MasteR
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Light in the Darkness
...The second day in this godforsaken place, cut off from all the comforts of civilization. Who would have thought it would be so difficult. Only one day, and I'm already having wild withdrawals from my usual lifestyle. Where is the TV, where are the usual gadgets... A constant feeling that I've lost something important and need to find it urgently. Fortunately, I'm not alone here. There's someone to chat with and distract myself a bit from the intrusive thoughts... The events of last night have been the subject of discussion more than once. Oh, how foolish we must have looked on the screens; they gave us quite a thrashing. But at least it will be interesting to watch. It's nerve-wracking that none of the organizers have tried to contact us. Will they even do it? Probably not; they already said and showed everything yesterday. And why would they contact us? Food and water for a month ahead, no one died of a heart attack, although the chances were pretty good. For some. In general, the tension has subsided.
The second night promised to be calmer and warmer in terms of atmosphere than the previous one. No strange sounds, whispers, or screams echoing through the empty corridors. Somewhere closer to midnight, exhausted after a sleepless night and a hyperactive day, I started to fade out and finally fell asleep. I would have slept until the next morning if it weren't for a strange light. Without thinking twice, I jumped to my feet, trying to understand what was happening. But the bright light hit me straight in the eyes, and I was blinded for a couple of minutes. Finally, the intensity of the light began to wane. Soon I noticed that this light was reflecting off mirrors, but strangely, the light source itself was nowhere to be seen. After a minute, everything faded completely. What was that? Why did they have to do that? And how did they even manage it? Many questions, and not a single answer...
Looking around, I noticed that a few people were missing from the room, but it seemed no one paid much attention to it. It looked as if no one else had seen this strange glow but me, and until my sudden awakening, no one cared. At least most people just continued to sleep. And ToX, at that moment, was poking around in the fireplace, under the supervision of a few individuals who were clearly fond of him.
I was too tired to reflect further on what had happened and soon blacked out again, this time until morning...
My deep sleep was interrupted by the commotion around me. Opening my eyes, I saw several people sitting on the cot with faces as if they had seen death itself. ToX and Mestear told us how they decided to take a walk on the first floor to figure out where yesterday's frightening sounds were coming from. Like us, they heard nothing. But when they entered one of the wards, its door slammed shut. The seemingly flimsy, half-rotten door turned out to be no less sturdy than a bank vault door; attempts to open it led nowhere. Through the keyhole, they saw Небо passing by the door. He ignored all pleas for help and vanished into the gloom after a few seconds. When asked in the morning what that was about, he couldn't remember anything. With combined efforts, ToX and Mestear finally managed to break down the door, which suddenly became as fragile as its appearance suggested.
But I was even more struck by the story of our strongman, whose face seemed frozen in horror from what he saw at night. He said he heard someone screaming and, without thinking, rushed to help. Running into one of the wards, he saw the body of his newly minted friend lying motionless on the floor, and above him hovered a blurred figure, as if preparing to finally finish off its victim. Seeing such a hulk, the figure instantly dissolved into the air. Naturally, the victim himself could remember nothing in the morning. I got the feeling that a well-staged play was being performed before me. But he told it all so naturally... Maybe they were pumped full of psychotropic substances? Perhaps we need to watch over each other more carefully.
ToX, still emotional after the night, struck up a lively conversation with his companion. He was telling her something very emotionally. When I stepped closer, I could only overhear a small part of the conversation, devoid of any meaning:
- It's so hard to be in this hole all the time. But it looks so nice outside, so much light is breaking through these openings in the roof... Damn, pull down your sleeve, stop blinding me!
- Sorry, sorry, I'm doing it now...
- Do you think the big guy really saw a ghost?
- You know, I've watched every episode of Battle of the Psychics, and based on what I've seen, I can say he should definitely be believed!
- That's bad if so... Alright, let's talk about something else. About that novel we mentioned earlier... As I understand, your favorite character there is Andrei Bolkonsky?
- No, I prefer Natasha Rostova.
Seeing me, they abruptly ended their conversation.
Well... There's still one more night ahead, just one. Just a little more to endure...
Project participants:
1. Нефела
2. Goomer
3. Fragment
4. Небо
5. Crestfallen Ariake
6. Злобный Ящур
7. ToX
8. Crabby
9. Morning
10. Нэйко
11. Граф Орлов
12. Mestear
13. macca