square foot, off-white, low pile, carpeted land. But someone, or something, had violated its borders. Penetrating your personal space and stole you away without your consent or even your knowledge. Is this a dream? No, it can't be. You recall having dinner - chicken that was slightly overcooked and dry - and washing it down with lemonade with the ice cubes clinking around in the glass, making the streams of liquid veer off in unexpected directions and not ending directly into your mouth as intended. After dinner, you took a shower and dressed for bed. You did a final check of your social media accounts before pulling up the covers, turning off the lights, and laying your head down on the pillow. You must have fallen asleep because the next thing you remember is waking up in this soulless place, cold and alone.
With your eyes still closed, the images of home and the feeling of security fade away and the "engine" hum slowly becomes apparent again. You take a deep breath through your nose, count to three, and slowly exhale through your mouth. You open your eyes and without hesitation you press the button.