Tearing down the last of the caution tape, Jack grabbed the handle and was surprised that it opened so easily. Easing cautiously into the dark building, he pushed the door open all the way to let the light from outside shine into the large reception lobby. The lobby was quite large and decorated with what once was lavish baby blue drapes and vinal chairs, that added a splash of color to the otherwise dismal white walls. The place confused him. From what he could see, the place far higher tech than any building in Ireland or possibly the world. Every corner of the room had mounted security cameras. The staircases that led up to the second floor were lined with broken blue tinted glass. Some of it shattered across the glossy floor. The rounded reception desk was the same baby blue color with a strong looking glass that had once protected employees behind it. Slowly approaching the deck, he brushed shards of safety glass off a clipboard and picked it up to read it. It was a standard sign in form for visitors of patients, but it was completely blank.

Thumbing through the sheets under the first, he saw that every sheet was blank. When the last of the sheets fell back into place, he gasped as he noticed fresh words written on the bottom of the page that read. 'What are you looking for?' Dropping the clipboard back onto the desk, he jumped as the front door slammed shut. Dashing over to the door, he grabbed the handle and fought to open it. He could pull it open enough to see light, before it was tugged shut and locked. Banging on the door, he yelled out. "HEY! This isn't funny! Let me out!" No answer came. Kicking the door, he bitterly snapped out. "Fine. You brought this on yourself!" Going over to a chair, he set his camera down on the seat next to it. Picking up the light metal chair, he moved up to one of the windows and adjusted his grip. Raising the chair, he let out a loud yell as he threw it at the large glass window. The chair hit the strong safety glass causing it to crack. He could only gawk as the chair stayed against the cracked glass with nothing holding it up. Then in the next second, the chair came flying back at him as if the glass itself had thrown it.

Diving to the floor, the chair barely missed him as it clattered across the tile farther away. Looking back up at the glass, he watched in disbelief as the crack seamlessly fixed itself. Sitting slowly back up onto his legs, he exhaled out nervously. "What the hell...?" Staggering up to his feet, he looked around for anything that suggested this was all an elaborate prank, while calling out into the dark. "Hello? Anybody? It's me, Jack. You got me... Come out and show yourself." The place remained as silent as a graveyard. Licking his lips, he picked up his camera and quickly switched on the night vision mode. Raising it high, he scanned the dark spaces of the room, calling out. "Please, come out... I'm not in the mood for games." Backing up toward the elevator set on one side of the reception desk, he scanned the room slowly with the camera. Keeping his eyes on the screen, he reached back to touch the button a few times. He was pretty sure that the place didn't have any power, but he decided to try it since he was closer to it than the light switches.

To his utter surprise, the panel faintly glowed with a soft blue light and let out a ding before a set of denied tones. Turning to look at the panel, he frowned. The button told him that the elevator was available but on the grimy screen something was moving to prompt him to do something. Using his sleeve, he rubbed the screen off to see a highlight hand putting a key card against the screen. The screen glitched a little but was working. Huffing to himself, he chuckled out. "Holy shite. It still works." Looking to the light switches by the front door, he took a step to head for them. Only to hear the sickening sucking sounds of something sticking to his feet. Panning the camera down, he switched the modes to shine a bright light for a few seconds. Catching the horrifying smear of thick blood that led into the elevator. Something had been dragged into it. Jumping back, he lifted the camera to see the whole elevator door in the light and gasped sharply. The panel had been covered in dried blood from a set of hands that hid tried to resist being pulled inside.

Moving quickly away from the elevator, he races up to the light switches and flicks them all up. The lights hum and flicker as they each come to life and illuminate the darkness. Pressing his back to the door, he stills as the circles on each camera turn on and turn to look directly at him. From the reception desk, the mic on the table clicks on. Sending crackling ripples over every speaker in the hospital before a disembodied voice announces a bit distortedly. "I can help you remember. But you won't like what you find. You never do. Resulting in us going in endless circles, Jack." Straightening up, he inched away from the door as he yelled out into the hospital. "Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!" The disembodied voice chuckled slowly and manically, before retorting humorlessly. "Tell you what I'm gonna do. I will let you out of here. And you will go home to your pretty little thing. You will forget all about me. I'll be just another bad dream. Does that sound... nicer?" Behind Jack the front door slowly creaked open. The outside never looked or sounded so good to him.

He took a step toward it without thinking, but stopped as his heart suddenly dreaded the idea. His chest ached and for the first time, he could feel it beating slowly and hard against his ribs. Meanwhile, the disembodied voice purred out wispily behind him now. "What are you waiting for? This place frightens you. Run. Run home and never come back." He started to walk to the door, but his hands shot out on their own to grab the frame in a death grip. His head hurt as a soft beeping sound that was in time with his heart filled his ears. The distorted voice was stronger now when it told him in a sickly sweet tone. "She's waiting for you, Jack. Evelyn. Stephanie. Just let go... and go to them. Live your happy dream." Turning his head to peek over his shoulder, he asked the voice with light curiosity. "Why do you want me to leave?" The disembodied voice growled out lightly. "Because it is easier this way. You'll only end up there eventually anyway. Your weak." Closing his eyes for a moment, he dropped his hands and turned around to defiantly snap out a bit disjointedly. "You're trying to kill me."

Opening his eyes, he stared into the empty bright reception lobby. A memory just from his recollection was trying to reach him. Remind him about something important. He tried to open his mind to it, reaching out in the hopes that it would come to him. When the green eyed man in black clothes popped up in front of him and kicked him hard out the door with a frustrated yell. He screamed as he fell out of the hospital and into a blinding white light that tried to swallow him. Only for him to stop falling and reverse back toward the open doorway fast. The unseen force threw him into a new room. Falling hard onto a cot bed, he yelped and bounced off to the cold hard cement floor. Laying on the floor, his vision blurred as he watched the door slam hard on the bright void, leaving him in a dull grey room with only a florescent light that hummed as it shined down over him. Wincing, he stiffly pushed himself up on all fours and tried to figure out where he was and what was happening to him. If he was dreaming... this was one lucid dream from hell.

Using the single small metal table to help himself up onto his feet, he took in the small square room. There were no windows, and the only metal door was solid metal with a sliding panel to peek into the room and one large one at the bottom to push what he assumed was food trays through. In the corners of the room were more of those strange cameras that moved when he moved. While sitting on a tripod in one corner was an older style camera with blinking red light. The camera was positioned to record the nailed down metal table and the nailed down cot that lined the wall. Otherwise, there was nothing personal in here. It was like a prison cell. Swallowing, he pushed in the single metal chair and mumbled out to himself as he looked up at the cameras uneasily. "Am I in the hospital? What's happening?" Straightening up, he exhaled heavily, then rubbed his face with his hands to try and calm himself down. Panicking wouldn't do him any good right now. He had to treat this like any other dream or game.

Lowering his hands, he told himself calmly. "Ok. Let's just take this one step at a time. I don't remember... something. Let's try and find our way out nonetheless." Moving over to the door, his arms broke out with goosebumps as the cameras followed him with soft whirling sounds. Grabbing the handle, he jiggled it. Locked. The scraping of metal as the bottom slot was roughly opened to throw something in before just as quickly closing made him jump back to protect his legs. Seeing the yellow file, he crouched to read what was written in blood on the cover. "It's all your fault." Carefully picking up the file, he set it on the table and opened it up. Spreading out the papers a bit, he read the first one in a whisper to himself. "New Subject Report. Name: Jack McLoughlin. Date of Birth: February 7, 1990. Subject ID Number: Altar 10-1-3-11. Subject Observation Session: Subject was brought in by his family after Subject was complaining about headaches, nosebleeds, and hearing voices. Subject may have had direct contact with the stone slab we recently discovered in Ireland. Subject will be transferred to our main facility for further observations. With any luck, he may last longer than previous Subjects due to being exposed at a younger age than the others. Subject does not recall the incident relating to the stone slab. Although, Subject's symptoms imply that he is lying. Further observations are required."

Pushing the page farther away to read the one under it, his heart sank as he read aloud. "Subject 10-1-3-11 is growing unstable. His contact with Altar 1-14-20-9 is unlike anything we've seen. Subject is linked to him emotionally, physically, metaphysically. It is ultimately fascinating. I am requesting further help in finding a way to separate and isolate Altar 1-14-20-9 from Subject 10-1-3-11. My reasoning is in response to Subject 10-1-1-11's direct ability to 'glitch through time and space.' Subject doesn't recall his spatial transitioning nor retains any memories of how it happened. Subject does however seem to recall certain familiarities through a hazy Déjà vu like state. Recalling feelings, smells, and even symbols we've exposed to him through the course of trying to inhibit his spatial transitioning escape attempts. It is my request to the board to move the Subject to our private facility immediately. Any and all contact by family removed until further notice. His records pulled and changed to classified personnel only. Harnessing this spatial transitioning should be I.R.I.S.'s top priority."

Jack's hand shook when he covered his mouth, uttering out in a trembling and muffled voice. "Am I the experiment? Is that what you want me to remember?" There was no answer, and nothing changed. So, he pushed through a few papers and read one at random from the file. "Attempts to separate Subject 10-1-3-11 has always ended in the Subject suffering a severe panic attack, forcing us to terminate the sessions to order to preserve Altar 1-14-20-9. The board has approved new tests, and the new containment cell has proven to be effective against Subject's spatial transitioning. While the Subject was unable to glitch out of it, the Subject did manage to overload the circuits in an unforeseen event. The board is now pushing harder for the separation of the Subject. Though we still have some time before the new capsule cell is ready. If all goes according to plan. I.R.I.S. could be looking at the discovery of a new power source. Antimatter. This very thought has me excited for the future. The possibilities of time travel have never been closer to us. All the things we could do to help people with this new unlimited source of energy. I can only hope the Subject's body is strong enough to endure more tests until we are finished. The board is calling this Project I.R.I.S. for if we succeed, this discovery will define our company."

Sniffling a little, he took a jagged breath and uttered out distantly. "What did you do to me?" Lifting his head to glare at the cameras, he scared out angrily. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" The slot opened quickly again, and a small tape skidded out across the floor toward his foot before slamming shut again. Picking it up, he was about to ask where he was supposed to put it to listen to it. Only to notice a tape player sitting on the table that hadn't been there seconds before. Slipping the little cassette tape into the player, he closed the drawer and pressed down the button to play it with a light click. Over the speaker of the player a familiar voice he'd heard before began to state professionally. "We have Subject 10-1-3-11 in the chamber now. At the moment, Altar 1-14-20-9 is showing no signs of activity. Subject 10-1-3-11 has been told to calibrate the equipment in his isolated room to match ours before we begin to trigger the experiment. The Subject is unaware of the experiment we are about to conduct on him."

Pulling the chair out, Jack dropped himself down into it as a tear ran down his cheek. He wasn't sure that he wanted to hear this, but he couldn't bring himself to turn it off. Over the speaker, he suddenly heard his own voice distantly say. "Experiment 01. Subject 1-14-20-9 is enclosed in solid outer layers. X-ray the Subject to determine its internal structure." The other man's voice suddenly asked someone else a bit startled. "What is the Subject talking about? How does he know where Altar 1-14-20-9 is being held? What are you showing him?" Another man's voice answered coolly. "Relax, Doc. He can't see anything, and he doesn't know who that is. It is how the board wants us to get around the red tape. Don't you see? He is unknowingly conducting the experiment on himself. That way the board can say he 'volunteered' to do this in case he dies from testing his own connection with Altar 1-14-20-9 after separation. It's pretty ingenious, if I do say so myself. That's why they pay them the big bucks."

The sound of typing came through, before the doctor asked defensively. "Ya? Then what are you having him X-ray? If he sees a person than he is going to-" The other man stopped him by clearly interrupting casually. "He only sees a human heart and some basic vitals to the Subject's condition on his monitor. I'm monitoring both Subjects closely. I told you to relax. As far as the Subject knows, this is all simulated to test his comprehension and learning skills since his recovery. I even told him that if he passes with high marks, he'll be allowed to go home." The doctor's voice was lifeless when he replied stoically. "That was blatantly cruel of you. You know the board won't let him leave. Not after we've discovered more like him. Not since he has the strongest connection to Altar 1-14-20-9." The other man scoffed, flatly retorting. "He's a lab rat. Who cares what he thinks as long as he does what he's told. He's the property of I.R.I.S. and he'll stay that way. Doesn't mean we can make HIM think otherwise. Give him a little cheese at the end of his never-ending maze. If you catch my drift. What could he possibly do?" To Be Continued...