The Art of Madness by A.J. Mayall

Author:A.J. Mayall [Mayall, A.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Todd Bennington, Caroline O’Halloran, Joel Tanaka and Emma St. John sat in blinding light, and deafening silence. The meal bars they’d been given had lost their appeal after the weeks they’d spent in the room.

“It’s sleep,” Joel said, breaking the quiet. “It’s gotta be; when I wake up and all you are asleep, the lights are low. When we’re all awake, a blindfold can’t keep the light out.”

“How can they tell if we’re asleep or not? Is it movement?” Caroline mused, turning her head around, trying to determine where the others were in the room.

“Can’t be; remember, I tried that a while ago. Had to be like, what, three days ago? Wish they’d let us have a clock or something. I mean, how long have we been in this damn thing?” Joel muttered, kicking the wall in vain.

Since the discovery of the access terminal, the trust between the four of them had dwindled. The smell of the bodies in the room had grown, raising both the paranoia and stress levels of those remaining.

Emma curled against the wall, keeping a doubled-up piece of fabric between her and it.

“Listen, maybe something links us…some clue why we are in here.”

“Really, or maybe you wanna report back to someone, Emma?” Todd snapped, pounding the wall with a fist. “Maybe through that damn terminal. You wanna have us spill secrets, you can damn well go first.”

Emma stood and screamed in the direction of Todd’s voice. “Fuck you! Fuck you to hell, Todd! You don’t know what I’ve been through, you bastard!” She kicked blindly, and Todd felt the wind on his cheek.

“Stop it both of you!” Caroline screamed. “Just stop! I’ll…Maybe it’s my fault…” she murmured, beginning to cry again.

Joel exhaled in frustration. “Does everything make you cry, kid?!”

“Shut up, Joel!” she retaliated, punching the wall, not caring about the heat. She continued to punch it with a primal scream, her face clenched in anger. The rest in the room sighed; they’d all had their breaking points some time ago. “Just shut up! No one wants to hear you, okay?! When my dad finds me…”

“Gonna tell us who the hell he is, and why we should be afraid of him?” spat Todd, lying on the ground, rubbing his sweat-drenched face. The occupants of the room abandoned civilized teamwork for paranoid fury. Every time Caroline had gotten upset these last few days, she kept talking about her father, and when pressed, she shut up. It only made the rest of them weary of her; even Emma, who had been her solace.

“Douglas O’Halloran…” she muttered under her breath.

In the Room of Light, there had been no last names, no personal histories; only the assumption they’d be freed or find a way out. The damned light had united them and their efforts in blind faith. They had come to an unspoken agreement; with no details given, nothing could divide them against each other. With a single fact, Caroline had laid the first crack in the foundation.

It was Joel who reached out, grabbing Caroline by the shoulders, shaking her furiously.

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