Swirls of color move around on a dark canvas. Flowing spots manifest and disappear without leaving anything behind. A low humming echos throughout the abyss. A void empty without life, thought, or even existence. Until a single point exploded in light and color, killing the darkness. Colors formed into shapes. And the shapes shifted to create a picture. Anthony woke up.
A sharp and dull pain radiated from his forehead, as if his frontal lobe exploded. His vision blurry, his hearing muffled, and thoughts scattered. He felt like death itself waited for him the very moment he woke up. Or started experiencing rather than waking up.
Anthony groaned in pain, but even the groan itself pained him more.
The shapes in sight finally shifted into place as his eyes started focusing, forming what looks like a hallway. A pale, yellow hallway with cutout doorways on either side. His other senses woke up too, the sickly stench of old, moist carpet and a touch of rot woke up his senses. He lied still on the floor. His body ached as his eyes roamed to observe his surroundings. Diamond shaped patterns on the wallpaper, individual carpet fibers up front of him, and buzzing of old lights came into focus. He felt wet on the side he laid on, as of he slept on a puddle in the middle of the street.
"Where am I?" Anthony thought
Where he was, he didn't know. Nor did he know how he got here. The primal need for sleep quieted his mind as he slowly closed his eyes. Moments passed, perhaps minutes, or even hours - he rested where he laid for some time.
Ìn a moment's notice, he woke up again. This time more aware, more awake. He was hurt and injured, and he was somewhere that he didn't recognize. He was in danger. With a sharp breath in and an agonizing groan, Anthony rolled over to his back. Above him, a yellow flourescent light shined to its best ability, but showed signs of old age as it flickered lightly and buzzed loudly, screaming to stay alive. He felt his back start to get drenched. That feeling alone made Anthony rise up to sit, despite the pain he was in. He hated getting his clothes wet.
Anthony looked around, his neck and back popping and stiffening from staying still for so long. He looked around at the yellow tinted rooms. They resembled early 2000s backrooms of retail stores, but they were all devoid of furniture, paintings, or even windows.
"Is this place abandoned?" Anthony asked, "But no, it couldn't. The lights are still on?" He answered himself.
"H-h-h" Anthony tried to speak, but sharp, invisible blades sliced the inside of his throat. "Hello?" He managed to whisper.
"Nobody's going to hear that"
Determined to find out where exactly he was at, Anthony made an effort to push himself off of the wet floor. And a quick struggle later, he stood on his own two feet. Feeling delirious and unbalanced, he stood feet spaced apart with hands on knees, staring down at his beaten tennis shoes, while he tried to control his breathing. His chest ached with every breath, with occasional shocks on the nerves making him inhale sharply. Anthony couldn't remember what happened, but something almost took his life.
Only the buzzing emitted by the aged lights and Anthony's ragged breathing were heard. No voices, no footsteps, not even any evidence of human inhabitance were present. He was alone.
After finally controlling his breathing, he straightened his back and looked straight ahead and around. It was true that the rooms around him were empty - just blank canvases for an interior designer's dreams. Everything around was drowned in a yellow light. A terrible shade at that. The hallway ended in a T-junction about a dozen yards ahead. Anthony looked over to the left, looked into an empty room, then made a full turn around. The other direction had the same T-junction as the other end.
Despite there being several choices where to go, they were all the same - they led to mere copies of the same room.
"Where do I go?"