Amnesis

I don't know who I am.  

I don't know what my name is.  I don't know much about anything right now.  

I know about 'things' but I don't know anything about myself.  I know what 'shoes' are and that I'm not wearing any, but I don't know where I am or how I came to be here.

I do know that I'm in some kind of cell.  Although not the kind of cell you see in a modern jail.  This cell is mouldy, smells bad and there's dirt on the walls.  Actually the dirt says something.  It's been smeared onto the wall by hand and it says "STAY HERE".  Did I write that on the wall?  If I put my hand up to it, the smear marks fit my hand size perfectly.  So I must've written it.  But why would I tell myself to stay inside a cell?

I suppose I should be a little more worried than I am about my situation.  Although I'm actually quite calm about the whole thing at the moment.  There is a strong sense of familiarity with my surroundings and it feels safe.  

I can't stay in this cell forever though.  There doesn't appear to be any food in here and after discovering the drinking tap in the corner doesn't work, there's no water either.  Another major cause for concern is that the toilet paper appears to have run out.  

So I have a problem.  I'm stuck in a cell with no food or water and what appears to be no way of freeing myself.  Although I'm not sure if I'm meant to find a way to get out of here because I seem to have quite clearly told myself to stay inside the cell.  The writing is on the wall so to speak.

However, without knowing the reason for being required to stay put and after carefully considering the ramifications of my inevitable death from doing so, I've decided to find a way out of my predicament.  I'm going to free myself from this cell and then find out who I am and how I came to be here!

I suppose there's one small issue with my plan.  How do I actually free myself?  I'm stuck inside four walls with what appears to be only one exit - a door in front of me.  It looks like a pretty solid door as well.  There also doesn't appear to be a convenient ventilation shaft to escape through.  

Unfortunately, there also isn't any makeshift tools around that I could use to escape with.  The cell is pretty sparse actually.  There's the broken drinking tap in the corner, as well as a toilet that won't flush and that's about it.  There's not even a bed in here.  Quite a sorry situation in fact.

No one is answering my screams for help either.  I've been trying for at least five minutes now.  I tried kicking the door in, but it just doesn't work the same way they portray in the movies.  In fact, I actually hurt my foot a little bit.

The lights just went out as well.  It's now pitch black in here. How did that happen and who turned them off?  If the lights have been turned off though, that means there must be something out there beyond the other side of the door.  I resumed my screaming for help schedule for what seemed like an eternity but in reality was probably just half an hour.  I have no way of knowing for sure.

I'm now slumped down in front of the door.  My screams have been reduced to whimpers and no one is answering.  In fact, apart from my ramblings there are no sounds whatsoever.  I've come to the conclusion that my cell is probably sound proofed so no one will hear me anyway.

Things are looking a little grim.  I'm going to sleep on it.

When I woke up the lights were back on.  Someone must be out there or else how could the lights be working?  Even though the lights were on I was still stuck in the same cell and looking around glumly, a little more hope died inside me.  

I looked up at the walls hoping to find a way out that I may have missed earlier and straight away noticed something was wrong.  The big words that said "STAY HERE" on the wall had been rubbed out!  That's a little scary... because I'm the only person in this cell.  Did I get up and rub the words out sometime during my sleep?

To investigate further I grabbed hold of the door handle to pull myself up off the floor and the door opened!  How did the door become unlocked?  I'll have to find out about that later, I thought to myself, because right now I'm free!  

I peered out beyond the door and in front of me spanned a long corridor to the left and the right.  The walls of the corridor appeared to be equally as gloomy as the walls inside my cell.  Dimmed lights were on though and I could see other doors leading down each direction of the corridor.  

I glanced back at the rubbed out words on the wall and came to the conclusion that someone must have come into my cell while I was sleeping and rubbed them off the wall.  Maybe it was the same person who has been controlling the lights?  

I think someone is playing games with my mind.  Now that I am free from my cell it's time to find out who that someone is.

I took a hesitant first step out of my cell.  After wanting to leave it so badly, I was now reluctant to do so as the fear of the unknown gripped me.  After taking a couple of steps outside my cell I was now standing in the middle of the corridor in anticipation.  

Anticipation of what I asked myself?  So far I hadn't heard a sound and nothing had changed.  There were no alarm bells and no rushing guards.  I deliberately slowed my breathing and told myself to calm down as quite clearly nothing was happening.

I now faced a new dilemma.  The corridor went in two different directions and I wasn't sure which one to take.  Both looked equally as dark and gloomy as the other, with both ending in darkness so that I couldn't quite see the end of them.  

Without any good reason I decided to go down the left hand corridor.  There was something about the right hand corridor that wasn't quite right.  I never really liked the fact that the right hand of everything was always supposed to be right so I took the left.  Because the right isn't always right.  Right?

Anyway I slowly tip toed down the left corridor, unsure of why I was trying to be so quiet about it.  Every 10 feet or so there was another steel door exactly like the one on my cell.  I tried to open each one, but they were all locked and if I put my ear up next to them, there were no sounds coming from inside.  

The corridor was stretching on forever.  I must've checked over 20 doors before I turned around to check back and realized I could no longer see the light coming from my cell.  Looking down each end of the corridor just ended in darkness in both directions.  A slight feeling of uneasiness went down my spine.  The cell may have been my prison, but at least it was familiar and now I had lost all sense of familiarity.

My eyes quickly turned back to the way I had been heading though because I thought I heard a sound.  It was the first foreign sound I had heard since I woke up.  The uneasy feeling I had quickly turned to full alertness.  I stopped my breathing and strained to hear the sound again.  Nothing.  I wasn't even sure that I had heard something.  

I quickly started running down the corridor towards the unknown, trying to get closer to where I thought the sound was coming from.  I stopped, slowed my breathing and listened again.  Nothing.  No sounds.

I slumped down in disappointment and examined my situation.  There seemed to be no end to the corridor I was in.  I could only ever see about 20 feet in either direction and none of the doors I was passing were unlocked.  There also seemed to be no other people or even anything in here, except for one sound which I may or may not have heard.

Once again things were looking a little grim.  I had managed to break out of my small familiar cell to find myself in a bigger and much more unfamiliar and formidable cell.

Looking back up at the wall in front me I saw the cool hard edge of concrete.  Except something was happening to the concrete wall.  It appeared to be melting in front of my eyes!  I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, but the wall kept on melting in front me.  

I got up to investigate the phenomenon further and reached out to the touch the wall.  Some of the melting concrete rubbed off onto my fingers... except it didn't feel like concrete at all.  It was like the consistency of honey, but still gray in color.  

I stared back up at the wall, filled with questions as to how the concrete wall could actually be melting.  Although I quickly put all my questions aside when I realized that if the wall was melting then I should be able to get out of here.  I dug my hand deep into the wall and pulled out a huge chunk of melting concrete.  Tossing it aside, I started clawing furiously at the wall, pulling out more of the wall, trying to speed its demise.

After a short while I was making progress.  I had managed to reach through to the other side of the wall, to the outside.  A thin beam of bright light was shining through.  The light signaled my freedom and was all the motivation I needed to keep going.  I attacked the wall ferociously now, removing huge chunks of melting concrete.  

The hole in the wall was getting bigger.  Big enough to look through now.  I brought my eyes to the level of the small hole and looked through in anticipation.  All I could see was white light.  Huge swathes of white light.  I squinted to get a better a look, and slowly an object on the other side came into focus.  

The object appeared to be an old vintage footstool.  It had a glass of crystal clear water on it.  Seeing the glass of water made me realize just how thirsty I was.  In fact I realized my tongue had dried out and my lips were chapped.  The glass of water looked like heaven.  I reached my arm through the hole to reach for the glass of water, but it was just a little too far for me.

Water meant survival and light meant freedom.  It was enough for me.  I attacked the melting concrete like a madman, scooping huge amounts of it with my arms and throwing it at my feet.  The hole was now big enough for me crawl through.  Huge beams of light were shining through it, which was blinding my vision, but if I squinted I could still see the precious glass of water on the other side.  

I reached into the hole to pull myself through, but my lower half couldn't move.  I looked down and my mouth dropped in horror.  The concrete that I had been throwing onto the floor was no longer melting.  It came up to my knees and was now completely solid again.  

My whole body shuddered in a mix of emotions.  I was angry with myself for being so stupid as to put the melting concrete right at my feet.  I was so close to freedom and water.  I had seen it and almost tasted it.  But in my own simple mindedness I had sealed my fate into the concrete.

I buckled forward and just let it all out.  It was all just too much.  I balled my eyes dry and then somehow found room for more tears.  In anger, I smashed my fists against the now hard concrete wall.  My knuckles drew blood for doing so, but I was beyond caring. ^{1 comment}

I was now ready to give up.  I was going to be stuck in this concrete until I died of thirst, with the answer to my salvation just out of reach.  I looked up again at the glass of water in front me, my bottom lip quivered a little and then without knowing why I just heaved forward smashing my head into the wall in front me.  Black vision engulfed me. ^{2 comments}

When I awoke I was lying on the floor.  I wasn't sealed in concrete any more.  The wall in front of me was a solid wall again.  There were no signs of it having melted.  There was no longer a gaping hole in the wall with light shining through.  It was just a plain wall, that looked like it had always been that way.  In fact I looked around down each direction of the corridor and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

I laughed silently inside.  It had all been a dream!  There was hope for me yet!  I was going to live!  

I quickly winced in pain though.  Looking down at my fists they were bloodied.  There was also blood coming from my forehead and a pounding headache to go with it.  Forcing myself to move through the pain I was now confused.  The melting wall phenomenon can't all have been in my imagination then, because my battered fists and head could prove that.  I touched the wall in front me to put any doubt to rest and the wall was exactly that.  Just a cold concrete wall, with nothing out of the ordinary.

Different emotions flooded my system now.  I was relieved to be free from the concrete prison around my legs, but also confused as to what just happened.  The physical pain of bloodied fists and head was also compounding my issues.

I didn't have much time to ponder any of that though as I heard it again.  The sound that I had heard earlier.  I still couldn't quite make out what the sound was, but it was louder this time.  I ran down the corridor closer to the sound.  This time I was determined to discover what the sound was.  I had a strong feeling that whatever was causing the sound held the key to my freedom and eventual survival.

With each step I could hear the sound getting louder and becoming more distinct.  It definitely wasn't a sound from nature, as it had a mechanical edge to it.  

And all of a sudden I was on top it.  The source of the sound.  The only sound I had heard that hadn't come from myself since I woke up in my cell.  

And staring at the source of the sound I could see it was a giant Rubiks cube floating in mid air.  It wasn't hovering up and down.  It was just completely motionless in the middle of the corridor, but with seemingly nothing holding it up.  Suddenly one of its axis changed.  It made a mechanical twisting sound.  That's the sound I had been hearing!  It was the sound of this Rubiks cube changing it's axis.

Every few seconds the cube would spin one it's axis with no third party help.  Large sections of the cube appeared to be solved, with three faces almost complete.  I realized that the Rubiks cube was trying to solve itself.  I stood watching the cube go about it's business, absolutely fascinated. ^{1 comment}

It wasn't a standard 3 x 3 block cube... it was much larger than that and had many more blocks.  I counted down one side of the cube in front me and in total there were 25 blocks along one edge.  My mind boggled at the number of face permutations that the cube could produce.

Moving closer to the cube, I tentatively reached out and lightly touched it with the end of my finger.  The cube suddenly stopped cold.  So did I.  Neither the cube or myself moved for at least 10 seconds.  The cube appeared to be pondering my intrusion and I was just waiting in anticipation.

The cube must have decided I wasn't a threat because it promptly resumed spinning it's axis, trying to solve itself.  However I was determined to get more of a response, so this time I reached out and pushed it hard with my finger.  Once again it stopped cold.  It didn't stay that way for long though, because suddenly all of its axis starting spinning very quickly.

The cube was moving it's axis in such a way as to form a picture on it.  I took a few steps back to get a better look.  The cube was trying to communicate a message to me.  And that message was "NO", in big capital letters.  Clearly the cube didn't like to be touched.  

Feeling a little silly, I apologized to the cube, not really expecting any kind of response.  But the cube immediately spun all it's axis to form the word "OK" on it.  I was now seriously impressed.  I was standing in front of a 25 x 25 block Rubiks cube, which could defy gravity and was also able to comprehend my speech.  

I trod on my foot to make sure I was actually awake.  The pain was real.  This was actually happening.

Needing to know more I asked the cube if it could understand me.  "YES" was the reply.  

I was now seriously interested.  I asked the cube how it was able to understand me.  The cube didn't move and gave no response.  I was perplexed.

I asked the cube more questions like how it came to be here and what it's purpose was, although the cube remained unyielding in it's lack of responses.  

A little dejected, I asked the cube if it knew a way out of here.  The cube started rotating and and formed "YES" on it's front face.

Excitedly, I asked the cube if it could show me the way out.  The cube quickly responded with "NO".

Slumping my shoulders, I asked the cube why it wasn't able to help me.  Once again I was given no response.

I stood back and thought about the situation.  I came to the conclusion that the cube must have limited programming, able to answer closed ended questions with short responses, but unable to respond to more complicated, open ended questions.  I figured that if I could ask clever closed ended questions I might get the answers I'm looking for.

Once again I asked the cube if it knew a way out of here.  "YES" was the reply.

But you can't show me the way out?

"YES".

So you can show me the way out?

"NO".

But you just said that you could?

"NO".

I realised my first question was actually a double negative and YES was the correct response.  The cube was smarter than I gave it credit for.  So much for my clever questions.

Can you point me in the right direction?

"YES".

The cube starting spinning it's axis and formed an arrow, which pointed back down the corridor in the direction I had come from.  

Wow, that's great!  Thanks for your help!

"OK".

I now had a plan of action.  I started moving back down the corridor, but the cube moved out in front of me blocking my path.  It spun around it's axis again.  It took some time, but eventually it formed a skull and cross bones on it's front face.  

I pondered the latest communication from the cube.  A skull and cross bones meant death.  The cube clearly thinks that the way out leads to death.  However knowing that if I stayed here I would eventually die anyway, I had to choose.  

I decided that staying here was certain death, but heading towards the way out with just a warning from the cube about potential death didn't seem quite so bad.  There was even a little hope in there.

Having made my decision, I tried to step past the cube to keep moving forward.  The cube moved back in front of me.  I tried to side step the other way, only to be confronted with the cube in my face again.  

I asked the cube if it was going to let me past.  "NO", was it's response.  It then formed the skull and cross bones again.  I'm sure the cube must've thought I was thick or something, because from it's point of view I just didn't seem to be understanding it's mesage.

I explained to the cube that if I stayed here I was going to die anyway, but the cube just reaffirmed it's position by reforming the skull and cross bones.  I tried to move past it again, but this time the cube quite firmly nudged me back.  

The thought crossed my mind that I could just push the cube out of the way and make a run for it.  However it had been so helpful to me and was clearly just looking out for my best intentions, so I didn't have the heart to bring violence onto the table.

Instead I decided to trick it.  Pointing at the cube I told it that one of it's smaller cubes on the left hand side was dirty.  The cube stopped for a moment to digest my lie, but then quickly started spinning it's axis on the left hand side, which I'm sure was an effort to clean itself.

This was my chance.  I quickly ducked underneath the cube and started running full force down the corridor, back towards the direction of my original cell.  I looked back over my shoulder and the cube was following me!  It had a big "NO" written on it as well.  The cube was trying to stop me from finding the way out!  I looked back in front of me and started running even faster. ^{2 comments}