The first thing he could remember was hitting the floor hard. But it was a soft, flexible surface, like a gymnastics mat, so it broke his fall. Where was he? What happened? He slowly sat up, blinking his eyes frivolously, trying to adjust to the light of the strange place he now found himself in. A very dim light was pouring in from the ceiling, pointing directly down to a wooden table, but there was nothing on it.
The last thing he could remember was falling asleep. Was he dreaming? No, this wasn’t like any dream he had experienced before.
Other than the table, there was nothing else in the darkness and space that he could see. He was all alone.
“Hello Aaron,” said a female voice.
The voice startled him to the point of being too afraid to respond.
“!!!...”
“Yes. Hello there.”
He looked up to the ceiling. Where did the voice come from? He couldn’t see a damned thing!
“Welcome to my room.”
Naturally, he looked around, expecting to see something else - a door, a person, anything - that resembled a room. But it was seemingly void of anything; an abyss of darkness surrounded him. He started to panic… he fell into this place, and he didn’t know how to get out. He couldn’t… he wouldn’t be able to get out!!
He quickly stood up, frantically walking around in circles, hoping to grasp onto something in the darkness. He needed to find a ladder, a rope, a wall…
“Trying to leave already, Aaron? Please do not waste your energy...”
He looked up again. The voice seemed to come from above, but it came from the entire space above. Like, the ceiling was the voice.
“There is no door… there is no way out…”
He ignored its advice, and continued to desperately reach out into the darkness.
“Come, Aaron. Sit down at my table.”
“Let me out of here!!” Aaron screamed. Now he was really scared.
“Do not be silly, Aaron. Stay with me for a while. Sit down at my table.”
“No! Stop! Let me out!!”
“...I cannot do that unless you come and sit down.”
Suddenly, the light in the space flickered, and he turned around. On the wooden table appeared an array of plates and bowls of food, fruits, bread, drinks… where did it all come from?
“W-what… how -”
“Come.”
With another flicker of light, a single small chair appeared next to the table. He hadn’t blinked or turned away… it just appeared.
This was some trippy stuff.
Cautiously, Aaron walked to the table and slowly sat down on the chair. The food on the table looked so good… but he had read one too many fantasy stories like this before.
“I-I’ll… sit down, but I’m not eating the food!” he declared.
“Oh, Aaron…” the voice said, sounding a bit exasperated. “ You have always had such a vivid imagination.”
He looked up again. “How do you know … who I am? Where are you?”
“I have known you your entire life, Aaron. I know everything about you. Where you have lived, who your friends are, what you think about --”
“Stop it, stop fucking with me!”
“I am sorry, Aaron. It was not my intention to scare you. I want to help you.”
“Great. Help me out by letting me out of here!”
“In due time, Aaron. But there is one thing that specifically interests me about you…”
It felt like his heart had dropped.
“Tell me... how long have you wanted…”