COME.
The door beckoned to Eve, an invitation woven with something insidious. Eve narrowed her eyes, her breath shallow, her steady hands shaking.
The cold rifle in her hands was the only comfort she had. Despite everything in her body telling her to run, she continued, drawn in by something beyond reason.
Her rifle stayed raised, but her grip had already begun to slip.
COME, the voice whispered again, curling around Eve's thoughts like a serpent. The choir swelled, the unnatural sound gnawing at Eve's sanity.
But Eve continued to walk forwards, her body moving as if it were on autopilot. As every muscle in her body tensed, screaming to leave, she was paralyzed by the growing desire to approach the door.
The hallway twisted behind her, bending, soaking and fading into an inky void. It shouldn't have twisted.
The walls shimmered and warped like they were made of liquid glass, bending light in strange patterns, scattering in a kaleidoscope of colours.
The hallway seemed to swim and squirm around Eve as she continued on the path towards the door, swirling and moving like it was a clear ocean.
Her heartbeat thumped in sync with the undulating waves pulsing through the hall.
Eve reached the door and, unbidden, her hand reached for the handle, but she caught herself. She dropped to her knees in one smooth motion and slipped a tape camera underneath the door, then stepped back, keeping her rifle trained on the slab of metal, the weapon quivering ever so slightly in her hands.
The camera displayed a single, grainy, shivering, hazy frame that Eve couldn't catch before giving up and displaying straight blackness. Not even static or the crack of a broken screen- nothing.
Despite the unknown, there was nothing that Eve could do. Suicide or not, she had no contact to the outside world, and the floor was peeling into ink behind her- she had to breach the door. She couldn't turn back now.
Steeling herself, Eve pointed her rifle at the lock and pulled the trigger. Bullets ripped out of the bullpup, smashing the lock to pieces, the sound distorted and twisted. Without missing a beat, Eve kicked the door straight off of its hinges and stormed straight through the door into Laboratory #1.
The first thing that she realized was that the laboratory was massive- vast. It stretched on and on like a labyrinth with no end. The ceiling, a towering expanse, stretched for the sky high above her.
There was something unsettling about this space, as if something was hanging over her head, just waiting for her to notice it.
The second thing is that the laboratory resembled more of a greenhouse than a laboratory.
There was no scent of antiseptics, nor the whiff of clinical sterility that one would expect. Instead, the place smelled… like any greenhouse, really. Earthy, green, living.
The roof was a great dome of glass that arced impossibly high into the air above her, and through it rays of sun bled through.
It's not possible, Eve thought. Weather reports had indicated that the snowstorm would continue for the entire day.
The laboratory was filled with plants of all types, colours, and sizes that just seemed… wrong.
Ancient and alien-looking trees with strange leaves reached for the sun, spreading their golden, heavenly canopy across the greenhouse. Their thick roots snaked across the laboratory floor amongst the perfectly cut lawn-height grass.
Brilliant rays of sunlight perforated the foliage, scattering amongst the mottled undergrowth. Ferns spread their feathery fingers unnaturally, reaching for what light they could, and grass coated the ground in a green, coarse carpet.
Colourful and strange flowers shimmered with vivid colours. Vines and undergrowth twisted in organic shapes like blood vessels, as if they were reaching for something that she couldn't see, much less imagine. They crowded beneath trees as if in worship.
To one side of the greenhouse there was a small pond, in which cattails and other reeds peeked out of. Duckweed and lilypads drifted whimsically across the light grey water.
While Eve could appreciate the scenery, it was a nightmare from a combat perspective. So many spaces potential threats could be hiding, so many unknowns.
It was as if the plants swayed around her, watching her- yet the room felt impossibly still at the same time. As she continued into the laboratory, she could almost hear the plants whispering, watching her with her own eyes.
However, there was a single clearing in the middle of the colourful greenery, of which the hum seemed to be coming from. That was when Eve noticed the single figure that sat in the clearing, as well as the clinical white table and chairs placed around them. They seemed to be drinking from a cup. The hum wiped all memories of Eve's training away as she started walking towards the figure with her guard down, her rifle slung on her back.
- - -
The woman set down her teacup with a soft clink and glanced up at Eve as she approached.
"Please, sit," She said with a smile. Her gaze lingered on Eve, a small, knowing, sad smile at her lips.
Eve sat. As she did, the hum faded away, leaving a ring in her ears as she sat in blessed silence, and she examined the woman sitting opposite to her. The woman sat in a way that was relaxed yet inviting.
She seemed familiar… but Eve couldn't place where from or why. She sat poised and regal, her back straight in her chair and looked back at Eve across the table. Her straight black hair flowed down her shoulders smoothly like viola petals and her eyes shone an ethereal frosted lavender. Her face was shapely, and two black cross earrings dangled daintily from her ears.
A lab coat accented by a purple pen stuck in a breast pocket draped elegantly around her fragile frame. Layered underneath was a low-cut white collared button up. The fabric of the blouse clinging to her body in a way that was too revealing, too inviting. A smooth black pencil skirt gently hugged her legs.
A researcher?
Behind the woman was a large pillar of glass that stretched to the ceiling, supporting the dome above.
It seemed as if it rippled and pulsed from the sunlight like it was a breathing, beating heart; large leaf-like glass decorations sprouted from the pillar at random intervals. The rays scattered from the pillar in a prismatic array like a thousand glittering secrets. Below, homely essentials like a small kitchen, dishwasher, bathroom, and more were nestled beneath, resting seamlessly by the pillar- it appeared as if they were part of its construction.
The woman leaned back and raised her hands to stretch above her head, sighing heavenly before turning her attention back to Eve in a manner that was graceful and almost suggestive. Her shoulders rolled back in a natural, fluid motion. She cocked her head to one side, judging Eve's reaction.
"You've forgotten me, then," She said in a soft, low voice that also seemed ever so familiar. Low. Coaxing. The researcher offered a smile that she gave was small, yet it seemed to pull at Eve's heart like arachne's thread, drawing her back home.
Eve blinked. "Sorry?"
The researcher's eyes softened, her smile dropping slightly. "Do you still remember who I am?" Seeing the gentle curve disappear from the researcher's face made Eve's heart tremble.
"I- have we met before?" There was something in her heart that made her feel like she should remember the woman, like there had been… something between them, but pulling from her memory, nothing came up.
The other woman's face drooped. Her eyes glistened with a hint of sadness, but she perked up.
'That's fine," she said quickly, her voice casual. However hard the woman tried to hide it, Eve could tell that she was upset- and Eve felt a burn in her heart as well, as if she were upset to see the woman disappointed. "Hopefully you'll remember in due time. In the meantime, have you eaten? I'll make something quick."
She stood and turned around, carrying her teacup with her. She glanced back at Eve and pointed towards the bathroom. "Take your helmet off and go wash up."
While her words were gentle, they felt almost like a command.
The woman walked away, humming softly, her voice a light lilt in the air.
She draped her lab coat over a chair before slipping into a rather form-fitting apron dotted with cartoon flowers and retrieving a pot from a cabinet in the small kitchen.
The apron seemed out of place in this strange greenhouse- too childish.
Something about this woman seemed like a siren's song- familiar, but wrong. Strange. Invasive.
Regardless, Eve did as she was told, doffing her helmet.
Her fine, brown hair cascaded down her face, curled from being swept back in her helmet. Somehow, Eve was free of sweat.
She stood, placing her helmet on the floor next to the table. She cleared her rifle, took the magazine, and headed towards the bathroom.
As she closed the door behind her, Eve noticed that the bathroom was surprisingly big and made the most out of the space available. Contrary to what she'd expect of lights from an almost overgrown greenhouse, the lights functioned completely fine and lit up the little room like day.
Eve stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were worryworn, different from the innocent university student she used to be, but her skin still retained its luster and glass-like quality, and her hair still swam in elegant whorls around her face.
That was the normal part of her reflection. What wasn't normal, however, was the fact that her reflection started moving- not at the same speed that Eve did, but delayed, almost reluctantly.
Eve's reflection in the mirror lowered its gaze at her, its head tilting towards Eve with something between sorrow and pity. Eyes once identical to hers were now pearly white and watched Eve with quiet accusation.
It moved closer to the mirror as if it were trying to reach through the mirror to its real flesh and blood self.
It raised both hands and pressed its palms on the mirror, still as a lake. Eve didn't move- she couldn't. Silence draped over the room like a curtain as Eve stood, transfixed in place.
"Don't leave her again," her reflection whispered, its lips moving just out of sync with the words.
It then suddenly stood back from the glass, becoming stationary once more, mimicking Eve's pose once more.
But Eve knew the difference now.
The mirror hadn't returned to normal- if there even was a definition of normal at that point.
It was only pretending.
Eve breathed out, shakily, heavily. Looking back at her reflection, her eyes had returned to 'normal,' too. The phrase that came out of her reflection's mouth haunted her and sat heavy in her heart like a stone.
"What the fuck…" Eve turned on the tap and splashed her face with water, as if that would wake her up from whatever nightmare higher beings had decided to drop her in.
She mopped her face with a towel on a shower rung and left the bathroom, still shaking from the experience.
The woman had set down dishes on the table and was hanging up her apron on the wall as she saw Eve approach.
On the plates simmered spicy stir-fried pork, marinated beef, and they were also homely bowls of rice and kimchi stew.
"Sorry," she said, seeing Eve's expression. "I forgot to turn off the mirror- she does that. I take it you met her?"
Eve sighed and pulled up a chair. "Something about not leaving someone…?"
The woman looked at Eve with a carefully hidden expression. "...I'm sorry. You always hated remembering that."
Eve stared dead in the other woman's beautiful lavender eyes. "I think I'm going to need some answers. Who are you, and how do you know me?"
She immediately regretted it as she saw the researcher recoil from her tone, but pressed forwards regardless.
"What is this place really, and what's going on?"