Chapter 3

[Baek]

With this new information to hold onto, I gained a sudden will to survive. I had regained my physical strength but my mental health was deteriorating fast. Without having spoken to someone for months since I originally awoke (at least what felt like months), reality and dreams began to intertwine and the lack of space wasn’t helping either. I knew I had to get out before it was too late.

I stood up to wash my face but noticed an unsettling presence. Someone was sitting cross legged across the room from me. It wasn’t long before I realised I was staring right into the eyes of myself. My body began to shake uncontrollably and I broke into cold sweat. As I fell to the floor I clutched onto the side of the toilet for support. I snapped by head away from the dark dishevelled figure facing me and looked fixatedly into the depths of the toilet bowl. I began frothing at the mouth, clenching my upper teeth to my lips, before throwing up whatever was inside of me. I sat there gripping the metallic surface, my whole body quivering. The taste of blood in my mouth brought me back to reality, but I did not stop trembling till the gas came down and the day restarted.

When I woke up my clothes and the toilet were clean. I was not sure of the extent of what was real but the faint taste of sick in my mouth and the newly formed scab on my lower lip confirmed most of the story. Although this newfound knowledge seemed minimal at first, I soon came to realise that they had been cleaning me and changing my clothes whilst I was unconscious. Thus my second plan began.

I peeled the shirt off my back and tore the red fabric into thick strips. I tied a few pieces together before wrapping it around my mouth to form a make shift mask. But all of a sudden I heard the clanking of metal plates shifting above me and ducked down to grab the spoon I had ate with from earlier. I yanked my head upwards, one hand covering my mouth, the other grasping the spoon. With all my strength I lunged at that red blinking light and smashed open its protective covering. Before my feet had regained contact with the ground, deafening sirens began to go off from each corner of the room. I grabbed two smaller pieces of fabric from the floor and jammed them into my ears, reducing the pain of the noise, but not completely eliminating it.

Knowing that any second the men would re-enter my room, I had to think of a plan fast. I had two options. The first was to face them head on, but I had no chance of getting past them. They were both stronger and seemingly well-trained so would easily stop me. The second was to hide and then sneak past. I had gained a little advantage from breaking the security camera as they wouldn’t know where in the room I would be, however there wasn’t much choice anyway. I scanned my room for hiding spots and realised the common answer would be to hide up against the wall beside the door, but I knew that was what they’d expect. So I changed my perspective. Where would I look if I entered the room? Or, more importantly, where wouldn’t I look? My conclusion: Up.

I’ve always been good at climbing and the walls were so close together that it wouldn’t be hard at all to suspend myself above the door. Using the toilet as a foothold I launched myself towards the corner of the ceiling and clutched onto the broken security camera. Then I swung myself upwards so that my feet and hands were pressed against opposite walls and held onto the top of the door for support. All I had to do then was to wait.