#emptybuilding

(Hosie, 2024).

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We both walked in a narrow dimly-lit hallway. My hands were shaking in fear of getting caught by the Party Guards. Theo kept rushing forward determined to find something from this deserted building, but I started to lose hope after a few hours of searching. 

“Shouldn’t we get back? They could check on us anytime.”

He shook his head and kept moving forward. 

“My father has been dying from an unknown illness since the Barrier came down. And I refuse to believe the Sun is the problem.” 

There have been multiple cases of death post-Barrier without a clear diagnosis which has kept the conspiracies going on. Theo’s father was one of them and he hasn’t been able to accept it since his death a year ago. I follow him as I feel the silence closing in on me and I wonder what would become of us if we get caught by the Party Guards. 

Suddenly, Theo stops in front of a concrete door with a pin pad. He kneels down and shuffles through his khaki satchel from his ‘breaking-in’ instruments. While he fidgets with the pin pad, I look around the room we have stopped in. There are multiple abandoned hospital beds, electrocardiogram monitors, and ruins of ripped curtains on the floor. I tried not to notice the marks and bloodstains on the bed sheets as goosebumps formed on my arm. 

“Do you think we should really be here?”

Theo doesn’t hear me with headsets on. Before I could protest further the door creaked open. 

I was speechless by what I saw in the room. The sense of warmth, the orange blaze, but somehow I was blinded by the light. 

It was the Sun, but it wasn’t real. It was a well-replicated 3D hologram kept under a glass globe. 

I felt my heart sink deeply as I saw this hologram glow. Meanwhile, Theo starts taking pictures of the room. 

“Theo, what are you…”

I turn to face him but get caught up by the numerous codes written on the walls of the room. There were diagrams that seemed like a blueprint of a machine, but I couldn’t quite understand. Just when I was about to ask Theo the alarms went off. 

“INTRUDER DETECTED. INTRUDER DETECTED. CLOSE ALL DOORS AND SHUTTERS. PARTY GUARDS ATTEND TO BUILDING 506 IMMEDIATELY”

“Oh crap we gotta get out of here.” 

We see that the door we came through slowly close and rush towards the gap. We run through the building barely making it through the shutters coming down. I could feel my feet aching as I ran with my ruined shoes. We made it to the field when we saw a massive army of Party Guards outside the fences. I looked back to find a different exit but realized that we were trapped from every corner. I could feel my whole body freeze as I started to hyperventilate.