Prologue

Today, like every other day, thousands of letters are being sent across the country, and to different parts of the globe, that contain various types of messages and information. But, there is one letter in particular that should receive extra attention – a confirmation letter, to be exact – that has been duplicated and sent to two specific people.

The twin letters are placed with the rest of the recipients’ mail, waiting to be opened and read. Finally, the two mysterious people arrive home from work, grab their mail, and walk into their houses. Without their knowing, a series of simultaneous events occur between both of them. They read through the rest of their mail before coming to the duplicated letters.

Inside each letter lay three contents: a return envelope, a 3-page pact, and a quantity of permission slips. The two figures took out their pacts and, as they continued to read through it, a malevolent smirk appeared across their faces.

Miya
RRRIIINNNGGGG

The bell rang signaling the end of 7th period – literature. I let out a sigh of relief; we have to make a poster about one of the gods or goddesses in Greek mythology and present it to the class. Don’t get me wrong, I loved learning about the Greek myths and legends, but I’m terrible at drawing and I don’t like public speaking. But, my literature teacher, Mrs. R – she has a full last name but it’s really long – has confidence in me.
Anyways, I have, like, only 2 or 3 minutes to get to my final class, writing – don’t ask why they split writing and literature into two different classes, my school is just weird like that. Speaking of weird, I just arrived at my destination, writing – room 2103 – 8th period; you will never a stranger writing class than this one. With five troublesome boys, a teacher who threatens them and pokes fun at everyone, and the most bizarre conversations you tend to overhear that leaves you confused for the rest of the period, one thing is certain: writing class is never dull.
“Hey M,” I heard someone say. I turn around and see my friend Alyx. My real name is Miya but everyone knows that the name Miya does not fit with my personality or style of clothing, so they just call me “M”.
“I like your shirt,” she continues. I’m wearing a white crop top shirt with a grey sunflower in the middle, a black camisole underneath, a pair of dark wash, crops that stop right above my ankles, and grey and black Keds with black laces.
“Thanks,” I reply, “I like yours, too.” – she’s wearing a hot pink tee with yellow palm trees and a sun on the front, light-wash jean shorts, and brown sandals with pink outlining – “Except for the pink.” She laughs; we both know that I dislike all types of pink. The final bell rings and we take our seats.
“Alright class, settle down,” our teacher, Mr. A., said. Even though this is the rowdiest class of the day, it’s still one of my favorites because Mr. A. is very sarcastic and tends to poke fun at all the students. And his sarcasm is really funny. “As you know, the school retreat is next week. So you need to bring me your permission slips, so that if you get lost and don’t make it back, your parents can’t sue the school.” A few snickers go around the classroom.
Oh right, the school retreat, I think. We have one every year, each grade goes somewhere different; last year we went to a youth camp, this year I don’t know where we’re going. He wouldn’t tell us, but there were some strange questions on the slip. For example, it asked: How strong do you think your mental state is? Or if you had to spend a week living in complete daylight or darkness, what would you pick? Weird, right? Anyways, writing class was basically normal, we learn a lesson and a couple students get sent out because they talk too much. Then the bell rings and I go home.



The buses just pulled up and my grade loaded our bags. The other grades left already and we’re just getting on. So there’s just one problem left: where to sit. I take the first empty seat I see and wait for someone else to sit next to me; I hope it’s no one annoying.

Alyx

I get on the bus and sit next to Miya – or M as she wants to be called. I’m super excited for this trip, M says it sounds suspicious but I think she’s overreacting. We weren’t allowed to bring any electronics and it going to be a few hours till we get there so it’s very noisy in here.

I really wish Mr. A. would tell us where we’re going, the suspense is killing me. It’s basically what everyone else in my grade is talking about, too.

I snap out of my thoughts to feel someone poking my arm.

“Alyx?” that person says, “Earth to Alyx. You were staring off into space for, like, three minutes. What were you thinking about?”

“Huh? Oh, yea, sorry I was just thinking about the field trip,” I answer.

“So, you’re starting to get suspicious about it, too, right?” M asks.

“No, I just want to know where we’re going,” I reply.

“Yeah, well I still think it’s suspicious. I mean, think about it those questions were super strange and how they were worded, it sounds like a scientist wrote it.”

“You always blame scientists when you find something that seems weird,” I counter.

“It’s not my fault that I think scientists are more crazy than smart. And besides one of these times I’m bound to be right.” M wears a confident smirk on her face and I laugh.

“Ok, ok. Fine, you win this time.” I hold my hands up in mock surrender, “I’m going to take a nap, wake me up when we get there?”

“Yeah, sure,” M answers. I mumble a ‘thanks’ and drift off into a dreamless sleep.



After M nudged me awake, we got our bags and headed towards a large light grey building. A group of people clad in white lab coats came out and greeted our teachers. Some of them had clipboards and they all looked very scientific. A knot of dread begins to form in my stomach. Maybe this time M was finally right, I think. But I really hope she’s wrong.

Miya
Ha! I knew I was right; they should’ve listened to me because I was right! Oh shoot. I finally realize what my rightness entitles: crazy, whack-job scientists conducting crazy, whack-job experiments on me and my class. Great. Even though some of them annoy me to death, I’d never wish that anyone be at the mercy of scientists; that’d be beyond evil.
Well there’s nothing we can do now, might as well see what they have planned for us. We are led into fairly large room that had TV monitors across one wall – like the kind you’d see in a government security room. The difference was that the cameras showed only two rooms from multiple angles. One room looked very bright and had to be adjusted by the computers so that you could actually see something, and the other room was so dark – almost pitch black – that they needed to use night-vision cameras to be able to see what is going on in there – which at this point is nothing.
A minute later, a female scientist – who I assumed to be the one in charge – walked towards our group. She’s a little on the short side – just a few inches taller than me – had dirty-blonde hair that was swept up into a neat bun, blue-green eyes that reminded me of the sea, and was wearing a white pencil skirt that stopped just below her knees with a grey shirt and lab coat over it – also white. She wrote something down on the clipboard in her arms before addressing our group.
“Welcome,” she greeted. “I will first start by saying my name is Amelia, and I would like to thank you all for agreeing to test this new experiment...” She continued to explain what the experiment was and what we were supposed to do for it, but I wasn’t listening anymore. I was confused at what she said, I had never, would never, agreed to be a test subject for any scientist. And, judging by the looks on the rest of my classmates’ faces, neither had they; so how could these scientists get all of our permission without at least one of us noticing. It not like we signed anything... wait! We did, the permission slip for the field trip – and our parents signed it, too – I knew it seemed suspicious, what with all those strange questions and all. “...please go to the door on the right side of the room, and if you chose the night option, head to the door on the other side of the room. Then someone will set up the stimulation and you may get started,” I heard Amelia conclude. The only problem was that I had no clue what she was talking about.
“Hey,” I said while nudging Alyx, to gain her attention, “what was she talking about? I completely zoned out.”
“Well, it turns out that the permission slips Mr. A. gave us were actually for allowing us to be test subjects,” Alyx answers. At first, I was shocked at that, but I wasn’t all that surprised. I know how Mr. A. and Mrs. R. joke about torturing us; I just never thought they’d actually do it. “Basically they want to see what happens to our mental stability after spending a week in constant light or darkness. I chose light, because, well, you know.” I remember; Alyx doesn’t like the dark, she’s not afraid of it but she’d rather be in a lighted place. This stinks because I chose darkness.
“Oh, that stinks ‘cuz I chose darkness. Well, I guess this means we won’t see each other for a week,” I sigh, then I give her a side hug and we say good-bye. Then I head over to the door on the left wall, wait until the stimulation is set up, and listen to the scientist explain what will happen when we get inside.



I am now inside the stimulation room, along with Nikki – another friend of mine – Andrew, Jacob, and maybe 8 or 9 others, and I can’t see a thing; even the cameras are invisible. I can walk but I don’t want to bump into or trip over anyone, even though the room is very large. I thought that the stimulation would be different; it’s really just like my regular day just without sight. There’s a bed and we’ll get food and water – although I have no clue how they’ll be able to without letting light in and not being able to see – but other than being blind nothing’s that different. Oh, except for one thing: I have nothing to do! They didn’t let us bring any electronics – and confiscated the ones that were smuggled – I don’t have anything to read, I couldn’t anyways because I’m blind. But, seriously, they could’ve at least given me a ball to throw or something that doesn’t always require sight.
Now that I think about it, maybe that’s their main goal – to see how long it takes before we all go stir-crazy or insane. Maybe they didn’t give us anything to do because they want to leave us alone with our thoughts, but that’s like the worst thing someone could ever do to me. If I start to think too deeply I’ll go crazy, be paranoid of every single sound, and probably have to see and therapist or psychologist; I don’t want to go to a psychologist that’s about as bad as the scientists! Ok, ok, calm down. There’s a simple solution to this, just don’t think too much, but that’s so hard whenever there is silence the only I can do is think. This is going to be a very long week. I sigh. I just hope Alyx is doing better than I am.

Alyx
At least I can see, kind of. I’m really trying to stay positive here but it’s hard. Yes, I can see, but not for very long. It’s so bright in here; I can see for less than a minute before I have to close my eyes again – unless I want to be permanently blind. At first, I tried to let my eyes adjust, then I remembered the piece of advice one of the scientists told us before going in. He said, “While you’re in the lighted room, don’t keep your eyes open for very long or else, when you come out, your eyesight, and eyes, will be severely damaged, and you could be blind forever.”
So, I can’t really see and it takes maybe half an hour to an hour for me eyes to stop seeing spots after I open them, but it could be worse. At least I can still sort of see where I’m walking, and I can still talk to my friends, like Beth – she’s very tall and skinny; she has chestnut hair, brown eyes, and is very sassy – or Skye – she’s a little taller than me, has brown hair, brown eyes, and is very kind – or Haley – she’s as tall as Beth with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and she’s very athletic. They’re all fun to talk to but I also wish M was here, but I know that she would like how bright it is in here. Anyways, I think the week won’t be that bad. They already gave us two meals so I think it’s sometime after 6 or 7 o’clock. I should probably go to sleep in a couple hours or so. Sleep is the only thing I’m really worried about, since it’s so bright in here, but I can probably find something to lay over my face to block the light out so I’m not too concerned. I think I’ll go try to find one of my friends and talk to them until I get tired.

Miya

I think this is the third day now, I have no idea what time it is but I’m guessing around 8 in the morning. We’ve had nine meals since we came and I’m basing the time off of the meals. I also found out how they bring in food without letting light in; there’s a small middle chamber between this room and the monitoring room where the person bringing us food will put night-vision goggles on, then they turn off the lights in there and he/she comes in with the food.

I also found a few ways to avoid deep thinking. Sometimes I’ll talk to Nikki, but soon we ran out of things to talk about and just kept saying “so” back and forth until one of us left. Therefore that option was a bust. Then I decided to sleep as much as I can, but that only works for so long till your body won’t let you sleep anymore – no matter how hard you try.
So now, here I am bored out of my mind and terrified that I’ll start to think. Wow, there’s a thought that I never thought I’d think. Thinking used to calm me down, when school got too annoying, but that was before I started to think about random things at random times and start off into space only to confuse myself and yet make perfect sense at the same time. It’s very difficult to explain, like I understand what I just thought but at the same time I don’t. But sometimes, you can’t not think and that’s what is happening to me now. I start to think about the scientist and why they wanted to test this experiment. I mean, I know I don’t trust them and I think they’re crazy, but I never imagined that they’d do something like this. Testing teenagers’ mental stability? That’s worse than crazy, that’s psychotic! They’re acting as if we were just lab rats in an experiment – which, technically, isn’t completely wrong – but we are still human beings! This is one of the reasons that I don’t like scientist, they care too much about their experiments and don’t even care if the youth go insane because of it.
But, there’s nothing I can do about it. I close my eyes and start to think again, or at least do something kind of like thinking. When I close my eyes I try to see the darkness of my eyelids, but I can’t. I always start to see white streaks of light, like lightening, appear out of nowhere, and across my vision. Then I try again, I push away the streaks of light and find the absolute black. But, I can’t see it, different images keep popping into my mind and that’s what I see instead. Maybe that’s the reason I can’t see complete darkness when I close my eyes, because I’m not seeing at all. The black is just a picture created by my mind, not something I’m actually seeing, or not seeing in this case. I can’t really see what I want with my eyes closed so I open them, and I can finally see total darkness. I sigh in relief, for some reason I feel comfort in the darkness. In this comfort I start to think that maybe I was wrong. Not about the scientist, of course not, but about thinking deeply. And with that thought I begin to think about random things and how they work, and one thing leads to another and I find myself thinking about the most bizarre things and they actually make sense.



I don’t know what time it is or how long it is until we can finally leave, I lost track a long time ago, but I don’t care anymore. Since the third day when I began to “deep think” again, I’ve come to like this darkness. I’m like a shadow that no one can touch. It makes me feel like I’m a creature of the dark; also known as the creatures that haunt your dreams or the shadow that you think are moving after watching a horror movie or the monster hiding under every child’s bed – the things you saw aren’t real but send shivers up your spine anyways. But most importantly, the darkness makes me feel safe and mysterious. I don’t want to leave this just yet.

I hear someone mumbling then feel something on my arm, pulling me somewhere. They stop and I stop with them; I still can’t see but I don’t mind They stop and I stop with them; I still can’t see but I don’t mind. If I see again, I’ll see people and start to talk to them, and forget all about the deep thinking and fear it again. I don’t want to do that.

The room is warmer than the other one so I think there might be more people here. Then I start to see a glowing dot; it gets stronger and illuminates the room. It’s not very bright and I can’t fully see anyone, but I can see their silhouettes and I know what’s going on. No! I don’t want to go back yet, I think. I feel my eyes start to adjust to the lighting and try to will them to stop, but it’s no use, they have adjusted. The light is getting brighter and my eyes are adjusting again. I am able to make out the faces of those in here with me. They look well-rested and sleep-deprived at the same time; most of them have bags under their eyes and I suspect it’s because they got paranoid in the dark. Their hair is disheveled and their clothes looked dirty, I suspect I look the same, but at least I’ll see Alyx again so there is an upside. I just hope she’s ok, who knows what it was like to spend a whole week in nothing but light.

Alyx
It’s been seven days, or it should be if I count how many meals we received, so they should be coming any minute now to get us out of here. I don’t know why scientists would want to conduct an experiment like this, but I hope they got what they wanted so nobody else has to go through this. I know I said that I prefer light over darkness, but I think that I’ll be spending a lot of time in my room without the lights on for a while. I think my friends are going to do the same.

I open my eyes for the first time today and see my friends. They don’t look good, they don’t look sick either, but it looks as if they need a shower. Their clothes are wrinkled, their hair looks oily, and they have bags under their eyes. I’m not surprised about the last one because I wasn’t able to get much sleep either with the bright light on 24/7, and I’m sure my appearance is similar to theirs.
Suddenly, the room went dark and I still couldn’t see, but at least I can open my eyes again. Another good thing was that this darkness wasn’t pitch black like in the other stimulation and my eyes easily adjusted. A small group of people come in and led us towards a door. They hit a button and it slowly got brighter in the room. Once our eyes adjusted back to normal, the scientist led us to a huge room with our stuff in it and I saw M there talking to Nikki. I hope she’s ok, now I know why she disliked scientists so much. Everyone looked like they got barely any sleep and some freaked out when they blinked.

_____________________________________________________________________________________


After the scientist said we could leave and that they got all the information they needed, we got back on the bus. Now, I’m sitting next to M and she’s telling me about her time in the darkness. She says that it wasn’t that bad and she actually enjoyed it, and she wasn’t too mad at the scientists; that shocked me, I knew M since first grade – and even if I have no clue where she got the idea from – whenever scientists are mentioned, she always starts talking about how they are crazy and stuff.

After we catch up with each other, we sit in silence, and not just us. I realize that the whole bus is almost completely silent; nobody’s talking and the only sound I can hear is breathing and the bus’s engine. The silence is what frightened me the most because there is always at least one person talking, but everyone is either looking through a window or out in space. I had hoped that the week didn’t affect them too much, but I fear that a lot of us might end up in a therapy office soon.