My bare feet grew cold from the metal floors beneath them, my head began to spin once more from the lack of progress I had made, and my arms sprouted tiny goosebumps all along them from the cold air inside these metal shafts.
A stinging sensation greeted my eyelids as I allowed them to squeeze shut for a few moments and create the illusion of sleep to my body.
These hallways were never ending... I had turned so many corners and followed so many paths that I didn't know where i was or if I would ever come across anything that could help me escape. The entire facility seemed desolate, silent, empty. I longed for interaction with another creature, yet I was terrified of it, because everything here was so strange, I couldn't even be sure if it was real.
I wandered through white hallucinations and I thought I heard voices from my past calling to me, but I couldn't even recognize who they belonged to. It was frustrating to know only half of your own story.
Then... suddenly I heard it. Soft pattering ahead of me somewhere in the distance, echoing throughout the halls. It almost sounded like... dare I imagine it... footsteps!
My mind raced with possibilities. I was unsure if I wanted to greet the creature making that sound, but my sense of curiosity was an intimidating force to be tampered with, and ultimately it won out as I sprinted forward towards the sound I was sure I ought to dread.
This could mean anything, but I was ready. It had to be better than wandering aimlessly, trying to find something I didn't even know how to find.
The footsteps stopped. Whatever had left them must have heard me. I used that to gain on them and I dashed forward into the white. As I rounded a corner, my breath hitched and my heart stopped. I was floored. Before me, at the end of the long hallway, was a boy no older than I was, staring back at me with terrified blue eyes and an open mouth.
Slowly, I inched towards him with my hand raised to show that I meant no harm.
"My name is Ellie. It's okay."
"Elson." He replied, seeming to be calming down considerably.
I reached him then and we stared at each other closely. I felt connected to him somehow, and I knew he wasn't going to hurt me. However, there was something off about him, and judging by the way he was looking at me, he felt it too.
"H- have you seen yourself lately?" He stammered.
"I woke up here with no memory of anything but the fact that this isn't my home and I need to escape. Do you really think I cared to find a looking glass to admire myself in?"
He looked down, ashamed.
"You look like me." He said "let me show you.
He grabbed my wrist gently and led me back down the hallway and through several other identical ones.
"Where are we going?" I protested
"We are following the trail I left." He stated simply, and i glanced down at out feet to see an evenly- spaced trail of white cloth on the ground.
"Amazing." I muttered. "That's what I did."
"Hmm?"
"I left myself a trail of bits of the sheets that were in my room. It works marvelously, I see. Hansel and Gretel must have had it right."
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Muttered the boy.
He let go of my hand and entered a large silver chamber full of nothing but peculiar-looking pods with glowing white lights and coffin-shaped appearances.
"What is this?" I asked, beginning to lose trust.
"I don't know." He stated and pointed at a piece of cloth on the metal floor. "I found it while I was searching for a way out. Come here, Ellie."
I walked hesitantly over to where he stood, not sure if I even wanted to know any more. In front of me was a full-length mirror. Several, actually. I came close to it and saw my frizzy, matted curls and my deep, blue eyes. I was thin and frail. I assumed that came from being here for as long as I had been. My white jumpsuit was dotted with blood that I didn't know had been there, and my pale reflection stared back at me as though I were lifeless.
Then, my eyes darted to the boy next to me, and I gasped. He was exactly as I was, but in male form. His dirty-blond curls framed his pale face and made his big, blue eyes stand out against the white of his suit. He was flushed, and his lips were pressed tightly together as he awaited my reaction .
"How is this possible?" I marvelled, touching my face.
"Seems to me everything is possible here, and this place quite likes to surprise us. "
"Are we twins?"
"I... don't know, Ellie. I don't know anything more than you do."
"Elson, I don't like this."
"And you think I do? We have to stick together and figure this out so I can get back home and have a nice, steaming bowl of chili. I hate the food here."
"Mm chili is my favorite." I echoed hungrily.
"No way... wait! What's your favourite colour?"
"Yellow!" We both shouted in unison.
"Favourite hobby?" I asked.
"Writing!" We both replied.
Favorite tv show?"
"Dr. Who!" We echoed at the same time.
"Oh my word. This is not possible." I breathed. "It's like we are the same person!"
"Maybe one of us is a clone of the other!" Elson guessed out loud.
"No, that's not possible!"
"Come on, Ellie! Twins may look alike, but they aren't exact copies of each other! I mean we both had the same idea to find our way back to our rooms... we have all the same interests... our minds are wired the same way. That doesn't just... happen!"
"Oh no oh no oh no... well which one of us is the clone?"
"I don't know. I don't think I want to know."