Flash Fiction / writing prompts

The Facility #7

Chris Hall56 Comments

White-knuckled, you grip the handrail as your companion urges you to hurry down several flights of stairs while the words you’ve just seen written on the wall, seemingly in your own hand, still circle around in your head, nudging at the nodes of your memory; puzzle pieces trying to assemble.

At the next landing, your companion motions you to stop while he peers through the viewing panel in one of the double doors; satisfied, he motions you over and you slip through the door after him, across the hallway and along another anonymous corridor until you come to another unmarked door, where he withdraws a key-card from his pocket and thrusts it into the lock, before hauling you inside.

You stare about the space, where a multitude of machines are whirring; a large central desk dominates the room, on it is a photograph showing twelve people, dressed in white lab coats like the one you’re wearing now: all of them look familiar.

Your companion guides you through a second door and when you enter what you see triggers the puzzle pieces to click into place; you fall to your knees, the burden of your understanding crushing you, but in this newly-established reality, the bioethics of what you now realise you and your companions have done are not the priority.

Within the blue-lit gloom are a series of twelve tanks, each contains a body connected to a central station via a series of wires and tubes.

One of them is yours.

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 – YES, ETHICS, KNEE
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – GRIP

Photo credit: Scott Webb on Unsplash

Click here for more Sixes!

56 thoughts on “The Facility #7”

  14. Mother Milla, have mercy.

    (On a personal note: I really enjoyed the action sequence, the travel from here to there. You have done it seamlessly. Not a single unnecessary word to interrupt of flight down the…. er, flights? (lol had to)
    But, at least for me in my efforts, action/’live’ realtime is way tricky)

    You have kept the all-powerful quality of engaging the Reader… for us, the rest is easy. Watch from the comfort and safety on the far side of the screen and see where the tale leads.

    ‘cellent Six

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  15. ‘We’re just twelve lost souls swimming in our fish bowls, year after year,
    Running over the same old ground.
    What have we found?
    The same old fears.
    Wish you were here.’
    Pink Floyd (with some minor amendments)

    Looking forward to finding out who owns the fish bowls. 🙂

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  19. The twelve tanks brought back to mind a scene from a movie I once saw, but for the life of me I don’t recall the name of the movie. You are so skilled in moving this story along so smoothly, with very few words, but rapidly taking us spirally into the unknown all the while as we try to make sense of it all. I am looking forward to finding out what the character thinks is the priority now.

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    • I know the movie you mean, Pat, but I can’t remember the title either. That scene did come to mind as I was writing, but I resisted to urge to dive down a rabbit hole and track it down. I wonder what other subliminal influences will surface as I try to unravel this little tale. 🙂

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  21. I’m speechless. Everything has been said by the others. The pieces of the puzzle may have clicked into place for your protagonist, but I’m still sitting with my mouth open. Fabulous writing, Chris.

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