I am pushed through a door into a pitch black room. As I look around, I can feel my eyes adjust and strain to try to find any light, but there is none. I reach up to touch my face and I feel a blindfold over my eyes. That must be why it’s so dark, I think to myself. My hands shaking, I take the blindfold off, expecting to be bombarded by a room full of light, but there is no light. It is still pitch black. My heart races. I keep looking and looking for any light, and I find a small red dot in the corner of the ceiling. 

They’re filming me?  My eyes focus on the small red dot to cling to what little light there is, and for a few seconds, that’s all I can see. As I stare, I feel the walls closing in and a compressed feeling grows in my chest. I force myself to look away from the dot. Suddenly, I’m hyperventilating. I crouch to the ground and try to slow my breathing while questions race through my mind. 

Why are they filming me? Why am I here? What are they trying to see? My breathing isn’t slowing down. I try to clear my mind and think of something else. 

Ok, maybe I can find a way out of here. I slow down my breathing enough to stand back up. My head spins for a second, and I lean against the wall to stop myself from falling again. When I touch the wall, it isn’t smooth like I expected it to be. On the wall, there seems to be holes with mesh over them. I put my face next to the hole and it smells faintly of sulphur. I cough uncontrollably for a couple of seconds. I am confused, and as soon as I make the realization my chest fills with dread.

 I have to get out of here, fast. I frantically feel along the wall some more until I find three small hooks with keys hanging from them. I grab all three keys and shove them in my back pocket. I keep following along the wall to find a door, and I start to feel light headed again. I can’t tell if I’m blacking out or not because blackness is all that surrounds me. I keep reaching forward along the wall, but my feet start to trip over themselves. My head still feels like it's closing in. My feet finally fail in their efforts to keep catching me, and I fall to the ground. My heart pounds in my chest and all throughout my body. I close my eyes and try to calm myself again. 

I’m never going to make it out of here if I keep panicking like this. I manage to slow my breathing and I make my way to my hands and knees. I take a deep breath in and try to stand up. I make it almost to my feet and I fall down again. 

I guess I’ll stay down here then. I crawl on my hands and knees, very slowly along the edge of the room until I feel what I think is a door frame.. I feel up the door frame and I find a door knob. I try to turn it, but it’s locked. I remember the three keys in my back pocket. I grab one of the keys and I fumble until it’s in the lock. I turn the key, but no luck. I take that key out of the lock, put it key on the ground, and I try the second one. I put it in the lock, try it, and it turns. I almost can't believe it. I use the doorknob to pull myself back up to a standing position while leaning against the door for support. I take a deep breath, turn the knob, and fall through the door. 

I’m on the floor on the other side of the door. There’s so much light that I can’t see anything. I try to look around, but before I can see anything, I feel a pair of hands grab me by my underarms and pull me to my feet. 

“Time?” I hear a voice say. 

Another voice says, “Fifteen minutes and forty-nine seconds, that’s not too bad.” Neither of these voices are coming from whoever is holding me up. I am still blind from the intense white light. 

The first voice talks again, “Ok, I’ve got that down. Make sure she’s stable, then put her in the next room.” A hand waves in front of my eyes and I flinch. Who are these people? 

“She seems fine” 

“Okay, blindfold her then throw her in”

And before I can do anything to stop it, I am pushed through the door into a pitch black room.