Mia Zottoli | Binary | Fiction

BI

Mia Zottoli

The faceless creatures lead me into a room. A table sits in the middle, with a cool metal chair tucked beneath it. I feel a hand on my back shove me, and I stumble forward, nearly banging my knee into one of the arms of the chair Message received. After sitting in the chair for what seems like hours, the creatures bring out a device riddled with wires. Setting it in front of me, I can see that the wires connect to two buttons: one blue, one pink. The colors jump out at me against the dullness of the room, against the blank beings staring at me, invisible eyes begging, demanding me to do something. Two buttons. One blue. One pink. The creatures stand around me, forming a circle. Trying to run would be futile. As they close in on me, I know I have to make a choice. My hand hovers over the blue button, and then I shift it over to the pink, slowly lowering it down as the creatures bend their bodies over me. I pull back abruptly, placing my hand back in my lap, and the creatures stand back up again, their movements reminiscent of whisperings of a crowd. Pick one, I hear. Then we’ll let you go. Press a button, and my body’s free. I can leave this dark room of expectations. But what of my mind? It would stay locked inside, forever. By now the creatures surround me on every side, pulling at my skin, my hair, my arms, pulling me down to the buttons. My fingers inches away from a decision, I try to fight back, struggling within their grip of iron, but it’s no use. They’re too strong. They force my hand down, down, until it hovers mere centimeters above the pink button. And then I realize something. I wrench my other hand free from the creatures, bringing it down hard on the space between the buttons, where the device fades to black. Electricity crackles, and all of the creatures jump back, screeching in anguish. With both of my hands now free, I pick up the device, stand up from the metal chair, and hurl it at the ground. Pieces of material break off, and one of the buttons cracks in half. The creatures cower in the corner. Picking up the device, I pull out the wires, one by one, and every time I do so, a creature disappears. Finally, only one remains, a small thing hiding in the shadows of the room. As I reach to disconnect the last wire, it runs at me, screaming with all the fury of hell, and I flinch, grabbing the wire and pulling hard. The creature fades to nothing right in front of my face. All around me, the room starts to crumble, the device along with it, and I notice that the door the creatures led me through has opened, with light pouring out, illuminating the heavy room. Racing through it, I watch everything collapse behind me; I see the colors of blue and pink fade into oblivion, the gray of the room giving way to a new light, and I smile. I broke the machine.