The House

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in the room. She was astonished. The last time she had seen a window was 3 years, 3 months and 3 days ago. She never forgot that day, she was pulled from her house among 7 other strangers, shoved in a van and delivered in a house, the house had been locked, no signs of other humans or anything, her and the 7 other strangers were confused, they didn't know what questions to ask and what answers they needed to find. The political climate, bio-war or their enemies were theories they all had as possibilities to the circumstance they had ended up in . But nothing was clear.

They started as 8 people. The house they were in was equipped with food and water and toiletries and cleaning supplies that magically never ran out. It seemed way too organized. Also, there were no windows, no doors, no empty open channel outside of the house. Through the 3 years and 3 months and 3 days one by one the other people had disappeared. She had no idea how they disappeared the next day from the house; but there was a pattern, whenever any of them figured out a way to escape the house, right before their plan was performed, they were gone by the minute the friend was alone. After the second missing friend, the pattern was noticed by the rest of them, so everyone promised to keep their plans for themselves and come back for the rest after they get out. It really was as if someone was listening and watching them 24/7. But this was just a theory, they had evaluated the house up and down, every nook and cranny after their first week, no cameras, no microphones no nothing. It was seriously something out of a movie. They couldn't figure out how they ended up there in a house enclosed completely with no other instruction.

She looked again through the window…what could this be? She suddenly felt a surge of extreme fear, she was the only left in the house….the last of the others had vanished already…. He had planned to get out of the house by digging from the kitchen’s sink floor, he had thought it was moist enough. Only for her to find out the day after that she was completely alone with his tools and calculations left by the sink, and the sink looking uncovered. This was not out of the ordinary either, they would leave the evidence of the last person who was trying to escape untouched as a lesson for the next person who tried to break free. Yet, it didn't matter anyways. A life of the inside, of sameness and routine made all of the others eventually take their last risk. She was the only one had never attempted to escape, perhaps neither did she want to…Life outside the house was not so kind to her and she knew she was the problem…..Before she ended up in the house, she was working the job she didn't want, being in relationships she didn't enjoy, and following whatever was in front of her just so she can escape making decisions and coming up with plans. Perhaps not escaping the house or even intending to was the first time she had made a clear decision. After the escape of the last guy, she was living calmly. The loneliness was there but it was never bothersome. The only thing she missed was technology, internet, social media, scrolling and feeling the numbing of her thoughts with constant entertainment. In the house she had learned to cook a variety of food recipes, rearrange the furniture to perfect Fengshui (she found out about this from the library in the house), and she even found knitting equipment by accident in the closet of the bedrooms upstairs. It was too hard for her to admit that perhaps these 3 years forced her to create a better routine and maybe life for her. She would wake up , exercise (nothing fancy, just things the basics on repeat), cook, eat, take a bath, do one of her hobbies, cook, eat, do some reading, clean, cook, eat and go to bed.

Really she felt like she was in no hurry to leave this house and go back to pleasing those around her. BAM! The house gate opens! She sees through the window that 3 cars enter the house, her heart beat goes from 0 to 150, “Oh God…this is it!” She had no idea what to do! Tied up to the chair, no one left there, and now someone was coming after her.! Who could it be! She had thought of this before; after the first 6 months, she was in fear of this world of hers inside the house ending, and it was today. She never said anything to the others because they would think it was lunacy to enjoy being in this twisted situation! The thing that was making others crazy was giving her peace of mind!

She heard loud thumps on the stairs, someone was coming to the room! She tried to think of how she ended up in the room from yesterday to here but all she could remember is going to bed last night, and waking up in a daze today in this chair!

BAM! Door opened! Her mouth dropped open in shock. 3 cameramen with their flash cameras with 3 men rushed in the room speaking fast and loud!

“And here it is ladies and gentlemen! The only woman who passed this experiment! 3 long years and 3 long months and 3 long days and here we are with the one and only one who survived the test!”

She was so stunned, confused and flabbergasted that she couldn't process anything!

She just kept staring into one of the several filming cameras that was there. The 3 men finally finished hyping up the situations and throwing exciting expressions at the cameras.

Then, one of the cameramen said okay: ”We've got the first part! See how she is doing now.”

The 3 presenters came to her and one of them said :”Well, congratulations! You are the winner of this experiment!”

The 2nd presenter said:” Listen, we know you have a lot of questions so here is the deal before you ask the usual how, when, what and why. 3 years and 3 months and 3 days ago to be exact, you had accidentally or not accidentally accepted the terms and conditions of a website to be entered into a scientific experiment which explained that you may be suddenly taken out of your home and put in with 7 other people in order to see who can use hardship in order to better themselves And here you are! You won , you used the past 3 years to improve yourself compared to 3 years 3 months and 3 days ago!

The 3rd presenter said: ”Of course a lot of those agreements were in fine print! Haha , all good now!” Followed up by a smirk.

The first thing she asked was: ”There aren't any cameras here? Any microphones, how was this ever possible? We searched the house relentlessly!”

All 6 of the men laughed, and finally one of them said: ”Oh we’ll show you where they are…”

They told her that they need to film a proper interview with her and some things about contracts and media meetings, and the grand prize for her was anything materialistic she wanted!

High with excitement the cameramen and presenters told her: “Okay! What is it?! We've all been conspiring for months ! What is it that you want after the 3 years and 3 months and 3 days of being in this house?!

Anything you want! Name it!"

She swallowed her spit, “Oh God” she thought, the pressure of the outside world and everything else rushed backed to her and she felt like the girl who she was 3 years and 3 months and 3 days ago…She started to sweat and nervously said

“Actually, can I just have this house for myself?”