~~
Farhan slowly rubbed both hands over his face before letting out a long breath,
"Was that...Was she trying to comfort Maya or scare her?"
Naya lowered her eyes,"I...I don't know."
Mahim folded his arms tightly across his chest.
"That's exactly what's bothering me. If she wanted to frighten Maya, she wouldn't have sounded disappointed."
Faha leaned back in his chair.
"'Damn...I was actually starting to like you.'"
He repeated the sentence quietly.
"That's not something you say to someone you hate."
Anik finally spoke, "Maybe she wanted Maya to understand exactly how dangerous Orange really is..."
Fahan exhaled slowly, "Think about everything we've heard from that girl.
She answered every question Maya
asked."
A thoughtful silence followed.
"...Despite claiming she didn't want to."
"Exactly."
Fahan nodded,
"She kept saying, 'Stop asking.' but every single time she answered anyway."
Mahi blinked,
"You're right. She complained through the entire conversation yet she never actually abandoned Maya."
Farhan gave a humourless smile.
"She reminds me of those grumpy old people who insist they don't like children.....then quietly make sure every child eats dinner."
A few weak smiles appeared.
Faha looked back at the screen,
"I don't think she was trying to comfort Maya.
I think she was trying to prepare her."
Nahi spoke quietly, "Preparation can sound frightening."
Everyone looked at him.
"If someone told me the truth before throwing me into a nightmare...I'd probably think they were trying to scare me too."
"She was trying to ensure Maya wasn't surprised."
Mahim slowly lowered himself onto the sofa,
"...That's somehow even sadder."
"Why?"
"Because the only kindness that girl still knows.....is warning someone before the nightmare begins."
Farhan stared at the projection,
"I don't think she even remembers how to comfort people anymore.
Imagine watching people promoted from one colour to another knowing what each colour means."
He closed his eyes briefly, "Eventually...truth becomes the only mercy you have left."
"...She welcomed Maya to Hell. Who welcomes someone to Hell?"
Anik eventually spoke, "Someone who has forgotten what Heaven feels like."
Those words silenced the room.
Even Fahim lowered his eyes.
~~
Maya rested her back against the cold surface, her fingers absentmindedly
brushing the orange collar around her
neck.
The girl behind the wall had explained so much.....Yet there was one thing she still didn't know.
"...Can I ask you something?"
A quiet sigh answered from the other side,
"You've been asking questions since you got here."
Despite the complaint, there wasn't any real annoyance behind it anymore, "...Go on."
"...What colour is your collar?"
The other side of the wall became strangely quiet.Several seconds passed.
Maya wondered if the girl had decided not to answer.
Then, quietly— " Red."
Maya blinked ,"...Red?"
"...Yeah."
Maya instinctively tightened her fingers around her own collar, "...You're in the Nirvana Program too?"
A faint chuckle echoed through the wall.
"...Yeah."
Maya hesitated for a moment before speaking again, "what's your code?"
The girl let out a quiet sigh, as though the question itself had become tiresome.
"Sixteen A."
Maya blinked, "Sixteen A?"
"Yeah."
Maya lowered her eyes thoughtfully.
She didn't understand what the letter meant
but the number sounded like some kind
of designation.
After a brief silence, she gave a small nod,
"Oh... I understand."
She was about to ask another question when—
Click...A faint sound drifted through the wall.
Maya frowned, "...What's that?"
The girl didn't answer immediately.
Instead, Maya heard the subtle scrape of someone rising to their feet.
Then...Footsteps.
The girl's breathing changed almost instantly,
"Someone's coming, listen to me."
Maya instinctively leaned closer to the wall.
"Be careful. Trust as little as you can."
The footsteps came nearer. Step... Step... Step. They stopped just outside the girl's room.
The girl spoke one last time, almost in a whisper, "Stay alive, Subject Seventeen."
Beep.
An electronic scanner sounded.
Access Granted.
A reinforced steel door began to slide open with a deep metallic rumble.
The girl fell completely silent.
Maya waited, her eyes fixed on the blank wall.
She wanted to call out, to ask if everything was all right.
Beyond the wall, only the distant rumble of the opening door remained.
Then...Silence.
The corridor beyond Room Seventeen remained silent for what felt like hours.
Maya had long since stopped trying to guess how much time had passed. Her stomach tightened.
At first, it was only a dull ache.
Then it slowly became impossible to ignore.
She hadn't eaten since arriving in this place.
Between the arena, the containment room, and everything she had learned, hunger had quietly settled inside her like another wound.
She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes.
Then— Beep.
A soft electronic tone echoed through the room.
Maya's eyes opened immediately.
Heavy locking bolts disengaged outside.
A scientist wearing a spotless white laboratory coat stepped inside. His expression was perfectly ordinary.
In one hand he carried a plain grey tray, he walked to the centre of the room.
The tray contained little.
A shallow metal bowl filled with thin, watery soup. A small piece of coarse bread that looked dry enough to crumble apart.
A dented metal cup half-filled with water.
Not even a spoon made of proper metal — only a light plastic one that bent slightly when he placed it on the tray.
He crouched just long enough to place the tray on the floor,
"Meal distribution,Consume everything."
He turned around immediately.
The door slid shut behind him.
Clang.
Maya remained where she was for several seconds, her eyes rested on the tray.
Slowly, she moved closer. Her bandaged hands made even the smallest movement awkward.
She carefully picked up the cup with both hands.
The water was cool, she took one cautious sip, then another, the dryness in her throat eased slightly.
Setting the cup down again, she reached for the bread. The crust resisted her fingers before finally breaking with a quiet crack.
Tiny crumbs scattered across the tray.
She dipped a small piece into the soup.
She lifted it to her mouth, the flavour was faint.
Mostly warm water with a trace of vegetables and salt.
Maya ate slowly.
Every movement reminded her of the pain in her hands. Occasionally she paused, waiting for the ache to fade before taking another bite.
Nothing remained except a few pale drops clinging to the sides of the bowl.
Maya quietly placed it back onto the tray.
She looked down at the empty dishes.
She drew her knees toward her chest once more and leaned back against the cold wall.
The empty tray sat a short distance away beneath the harsh white light.
[Click ]
The scientist stepped inside, the door slid shut behind him with a muted hiss.
Maya looked up from where she sat against the wall.
The man stood in the center of the room, his posture unhurried . He glanced at the empty tray on the floor, then back at her.
"Meal distribution complete. You may return the tray."
Maya rose slowly, her legs felt unsteady beneath her.
She walked toward the tray, bent down carefully and picked it up with both bandaged hands.
The scientist did not move to take it from her. He simply watched,
"Your code has been updated in the central registry. You are no longer Subject Seventeen."
Maya froze mid-step, her fingers tightened around the tray.
"You are now Subject 17 A."
★ A ★
She stared at him, her lips parting slightly. No words came.
"This signifies your official entry into the Nirvana Program.
The preliminary evaluation phase— Suhani— has been successfully completed. You have been deemed eligible to proceed."
Maya's throat felt dry.
She wanted to ask what it meant. What A stood for.
Whether Sixteen A had once stood in this same spot, receiving the same words.
"Starting tomorrow, your training will begin. You will attend your first session at dawn."
His gaze shifted briefly toward the collar around her neck, then back to her face.
"You will be expected to follow every instruction without hesitation.
Questions will not be answered unless deemed necessary. Disobedience will
result in immediate disciplinary action."
The tray trembled slightly in Maya's hands, but she did not lower her gaze.
The scientist waited a moment longer—perhaps to see if she would respond,
perhaps simply out of habit.
Then he reached out and took the tray from her.
"Remain in your quarters until morning. A guard will escort you to your first session."
He turned and walked toward the door without looking back. The door slid open, he stepped through.
Click. The lock engaged.
Maya stood alone in the silence. She slowly lowered her arms, letting them fall slack at her sides.
Her eyes drifted toward the blank wall— the one that separated her from the room where Sixteen A had once spoken.
She stared at it for a long moment.
Then, very quietly, she whispered to herself—
"17 A..."
She lifted one bandaged hand and pressed it gently against the collar around her neck.
The orange glow seemed brighter now than
it had before or maybe she was simply noticing it more.
She let her hand fall back to her side.
[NEXT MORNING ]
Dawn arrived without sunlight.
She had fallen asleep sitting against the wall.
Her body had simply given out sometime during the night, exhaustion pressing her down until her head rested against her own shoulder.
Her bandaged hands lay limp in her lap, the white gauze now slightly gray from dirt and sweat.
The door opened without warning....Just the sudden hiss of hydraulics and the heavy clang of locking bolts disengaging.
Maya's eyes snapped open instantly.
Before she could register where she was,
a hand closed around her arm—
And lifted from the floor as though she weighed nothing....Her feet scraped
against the concrete as she was pulled upright.
Her mind was still sluggish, still trapped between sleep and wakefulness, but her
body had already learned a new instinct:
don't resist.
A guard.
Tall and broad-shouldered. He simply held her arm and began walking.
Maya stumbled after him, her legs still half-asleep.The bandages on her hands brushed against her thighs as she tried to keep pace.
The corridor stretched before them, endless and white.
She blinked against the harsh fluorescent light, her eyes struggling to adjust.
The guard did not slow down, he did not offer a single word of explanation.
Maya's bare feet slapped against the cold floor as she half-walked, half-was-dragged through the labyrinth of identical hallways.
Left, Right, Another left.
She tried to memorize the path, but every corridor looked exactly the same.
Finally, the guard stopped before a door that looked no different from any other.
He released her arm.
Maya staggered slightly, catching herself against the wall. She looked up at him, her breathing uneven.
He simply pressed his palm against a biometric scanner beside the door.
[Access granted ]
The door slid open with a quiet hiss.
Then—
He grabbed her by the back of her collar.
It was the way someone might pick up a stray cat— efficient and completely indifferent to whether she was ready.
Maya's feet left the ground for a brief, disorienting moment.
She was lifted like a bundle of cloth, carried one step forward and then dropped.
Her knees hit the floor with a dull thud. The impact sent a jolt of pain through her already aching body.
She gasped, catching herself with her bandaged hands against the cold surface.
The guard stepped back, the door slid shut behind him.
Click.
Maya remained on her hands and knees,
her breath coming in shallow gasps.
The room swallowed her whole. She blinked trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
The room was enormous,far larger than any space she had been in since arriving at this place.
The ceiling stretched upward into shadow, disappearing into a darkness that even the harsh fluorescent lights could not reach.
The walls were black. Lifeless, absorbing the light rather than reflecting it.
The floor was the same, polished to a mirror-like sheen that made it look as though she were standing on a frozen lake of obsidian.
Rows upon rows of benches stretched across the room.
They were arranged in perfect, orderly lines, each one identical to the next. Black wooden seats.
Maya's eyes traveled across the sea of black surfaces, searching for any trace of color.
There was none.
Everything was black. Even the faint outlines of the doorways along the far wall seemed to dissolve into the darkness.
Only one thing broke the monotony.
At the front of the room, a massive digital board dominated the wall. It was the only source of light.
Her eyes drifted from the board to the benches. Children, dozens of them.
They sat in perfect stillness, scattered across the rows of benches and chairs.
Each one was positioned exactly the same way: back straight, hands resting on their knees, eyes fixed forward.
None of them looked at her.
They stared straight ahead, their faces blank, their postures identical.
They were teenagers—older than her. Some looked as young as twelve or thirteen. Others seemed closer to sixteen or seventeen.
Maya took a hesitant step forward, her bare foot made no sound against the polished floor.
No one turned.
She moved a little closer, her eyes scanning the rows. She lifted her gaze and looked more carefully at the children seated before her.
That was when she noticed it.
The bands around their necks.
Each one was identical to hers.
A cold wave washed through her chest.
There were so many of them, dozens of orange collars, glowing faintly in the light.
Dozens of children who had been promoted
to Orange. She looked at their faces more closely.
Some were younger than she had initially realized. A boy near the front couldn't have been more than nine or ten.
His shoulders were small beneath the plain gray uniform they had all been given.
A girl near the middle looked barely twelve. Her hair was cropped short, her eyes fixed
on the digital board as though she had been instructed to stare at it and never stop.
An older boy near the back had scars running along his arms— white lines that caught the light whenever he shifted.
No one fidgeted, no one scratched an itch. No one whispered to a neighbor.
They sat like dolls. Like the porcelain faces Maya remembered from another life, another room, another nightmare.
Her fingers tightened unconsciously against her palms.She remembered the dolls.
Remembered standing among them.
Remembered the way they had stared at nothing with their painted eyes.....never moving, never blinking.
These children reminded her of those dolls.
Maya took another step forward, her eyes still scanning the rows. Her gaze landed on a girl near the center of the room.
She was a few years older than Maya—
maybe thirteen or fourteen. Her black hair was pulled back tightly, exposing a face that was sharp and angular.
Her expression was completely unreadable.
Her eyes were watching Maya.
Maya's breath caught in her throat.
For a brief moment their eyes met.
The girl didn't smile. Didn't give any indication that she had noticed Maya at all.
But something passed between them.
A flicker of recognition.Something that
said:
I See You. I See What You Are And I Know Exactly What This Place Will Try To Do To You.
Then the girl looked away back to the digital board. Back to perfect stillness.
Maya slowly lowered herself onto the nearest bench.
She sat exactly as the others did: back straight, hands resting on her knees, eyes fixed forward.
She didn't know why, she only knew that it was what she was supposed to do.
Seconds passed, then minutes.
Maya stared at the blank digital board, her mind racing with questions she did not dare ask aloud.
Where was the instructor?
What was I supposed to learn?
How long would I has to sit here, waiting for someone to tell me what to do?
She had no answers.
The door slid open with a reverent hiss. A man stepped inside.
He was not like the other scientists Maya had seen. There was no clipboard, no tablet, no cold instrument of measurement in his hands.
He wore a crisp white laboratory coat, perfectly pressed, but beneath it was
a dark suit.
His shoes clicked softly against the polished obsidian floor— each step unhurried.
He was older. Perhaps in his late fifties. His hair was silver at the temples, combed back with precision.
His face carried the kind of sharp, angular features that might have been handsome once, before years of clinical detachment
had worn away every trace of warmth.
But it was his eyes that made Maya's breath catch.
They were pale gray— almost colorless—
And they moved across the room with the slow, patient attention of someone who had seen everything and was no longer surprised by any of it.
He stopped at the front of the room, directly beneath the massive digital board.
For a long moment, he simply stood there.
Then, he spoke, "Good morning."
The words echoed softly across the vast room.
"You have all been brought here because you have proven yourselves worthy of the next stage.
The preliminary evaluation—Suhani—is behind you. You have survived what most could not."
He paused,
"You are no longer children who were taken from the world. You are now subjects who have been chosen to transcend it."
His gaze traveled slowly across the rows of children.
"Each of you wears an orange collar. That color means you have entered the Nirvana Program.
That color means you have been deemed capable of enduring what lies ahead."
He stopped, his eyes found Maya.
For a brief, terrifying moment, his gaze rested on her. She felt the weight of it.
Then, a faint smile touched his lips. It was the smile of someone who had just confirmed a hypothesis.
"And today we welcome a new member to our ranks."
He gestured toward Maya with a single, elegant motion of his hand,"Subject 17 A."
Every head in the room turned.
Dozens of eyes— gray, brown, black, hollow fixed on her at once. She felt the weight of their gazes like a physical pressure against her skin.
The man continued.
"Subject 17-A has successfully completed the Suhani Phase. Performance has exceeded all projected benchmarks.
She is the youngest subject ever to attain this stage in the history of the Nirvana Program."
A murmur rippled through the rows. It was barely audible—
"Her arrival marks the beginning of a new cycle. You will watch her. You will observe
her and in time, you will learn from her."
He paused.
"Just as she will learn from all of you."
His eyes swept across the room once more.
"Nirvana is not a place. It is not a program. It is a transformation.
You are here to shed everything that makes you weak, your fear, your hesitation. Your attachment to the world outside these walls."
His voice grew quieter, but somehow more intense.
"By the time you leave this room, you will no longer be who you were when you entered. It is a promise."
He folded his hands behind his back.
"Some of you will break. Some of you will not survive. That is the nature of progress.
But those of you who endure— those of you who reach the end—will become something beyond human."
A pause.
"Something the world has never seen."
He let the words hang in the air.
Then, he turned toward the door.
"Your first session begins in five minutes. Prepare yourselves."
Maya sat perfectly still.
Her hands, wrapped in bandages rested motionless on her knees.
But inside her chest, her heart was pounding so hard she was certain everyone in the room could hear it.
She wanted to look at the other children, to find some hint of comfort or recognition.
But she didn't dare move because she had seen something, in the man's eyes.