The Laboratory of Dr. Grey - Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Roxanne read the paper over a few times then glanced at the key in her hand. A key to room one hundred and twenty-three, and a note biding her to go to room fifty-seven, the maintenance room. Which should she choose? Come to think of it, she wasn’t even sure where room one hundred and twenty-three was. Should she go consult Dr. Grey? He would know where that room was. No, he was experimenting. Who, or what, was this Darkness character?
After more thought she concluded that the only option was to go to room fifty-seven and figure out what was going on. But what ever was happening, she didn’t have a very good feeling about it. Something wasn’t quite right about any of this.
She headed down the stairs and realized that the oversized mouse was gone, and that it seemed to have left right after she started checking rooms. That also wasn’t like the mice, they were very friendly creatures— one of the most friendly things Dr. Grey had invented. Trotting down the steps, she turn to her left at the bottom, going in the direction of the maintenance room. Or, so she thought. Glancing at the gold numbers on the doors, beside the small glass windows, she quickly found that all the numbers had been rearranged. They were no longer in numerical order, but all random and strange. Like room ten was right beside room seventy-three which was across the hall from room twenty-eight.
After a while of searching down the corridor and going down a flight of stairs, she found the door with the number fifty-seven on it. Roxanne glanced through the window but nothing but empty blackness met her sight. She reached out her hand and pushed down on the handle. She swung the door towards her and a breath of cold air flowed out of the darkness. Without a second thought, she stepped into the darkness.
Back in the room, Dr. Mendaf studied the screen intently, watching every move and every thought that came across the screen. One of the doctors tapped him on the shoulder to gain his attention, then said quietly, “The serum is running on the low side. She should only have a few more minutes, sir.”
He ordered resolutely, “Give her more.”
The doctor, hesitating, responded, “But, sir, that hasn’t been tested before. We don’t know what it would do to her.”
“I said do it. Put her under again when she wakes up, I want to see more of what she has to offer.”
Relenting, the doctor nodding and began to ready a second dose of the serum. Fascinated, Dr. Mendaf gazed back at the screen. He suddenly asked, “What would happen if we put a second subject in with her?”
There was silence in the room and everyone was wondering where he would go with this. One of them spoke up, “Well, sir, that would be frankly impossible.”
“And why, pray tell, would it be impossible?”
“The test wasn’t designed to hold multiple subjects and if another was added the entire system might be compromised to the point of collapse. Some strange things might go on in there,” was the hesitant reply.
“The system is already out of our control and there is nothing that would hurt the subjects if we tried.”
“But sir—”
Ignoring the feeble protests, Dr. Mendaf moved over to the door and leaned out, “Bring us subject 53. And make sure that he is really unconscious this time.”
All the doctors’ eyes were on him as he turned back into the room. Returning their gaze, he said, “Well? Prepare another space and figure out how to get him in there with her, we don’t want them to start at the beginning either, so figure out how to add...”
Roxanne took another step forward and then she paused, listening. She felt along the side of the wall for a light switch, there was none. She took a few more steps in and released the door. It closed with a click, shutting out all the light. She suddenly became aware of a dull ache that was deep down inside. It was a strange feeling, like an emptiness in the depth of her soul. The air seemed oppressive and blanketed down on her till she could barely breathe.
Suddenly a fuzzy white splotch appeared in her vision and it grew until it blocked her entire view. Sounds that were faint at first were becoming louder, and she began to hear masculine voices nearby. The sudden feeling of falling overwhelmed her senses. Her eyelids fluttered open and she saw several white coated men in the dim room with her. The door opened and she saw two more men come in with a portable bed between them. Laying unconscious on it was what looked like a boy who was strapped down to it. Then one of the doctors leaned over her and blocked her from seeing anything else. She heard a shout saying, “She’s up.”
Then a deep stern voice ordered, “Do it now.”
“In three... two...” She felt a needle slip into her arm and she began to fade out of consciousness. Everything was turning back to blackness and Roxanne felt like she was drifting slowly on a slow tide of air.
After what seemed like minutes (the most relaxing she had ever had), she realized that the blackness before her wasn’t disappearing or changing in hue. Glancing behind her, she saw the beam of light that was penetrating the small window into the closed door. Suddenly she realized that she was back in the laboratory of Dr. Grey. She was almost disappointed, but she told herself that she would get out of this. She was suddenly overcome with the urge to go back out into the light. The darkness felt like it was slowly suffocating her, squeezing out every last bit of life. She was unknowingly breathing hard. Turning towards the light, she moved to it. In the faint light, she spotted the door handle and grasped it. She pulled down, but the handle refused to move. It was locked. She was now locked in a dark room, with no lights and no idea what lay beyond the doorway. She remembered the note that she found on the door, and a wave of boldness swept over her, despite a slight feeling of fear. She ventured out into the black shroud.
Holding her hands out before her, she blindly moved with slow methodical steps. Her left hand struck something and a loud clatter echoed in the room as it shattered to it’s side. Startled, she quickly reached out for whatever she had knocked over. She found that it had seemed to be a glass case, which was now in shards on the table that it was resting on. It was incredible that she didn’t cut herself on the tiny pieces.
Out of the darkness, came a quick, frightened sounding voice, “Who’s there?”
Roxanne, looked up immediately, expecting to see someone standing right in front of her. Her heart was beating rapidly with excitement as she thought of all that it could be. She asked in a disbelieving tone, even though if she really thought about it, she knew the answer, “There’s someone else in here?”
“Yes,” came the reply back. “Where are you?”
“Over by the table,” Roxanne said slowly, not sure if she really wanted to say. She heard some shuffling in front of her and slightly to the left and she asked, “Who are you? And why are you in here?”
The voice came again, this time a little closer, “My name is Damian, and I was put in here by something... I don’t remember what though.”
There was silence for a while and Roxanne was trying to figure out how far, this Damian was from her. Something warm touched her hand, and she jumped slightly, withdrawing from it. Then, the voice quite close now, Damian said apologetically, “Sorry, that was me.”
“That’s all right, my name is Roxanne. Do you think that there is another door around here?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t felt around very much.”
“Well, why not?”
Damian seemed to hesitate slightly, then he said, “I’m afraid of the dark.”
Roxanne smiled to herself in the dark, saying rather bluntly, “You’re afraid of the dark? The dark its self is nothing to be feared, but what is in the dark, now that is something to be reckoned with.”
“I wish you hadn’t said that. What are you afraid of?”
“Monkeys,” Roxanne stated in a very matter-of-fact tone, and she suddenly felt like they had known each other for years, but yet at the same time, like they had never before met.
When she said that, Damian laughed and couldn’t seem to stop.
Roxanne said softly, “Well, everyone is afraid of something, whether their fear is valid or not.”
Damian stopped laughing and he chuckled saying, “Monkeys and darkness, aren’t we a pair. You know it’s a good thing that monkeys aren’t going to be in a dark room li—”
The scream of an angry creature cut him off and they both saw luminous pairs of eyes all around them. One set was uncomfortably close and a furious paw swiped at them. Damian cried out, “Woah! Watch out, they’re angry!”
“You think? Here,” she scrambled on the table then handed him a large shard of glass, “use this is you must. Come on, there might be a door on the other side of this room.”
Grabbing his free hand she ran blindly with the chattering of monkeys on either side of them. Roxanne smacked into another table and felt the teeth of a monkey bite into her wrist. Startled she ripped her hand away and a cry of pain escaped her lips. But that was the least of her worries. Working her way around the table, she stumbled forward. Damian came up beside her and called out, “I found something, I think it might be a door.” He knelt down and felt something cold beneath his touch. Suddenly, a monkey pounced on his back and dug it’s sharp claws in. He immediately swiped it off his back in one swift movement.
Roxanne was by his side in an instant and she felt out for the cold thing he found. It felt like some sort of garbage disposal. “We should try it.”
“Are you sure?”
But she was already crawling into the four by two foot opening. Her voice echoed out to him, “Yeah, it’s like a metal slide. See you at the bottom!”
With that she shoved off and went sliding down the spirally chute. Damian glanced about him one last time and then slipped down after her. He spun downward and suddenly a bright end of the tunnel appeared. Tossed roughly out of the tube, Damian landed hard on a thin mattress which lay on a cement floor. He landed on his back and he groaned, sitting up. Glancing around he noticed that they seemed to be in a basement of sorts. But he couldn’t see any exits, doors, ladders, windows, or anything. There were a few tools that he could see and the room was lighted by three uncovered light bulbs. Laying next to him on the mattress was Roxanne, she had her eyes closed and it almost looked like she was sleeping. He started with fright and exclaimed rather panicked, “Roxanne! you okay?”
She didn’t move or make any sign that she even heard him. Quickly he scrambled into a knelling position and began to shake her gently. “Roxanne, wake up! Oh no, this isn’t good,” he finished seeing the monkey bite on her wrist. He tore a bit of cloth off his shirt and dabbed carefully at the blood coming from the wound.
Jerking forward Roxanne awoke with a cry and she blinked at Damian a couple of times. She blurted excitedly, “Wow, that was something else, don’t you agree?”
Caught off guard, he stared at her in disbelief, “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing, I think,” she replied frowning slightly. She glanced down at her hand and then said, “I should take care of this.” She began to industriously dab at the blood.
Damian still stared and he noted, “You know, there is no way out, and I’ll take a bet and say that there was another door up in that room. Why did I even suggest coming down here?”
“Well, don’t despair,” she quickly put in, glancing up from what she was doing, “I’m sure something will turn up, just keep looking for it.”
“But how? The only way out is back up and into the monkey room again, besides, you can’t climb with your hand anyway. Why did you have to go and be afraid of monkeys!” he ended exasperated.
Roxanne confidently informed him, “Don’t worry, monkeys are the only thing I’m really afraid of. Things never seemed to scare me away, it just makes me want to towards it. You know? Like fear was just a dare to do what ever you’re afraid of.” She shrugged, “So I suppose all we have to worry about is what you’re afraid of.”
“Right now, I’m afraid of never getting out.”
“Then don’t be, we’ll find a way out. And besides, what do we have to fear if we don’t?”
“Death. Has that ever occurred to you? That we might die down here of starvation, and want of air. Dying in the cold, alone. Turning into thin waves of time.”
“We’re not alone. Maybe you could use that fear to move you. If you don’t want it to happen, try to find a way to avoid it. By the way, I’m not even sure if we can even die down here. I don’t think that this place is... real.”
Damian stood up and started walking around, looking at the tools, “You wouldn’t mind explaining that statement, would you?”
Smiling slightly Roxanne began to explain, slowly at first, “There’s just something strange about this place, if you get my meaning. Like it’s all apart of a dream, it just isn’t real. It feels like something’s missing, deep down inside something just isn’t there.”
Damian was poking around the corners and he agreed, “Right! I feel like we’ve known each other since we were little, at least meet before. There’s certainly something fishy about this place.”
“I feel the same way!” Roxanne exclaimed, jumping up in her excitement. “If we could only get out of this laboratory we might be able to figure out something. I’m positive that this can’t be real.”
Damian paused, and he stared into the corner in deep thought. He muttered to himself, “If this isn’t real, then I can...” He closed his eyes, set his hands against the cement wall, braced himself and pushed.
Crack!
Roxanne gasped as she watched the whole wall begin to rotate, the axis at the center. Damian pushed it open a few feet then stood back, looking at what had happened. Cocking his head to one side he commented, “Well that’s interesting.” He glanced in the newly made opening and then ventured to look around the other side. Roxanne followed him and they both said in wonder at the same time, “Cool.” Yet at the same time, they knew that something wasn’t quite right, and it left a tinge of uneasiness, but neither would have admitted it if they had asked.
Roxanne asked, “Which one should we take?”
Damian shook his head, obviously perplexed by the whole thing. Both openings led to a hallway and then a closed door at the bottom. There was nothing else in the halls except that leering door.
Roxanne started forward, explaining as she entered into the hall, “You go down the other and see what is beyond the door... Damian!”
After more thought she concluded that the only option was to go to room fifty-seven and figure out what was going on. But what ever was happening, she didn’t have a very good feeling about it. Something wasn’t quite right about any of this.
She headed down the stairs and realized that the oversized mouse was gone, and that it seemed to have left right after she started checking rooms. That also wasn’t like the mice, they were very friendly creatures— one of the most friendly things Dr. Grey had invented. Trotting down the steps, she turn to her left at the bottom, going in the direction of the maintenance room. Or, so she thought. Glancing at the gold numbers on the doors, beside the small glass windows, she quickly found that all the numbers had been rearranged. They were no longer in numerical order, but all random and strange. Like room ten was right beside room seventy-three which was across the hall from room twenty-eight.
After a while of searching down the corridor and going down a flight of stairs, she found the door with the number fifty-seven on it. Roxanne glanced through the window but nothing but empty blackness met her sight. She reached out her hand and pushed down on the handle. She swung the door towards her and a breath of cold air flowed out of the darkness. Without a second thought, she stepped into the darkness.
Back in the room, Dr. Mendaf studied the screen intently, watching every move and every thought that came across the screen. One of the doctors tapped him on the shoulder to gain his attention, then said quietly, “The serum is running on the low side. She should only have a few more minutes, sir.”
He ordered resolutely, “Give her more.”
The doctor, hesitating, responded, “But, sir, that hasn’t been tested before. We don’t know what it would do to her.”
“I said do it. Put her under again when she wakes up, I want to see more of what she has to offer.”
Relenting, the doctor nodding and began to ready a second dose of the serum. Fascinated, Dr. Mendaf gazed back at the screen. He suddenly asked, “What would happen if we put a second subject in with her?”
There was silence in the room and everyone was wondering where he would go with this. One of them spoke up, “Well, sir, that would be frankly impossible.”
“And why, pray tell, would it be impossible?”
“The test wasn’t designed to hold multiple subjects and if another was added the entire system might be compromised to the point of collapse. Some strange things might go on in there,” was the hesitant reply.
“The system is already out of our control and there is nothing that would hurt the subjects if we tried.”
“But sir—”
Ignoring the feeble protests, Dr. Mendaf moved over to the door and leaned out, “Bring us subject 53. And make sure that he is really unconscious this time.”
All the doctors’ eyes were on him as he turned back into the room. Returning their gaze, he said, “Well? Prepare another space and figure out how to get him in there with her, we don’t want them to start at the beginning either, so figure out how to add...”
Roxanne took another step forward and then she paused, listening. She felt along the side of the wall for a light switch, there was none. She took a few more steps in and released the door. It closed with a click, shutting out all the light. She suddenly became aware of a dull ache that was deep down inside. It was a strange feeling, like an emptiness in the depth of her soul. The air seemed oppressive and blanketed down on her till she could barely breathe.
Suddenly a fuzzy white splotch appeared in her vision and it grew until it blocked her entire view. Sounds that were faint at first were becoming louder, and she began to hear masculine voices nearby. The sudden feeling of falling overwhelmed her senses. Her eyelids fluttered open and she saw several white coated men in the dim room with her. The door opened and she saw two more men come in with a portable bed between them. Laying unconscious on it was what looked like a boy who was strapped down to it. Then one of the doctors leaned over her and blocked her from seeing anything else. She heard a shout saying, “She’s up.”
Then a deep stern voice ordered, “Do it now.”
“In three... two...” She felt a needle slip into her arm and she began to fade out of consciousness. Everything was turning back to blackness and Roxanne felt like she was drifting slowly on a slow tide of air.
After what seemed like minutes (the most relaxing she had ever had), she realized that the blackness before her wasn’t disappearing or changing in hue. Glancing behind her, she saw the beam of light that was penetrating the small window into the closed door. Suddenly she realized that she was back in the laboratory of Dr. Grey. She was almost disappointed, but she told herself that she would get out of this. She was suddenly overcome with the urge to go back out into the light. The darkness felt like it was slowly suffocating her, squeezing out every last bit of life. She was unknowingly breathing hard. Turning towards the light, she moved to it. In the faint light, she spotted the door handle and grasped it. She pulled down, but the handle refused to move. It was locked. She was now locked in a dark room, with no lights and no idea what lay beyond the doorway. She remembered the note that she found on the door, and a wave of boldness swept over her, despite a slight feeling of fear. She ventured out into the black shroud.
Holding her hands out before her, she blindly moved with slow methodical steps. Her left hand struck something and a loud clatter echoed in the room as it shattered to it’s side. Startled, she quickly reached out for whatever she had knocked over. She found that it had seemed to be a glass case, which was now in shards on the table that it was resting on. It was incredible that she didn’t cut herself on the tiny pieces.
Out of the darkness, came a quick, frightened sounding voice, “Who’s there?”
Roxanne, looked up immediately, expecting to see someone standing right in front of her. Her heart was beating rapidly with excitement as she thought of all that it could be. She asked in a disbelieving tone, even though if she really thought about it, she knew the answer, “There’s someone else in here?”
“Yes,” came the reply back. “Where are you?”
“Over by the table,” Roxanne said slowly, not sure if she really wanted to say. She heard some shuffling in front of her and slightly to the left and she asked, “Who are you? And why are you in here?”
The voice came again, this time a little closer, “My name is Damian, and I was put in here by something... I don’t remember what though.”
There was silence for a while and Roxanne was trying to figure out how far, this Damian was from her. Something warm touched her hand, and she jumped slightly, withdrawing from it. Then, the voice quite close now, Damian said apologetically, “Sorry, that was me.”
“That’s all right, my name is Roxanne. Do you think that there is another door around here?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t felt around very much.”
“Well, why not?”
Damian seemed to hesitate slightly, then he said, “I’m afraid of the dark.”
Roxanne smiled to herself in the dark, saying rather bluntly, “You’re afraid of the dark? The dark its self is nothing to be feared, but what is in the dark, now that is something to be reckoned with.”
“I wish you hadn’t said that. What are you afraid of?”
“Monkeys,” Roxanne stated in a very matter-of-fact tone, and she suddenly felt like they had known each other for years, but yet at the same time, like they had never before met.
When she said that, Damian laughed and couldn’t seem to stop.
Roxanne said softly, “Well, everyone is afraid of something, whether their fear is valid or not.”
Damian stopped laughing and he chuckled saying, “Monkeys and darkness, aren’t we a pair. You know it’s a good thing that monkeys aren’t going to be in a dark room li—”
The scream of an angry creature cut him off and they both saw luminous pairs of eyes all around them. One set was uncomfortably close and a furious paw swiped at them. Damian cried out, “Woah! Watch out, they’re angry!”
“You think? Here,” she scrambled on the table then handed him a large shard of glass, “use this is you must. Come on, there might be a door on the other side of this room.”
Grabbing his free hand she ran blindly with the chattering of monkeys on either side of them. Roxanne smacked into another table and felt the teeth of a monkey bite into her wrist. Startled she ripped her hand away and a cry of pain escaped her lips. But that was the least of her worries. Working her way around the table, she stumbled forward. Damian came up beside her and called out, “I found something, I think it might be a door.” He knelt down and felt something cold beneath his touch. Suddenly, a monkey pounced on his back and dug it’s sharp claws in. He immediately swiped it off his back in one swift movement.
Roxanne was by his side in an instant and she felt out for the cold thing he found. It felt like some sort of garbage disposal. “We should try it.”
“Are you sure?”
But she was already crawling into the four by two foot opening. Her voice echoed out to him, “Yeah, it’s like a metal slide. See you at the bottom!”
With that she shoved off and went sliding down the spirally chute. Damian glanced about him one last time and then slipped down after her. He spun downward and suddenly a bright end of the tunnel appeared. Tossed roughly out of the tube, Damian landed hard on a thin mattress which lay on a cement floor. He landed on his back and he groaned, sitting up. Glancing around he noticed that they seemed to be in a basement of sorts. But he couldn’t see any exits, doors, ladders, windows, or anything. There were a few tools that he could see and the room was lighted by three uncovered light bulbs. Laying next to him on the mattress was Roxanne, she had her eyes closed and it almost looked like she was sleeping. He started with fright and exclaimed rather panicked, “Roxanne! you okay?”
She didn’t move or make any sign that she even heard him. Quickly he scrambled into a knelling position and began to shake her gently. “Roxanne, wake up! Oh no, this isn’t good,” he finished seeing the monkey bite on her wrist. He tore a bit of cloth off his shirt and dabbed carefully at the blood coming from the wound.
Jerking forward Roxanne awoke with a cry and she blinked at Damian a couple of times. She blurted excitedly, “Wow, that was something else, don’t you agree?”
Caught off guard, he stared at her in disbelief, “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing, I think,” she replied frowning slightly. She glanced down at her hand and then said, “I should take care of this.” She began to industriously dab at the blood.
Damian still stared and he noted, “You know, there is no way out, and I’ll take a bet and say that there was another door up in that room. Why did I even suggest coming down here?”
“Well, don’t despair,” she quickly put in, glancing up from what she was doing, “I’m sure something will turn up, just keep looking for it.”
“But how? The only way out is back up and into the monkey room again, besides, you can’t climb with your hand anyway. Why did you have to go and be afraid of monkeys!” he ended exasperated.
Roxanne confidently informed him, “Don’t worry, monkeys are the only thing I’m really afraid of. Things never seemed to scare me away, it just makes me want to towards it. You know? Like fear was just a dare to do what ever you’re afraid of.” She shrugged, “So I suppose all we have to worry about is what you’re afraid of.”
“Right now, I’m afraid of never getting out.”
“Then don’t be, we’ll find a way out. And besides, what do we have to fear if we don’t?”
“Death. Has that ever occurred to you? That we might die down here of starvation, and want of air. Dying in the cold, alone. Turning into thin waves of time.”
“We’re not alone. Maybe you could use that fear to move you. If you don’t want it to happen, try to find a way to avoid it. By the way, I’m not even sure if we can even die down here. I don’t think that this place is... real.”
Damian stood up and started walking around, looking at the tools, “You wouldn’t mind explaining that statement, would you?”
Smiling slightly Roxanne began to explain, slowly at first, “There’s just something strange about this place, if you get my meaning. Like it’s all apart of a dream, it just isn’t real. It feels like something’s missing, deep down inside something just isn’t there.”
Damian was poking around the corners and he agreed, “Right! I feel like we’ve known each other since we were little, at least meet before. There’s certainly something fishy about this place.”
“I feel the same way!” Roxanne exclaimed, jumping up in her excitement. “If we could only get out of this laboratory we might be able to figure out something. I’m positive that this can’t be real.”
Damian paused, and he stared into the corner in deep thought. He muttered to himself, “If this isn’t real, then I can...” He closed his eyes, set his hands against the cement wall, braced himself and pushed.
Crack!
Roxanne gasped as she watched the whole wall begin to rotate, the axis at the center. Damian pushed it open a few feet then stood back, looking at what had happened. Cocking his head to one side he commented, “Well that’s interesting.” He glanced in the newly made opening and then ventured to look around the other side. Roxanne followed him and they both said in wonder at the same time, “Cool.” Yet at the same time, they knew that something wasn’t quite right, and it left a tinge of uneasiness, but neither would have admitted it if they had asked.
Roxanne asked, “Which one should we take?”
Damian shook his head, obviously perplexed by the whole thing. Both openings led to a hallway and then a closed door at the bottom. There was nothing else in the halls except that leering door.
Roxanne started forward, explaining as she entered into the hall, “You go down the other and see what is beyond the door... Damian!”
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