My mind screams at me not to go near the chair. Is there someone else here with me? I look around, panicked. The cold air, I find, seeps into my blood, making me feel icy cold. I can't see anything, just the chair in front. Maybe I picked it up and have no recollection of it, that must be it. If there was someone else here with me, I would've heard or seen them by now. They would've made some attempt to approach me, or even attack me, but no. No one was here.

I step foward, closer to the chair. I reach my hand out to touch it, to see if it was real. I could see my had shaking visably, and my heart stammered in my chest. Please, my mind begs. Some sort of twisted relief settles in my body when my fingers brush the wooden surface. This is ridiculous, checking if the things around me are real or not, checking if I, myself, am real. I hate it. I don't want to be here anymore. I don't know how long I've been here, but all I know is that I'm losing my mind. Maybe I should run again.

I was still tired from the previous runs, but this was all I had to do, unless I wanted to rot away in that goddamed chair. That could be what is meant to happen to me, to just rot away, alone in this place. My mind starts to wonder then, if there is anything beyond this, what does it look like? Is there only blackness, or are there colours and light too? Are there people and happiness aswell?

Everything inside of me collapses and I find myself craving for someone to be near me. Tears fall from my eyes and I wipe them away as I run. Maybe I could find away of ending my life here. I glance down at my shoes, to see if there are any shoelaces, but I'm disappointed to find that there aren't. I'll hold my breath until I die of alack of oxygen! The thought suddenly rises up.

I stop running and pause on the 500th step. I make fists at my sides and take a deep breath before I stop breathing. I could already feel the burning of my lungs, more pain, and I find myself smiling at the pain. My heart pounds against the inside of the boney cage. My head was feeling light and I swear I could hear the rush of my blood, flowing around my body. Any second now, I'll die. Any second-

From out of nowhere I feel oxygen pour into my body, but I'm not breathing. I stand there, wide eyed, as I find that I'm not breathing, yet I'm getting oxygen. What is happening to me? I could feel things, things forcing my mouth open, but there was nothing there. I fight against it, clamping my mouth shut. But it was useless, my mouth was now open, and I was oxygenated. I gulp in a breath and look around. What touched me? I swear I could feel something. I have lost it, I admit to myself.

"Help me," I whisper as the tears from earlier spill out of me and I begin running.

But who is there to help me? I'll have to save myself, but I don't know how to. These thoughts that I have now, seem to be the same. They mostly consist of new hopes, wanting company, and counting the steps. If I wasn't going to die of loneliness or exhaustion, it would be from boredom. all of this, I'm going to explode with anger if I stay here any longer.

800 steps.

And then I hear something. The first sound, that hasn't come from me, echoes in my ear. I can't tell what it is, but I didn't want to find out. Whatever it was made my blood thinken, and made the hair on the back of my neck stand. I suddenly didn't feel safe. The blackness was now my enemy. What if someone is coming for me and I can't see them in this dark? It was almost as if the dark was mocking me. I swallow hardly as my throat goes dry from the fear.

I don't stop running though, just in case something was chasing me. And that's when I see it. In the disance, above the chair, was a light, if that's what it is, raining down onto it. I squint my eyes, suddenly disliking the brightness after going so long without light. The light, I felt, was trying to warn me of something bad, something changed.

995 steps away from the chair. And then a scream pierced my ears. It was loud, and I covered my ears as pain echoed around in my head from the scream. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to wash the pain away. It was a horrible scream, one that made me sink to my knees, still covering my ears. Whatever was screaming sounded like it was in pain, worse than pain, and tipping over the edge of sanity. It made me hate this place even more than I already do