Through barely-open eyelids you stare up at the red eye of the camera, deliberating – why are they watching? what do they want? – yet, despite the threat, you find yourself beginning to doze off; the lights dim, and the soft mattress ushers you into the peaceful comfort of slumber.
The click of the key in the lock startles you awake, the room brightens, and the door opens to reveal the homely-looking nurse accompanied by a blank-faced orderly, also dressed in white – another unsmiling type – just like the administrator at the reception desk; in fact, they look strangely alike.
Under the nurse’s neutral stare, and consciously not looking at the eye of the camera in the corner, you swing your legs from the bed and sit up, while the blank-faced orderly manoeuvres a wheel-chair into the room and escorts you to it with a firm and forceful grip. He whisks you from the room and along the sterile bright-white corridor, following in the nurse’s efficient footsteps; now, turning a corner, you arrive at a pair of doors which slide open at your approach: an elevator.
The nurse’s broad figure blocks your view of the control panel, so as the elevator descends and remembering your room is seven floors up from ground level, you carefully count as floor after identical floor flits past the vision panels in the dull metallic doors.
Ten floors down, the doors open into a dark void; a scent, reeking of menace, fills the air.
Confused? You might be! Read previous episodes of The Facility here.
Written in response to two challenges:
– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – TYPE, BEGINNING, ESCORT
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – CENTER / CENTRE
Photo credit: Scott Webb on Unsplash
Read more Six Sentence Stories via the Link Up Party here
Too short! Otherwise just great! A gripping story Chris
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Haha, I keep them short to keep you hanging on from week to week! 😉😂
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Clever! ❤️
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Ooh! That gave me goosebumps! I wonder what is so menacing there! Chris, your storytelling skills are too good.
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Thanks so much, Punam! We may be finding out next week, or maybe I’ll string you along for a week or two more… 🤔😁
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Lol! That would be sheer torture!!😉
My pleasure, dear. 😊
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I reply with a little evil giggle!
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Roll on next week Chris………………………………………….
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It’ll roll around very soon I’m sure, Di! 🙂
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🙂
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Gah. That last line is chilling! I have goosebumps. Great writing, Chris, and you’re sustaining that second-person pov admirably. 🙂
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Thanks, Diana! I’m definitely enjoying the challenge. 🙂
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most of em
were rude
and not in the mood
to deal with big john
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They’re an unsmiling lot.
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There is something about an unsmiling nurse in a sterile-white setting isn’t there? She’s giving me the creeps alright!
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Yesss! Intended result, Matthew! 🙂
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Oh, no, I don’t think this is going to end well. The suspense is killing me!!!
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I certainly wouldn’t want to be in my protagonist’s position!
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All I can say is 😱
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😈😁🤣
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Like Kafka’s Trial, and Orwell’s 1984, impending doom is the overall feel.
Expertly crafted, Chris
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Thanks, CE. There’s nothing like a little bit of doom now and again!
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waiting for the axe to fall. quite a good six.
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Thank you, Paul.
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Building nicely Chris, well developed leaving me with anticipation of something ominous.
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Thanks for the encouragement, Paul. I appreciate it!
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My goodness! Another story proving that our imagination is the scariest place we can go! I’m afraid to ask what happened next? 🙂
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Sometimes I frighten myself, Susan! As for what comes next… I’m not quite sure yet. I can guarantee it won’t be much fun for my hapless protagonist. 😉
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Going three floors into the basement sets up the scene for something ominous to happen.
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So far down, no-one will hear the screams…
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This is going nowhere good — for the person in the story, i mean. You are doing an excellent job.
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Thanks, Mimi! You’re right about our poor victim. 🙂
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It’s such a sterile controlled world
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Exactly! But what are ‘they’ up to? Nothing good, that’s for sure!
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You have mastered the cliffhanger, Chris!
I want to believe there will be a happy ending to this story but ah…not thinking that’s going to be the case.
Guess we have to wait and see 😀
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Thanks so much, Denise! Yes, more waiting I’m afraid…
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Excellent (continuation of a) Serial Six!*
Nice world-building, through the direct experience of the character… via 2nd person POV! (surely the most challenging and intimidating of the POVeseses.)
cool
*technically, the pacing of the action, the rising of the … energy or whatever the word for the action, though not limited to the physical
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Thanks, Clark! You know I like a ‘proper’ challenge.
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This just gets better and better! Already looking forward to next week!
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Yeah, it’s not looking good for this 2nd Person character at all (but I’m a believer in some hope, somewhere along the line, so who knows if an escape might present itself later?).
I’m getting a vibe that the staff might be clones, or some sinister family cult….
Good one, Chris 😎
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Thanks, Ford! Mmm, something there I’d not considered… 🤔😊
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Well, that’s good and creepy! Nice 6!
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Thanks, Dyanne!
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A storm is brewing!
Status report: hooked.
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It certainly is! Read on next week, my friend 🙂
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And so the suspense continues, Chris.
You’re building it up so well, with wee deepenings of the protagonist’s assimilation into the sterile surroundings they don’t understand – the wheelchair – balanced by their effort to remain connected to outside reality.
I say ‘their’ – I have no idea if this is a male or a female – or if it even matters.
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Thanks, Jenne! I appreciate your encouragement. I thought I’d leave the protagonist’s gender ambiguous and let the reader decide.
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Another great episode, Chris! I love the tone of this piece, well, the whole story so far. There’s an odd sense of medicated calm, but just beneath there’s the “scent, reeking of menace.” 🤩
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Thanks, Susan! Onward to tomorrow… I can safely say I have no idea where this is going… yet!
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Ah, the joy of discovery!
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The last lines are very chilling, Chris.
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Worse to come… 😉
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Talk about ups and downs, Chris! This place still feels odd! Can’t wait for the next part.
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It’s waiting for you!
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😀 I’ve already seen! 😀
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I saw! 😀
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🙂
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