Tryin to walk through Day 43 part 2

Its difficult to pace when you only have a three foot section to move, what makes it even worse is that you are confined by your determination to stay within that three foot area. You could drop the rope, you could run around, you can try and walk through the room in the same manner that you are running and walking in your mind, but then the guns go off like they did an hour ago.

When I was going insane Day 43 Part 1

Day 43 started different than any other day in the room, the group not only awoke to the simulated dawn and the wake up alarm but a  coffee bar.


They stood there and stared at it, looking for some sort of trick, gimmick or trap. A coffee bar in front of them with paper cups each numbered with each of their numbers and hot steaming coffee poured in each, with more pots behind the cups for refills. The numbered cups were those of only the people who were currently in the room so they felt this wasn't something where they had to consume 100 cups of coffee between the group though some of them felt they could.


The monitor eventually came on and Cipher assured them that the coffee was for them, that they needed it because the events that were going to take part that day would keep them up for most of the night and they should start their coffee early. Scott was the first to step forward and drink a cup, he made some stupid comment on how he usually likes a little sugar with his coffee and winked awkwardly at some of the women. Cipher did say that the coffee would only be served black and that everyone should have a cup, even those who do not like coffee, but it wasn't however mandatory that they drink.


Cipher then told them the process of letting someone leave wasn't going to take place as the number 42 was one of the tags that Bonny had kept to herself and not shared with the group. He asked them for a moment while he prepared some items for the day, and let them know it would be a bit. The late start would cause them to run their 'experiment' into the night, hence the coffee.


They sat and drank the warm beverage and it brought a sense of normalcy to them. A sense of home, the hot drink  warmed them inside in a way they had not had in so long. They finished their drinks and some of the group acted as servers, giving a warm up or topping off the cup of Joe that was so good that not one of them only had one cup.


Two cups stayed on the shelf, one marked 100 the other marked 60, everyone obviously knew that the 100 was Daniel, but no one had a clue who 60 was. Time dragged, hours passed, and the group started to become antsy  and agitated, several of them crumpled their cups and threw them to the ground in anger when they found out the coffee was all gone and they had to be kept waiting longer. They would soon regret their anticipation as the monitor came on and Cipher began to explain the events of the day.


"Along all four walls you will see there are cables three feet in length hanging out, they look like rope but it is in fact the same type of steel cables used for elevators. Everyone is to grab one of those cables now, you'll be hanging on to that cable for the next 12 hours. If you let go you will be shot, repeatedly. Your only saving grace for the day that will keep you unharmed is that cable, i cannot stress enough to not let go. You may switch hands but you must always have the cable in your hands at all time. Any questions?" 


"Where's Daniel!" Ross shouts out.


"He's in the infirmary. Any more?" Cipher responds


"Who's number 60?" Anne calls out.


"Oliver." Cipher responds and the room mumbles, does his cup being there mean Oliver is alive?


"Where's Oliver?" Anne calls out again.


"He's also in the infirmary, I'm not an animal people, he needed help, he was delusional and in that state I knew he would never survive this test in particular so he's been sedated for a bit." 


"All we have to do is hold the cable?" Liz asks.


"Yes. But...." he pauses.


"But what?" Liz and the others wait for him to finish.


"Well you all drank a lot of my coffee."


"So like we're going to pee our pants and thats the big deal? Hell I think I've peed in my pants at least 3 times here already." Ross attempts to lighten the mood.


"Well while you're comfortable wetting yourself Ross, some of the others are not, but the urination factor is the smallest of your concerns."


"What's the biggest of our concerns?" Jim asks.


"5150 Juice." Cipher responds.


"What is 5150 Juice?" Jim asks to his answer.


"5150 is concentrated liquid caffeine, one ounce of it contains 500mg of caffeine, each cup that you drank probably had two ounces of it in it. So you all consumed at least 1000 to 1500mg of caffeine just now. Plus the coffee wasn't black, it was actually sweetened with fenfluramine/phentermine."


"Phen Fen?!" Ross, eyes wide, spits out.


"Isn't that a weight loss drug?" Liz looks at him.


"Yeah, its also like speed! That combined with 1500 to more likely 2000mg of caffeine?!" he starts to panic as he says the words and he can feel his heart trying to beat right through his sternum. "OhMyGod OhMyGod OhMyGod OhMyGod OhMyGod."


"Ross calm down!" Anne shouts over to him.


"Oh I'm afraid a lot of you are going to have a hard time doing that today Anne; calming down will be next to impossible. All that caffeine and speed running through your system, I don't think it will kill you but you're definitely going to give the ticker a run for its money. Makes you wonder how easy is it going to be to hang on to a three foot steel cable standing in one spot for 12 hours all hopped up on that stuff. I'd have to guess that you're going to feel as though your being driven insane. Your thoughts will be scattered, panicked, heart racing, you won't be able to focus and having just that small area for you to stand is going to push you to the edge. Not to mention, I'll be checking in throughout the day, see how you're doing, give you some motivational speeches little encouragement to get you through it all. I'll see you all in a bit."


The monitor shuts off.


Day 43 began hours ago. 

Anne - Make me lose control

She was a day dreamer. She would sit in her office and long for better things, a better life, a better car, and a better  love life. She felt that she had grown up and been disappointed that better things didn't just come to her. It wasn't that she wouldn't work at things, she loved working hard on whatever it was, her job, her family everything she gave 100%. But at this point in her life she thought she would be somewhere else, she expected more and those expectations on a daily basis caused her grief and just made her tired of her day to day life.

She loved old music, old as in 80s old not classical old. If it was before Pearl Jam it was old. She'd blare her stereo every time some great cheesy song would come on by any of the true classical artists, Journey, Foreigner, even White Snake.

One that stuck out for her, one that has been playing over and over in her head for the past several days in this room is starting to drive her a bit mad. It reminds her of home because she remembers actually saying, the city's the color of flame in this mid-summer heat. Her best friend Jenny would pick her up and she'd throw the song on immediately from her ipod and scream, Jenifer's got Daddy's car and she's playing uptown on the stereo.

She would say to her fiancee, hold me close never let me go, and they'd hug and squeeze so hard that they couldn't breathe. His embrace made her feel safe and warm and a little bit more complete and secure that she's gotten to at least one point in her life by having a real relationship regardless if it seemed a bit shallow. She loved him, she cared for him deeply and it seemed like the next step to do in their relationship, it was logical thinking that made her say yes to his ordinary proposal. Maybe she hadn't had some grandiose show of romance and it felt like it involved little planning, but that sort of thing was only done on TV and in the movies. That's what her mindset was, she was logical, she had to accept her expectations were just that expectations and not reality. She had to play it safe, be in control of her life and her expectations.

But this room has changed things, being trapped in the same room for days on end creating the worst cabin fever you could think of has changed her mind on so much. She can't wait to get back to her job, see her co-workers, she can't wait to sit in her car and just drive with no place to go. To see Jen, to laugh and have fun and scream with joy to the point where she just belly flops into her bed and falls to sleep happy. She can't wait for all those things, but she's worried because she knows she should be rushing back to her man's arms, to be held and squeezed until she can't breathe. But that thought has been replaced with the worry that she'll never see someones eyes again.

This is where that song is cursing her now, because she keeps thinking, 'when I look in your eyes, I go crazy, fever's hot with the lights down low, but its not her man back home she's thinking of. Its his eyes, his caring, loving eyes that just seem to look through her. It pains her to think she won't see them again. She's so afraid that when she leaves this room and goes back to try to pick up her life and finds theirs a piece of her life still missing and its him.

She day dreams now about the day she gets home and sees everyone, the crying, the hugs and kisses, probably the media. She'll want that moment however where she just asks if she can have a moment to herself and go in her room and splash on to her bed and 'turn the radio up for that sweet sound'. Hope the feeling of 'Hold me close never let me go' is there. But she can look back at the room and 'Keep this feeling alive' think of the man she'll be waiting for when he gets out, so she can then say to him, 'Make me lose control.'

In my life Day 42 part 3

The day started rough, really rough, Cipher had demanded that Daniel be forced to fight twelve people one every hour at the top of the hour for the next twelve hours, an atonement for his lies to the group, for killing Dalton and for betraying his friends.

 Oddly several members of the group didn't have a problem with this, Scott had volunteered to fight Daniel, claiming to be fighting for his fallen friend Dalton, but Ross was told he had to be the first.