The White Room

Unable to handle his anxious curiosity anymore, Lionel nervously peeked at his new friend. Austin was still sitting while staring at the white wall before him, his arms pinning his knees to his chest. He was chewing the nail on his thumb even though it was already a stub and he seemed to be trembling, despite the white room not being cold at all. And worst of all, Lionel was almost a hundred percent sure that Austin’s breathing had gotten even more erratic and shallow.

Lionel wasn’t a mental health specialist by any means but he had the strong feeling that Austin was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

And the plain, nearly empty white room they were in was the cause.

A couple of weeks ago, Lionel was in his college’s bookstore because he had a craving for their fudge, even though he had graduated years ago. Immediately after he left the bookstore, he saw a small group of students gossiping around the job board. Curious and with nothing else to do that day, Lionel stopped and overheard them talking about how the latest job post had to be a scam. The small group then left, leaving Lionel ample room to look at the post.

It was from some company Lionel had never heard of. They were calling for volunteers who would be willing to stay in a white room for sixty straight days, from the ages of eighteen to eighty years old. They were performing some kind of experiment to test people's mental endurance. As Lionel’s eyes went down the post, he quickly realized why the students had thought it was a scam.

If he stayed the whole time, the pay was five million dollars.

Lionel originally thought it was some kind of scam or strange kidnapping attempt too, but he found himself taking a picture of the contact information. In the next couple of days, Lionel slowly realized that he had nothing to lose. His job wasn’t the worst but it was ultimately a dead-end job and at times pretty stressful and tiring. Lionel didn’t have any friends who wanted to hang out with him and he didn’t have any loving family members.

And if the job post actually wasn’t a scam, then maybe the five million could give him a new beginning.

So Lionel quit his job, signed up for the program, and was pleasantly surprised and delighted when the job post turned out to be legit. The company (Lionel couldn’t pronounce or spell the name for the life of him) wanted to find out how humans would deal with being confined in a large, completely white room for sixty days. Meals would be provided, though Lionel was warned that while nutritious, they were practically tasteless and practically white as well. There was a white cot complete with a white bed set. There was also a light switch for nighttime and a white curtain separating the bathroom from the rest of the room.

But most importantly, Lionel would be rooming with one other volunteer. They didn’t state it, but Lionel assumed it was so that they wouldn’t go completely insane. But everything seemed fine to Lionel, so after signing the appropriate documents, he was assigned to Austin and they were taken to their room.

Austin, much like him, was a quiet fellow and he was older than Lionel by about ten years. Even so, they got along quite well. Much to Lionel’s relief, they stayed away from topics like their home life and talked about their shared personal interests like movies, video games, and legit Southern barbecue. They also made sure to do some kind of exercise like running around the room because that apparently helped with resisting insanity.

However, the exercise and chats didn’t help Austin for long. On the twentieth day, Austin had been a little irritable towards Lionel but nothing to cause any hurt feelings. Lionel had just assumed that Austin was only cranky since he could hear him tossing and turning the night before. And he did sincerely apologize the next day, only to tell Lionel to harshly stop humming a mere few hours later. As the days went on, Austin’s frustration at the tiniest of things only grew and he began to mumble incoherently to himself fearfully (Lionel almost got chewed out the one time he asked Austin what was the matter). Soon, Austin started to not run anymore and whenever Lionel managed to have a somewhat civil conversation with him, Austin would heavily belittle some of the small mistakes he himself concerning entertainment purchases or cooking barbecue.

They had been in the white room for thirty-five days now, and Austin wouldn’t even talk to him anymore. Lionel was honestly just surprised that Austin wasn’t sitting on the opposite side of the room as him.

Lionel wasn’t sure why Austin signed up for the experiment. For some reason, they never even broached that topic. But whatever it was, it wasn’t worth Austin’s sanity.

As much as it was a pity to say goodbye to five million dollars like this, Lionel knew that he had to call the experiment off.

Without another moment of hesitation, Lionel stood up, turned around, and went to the white button on the wall that was enclosed within a glass covering. When he easily unlatched and lifted the box-like covering up, Lionel sighed as he raised his hand.

He hoped Austin wouldn’t hate him forever. Lionel liked having a friend for once.

Lionel’s hand moved towards the button.

Only for Austin to grab his wrist right before his fingers could touch it.

Lionel gasped, startled because he hadn’t even heard Austin move. He looked at Austin, who was staring at him with wide, pleading eyes. Austin repeatedly shook his head, his fingers grasping Lionel’s wrist so tightly that it was starting to hurt.

The younger man opened his mouth to explain himself when Austin shook his head violently, almost like he didn’t want to hear him talk. Then, with one hand still on Lionel’s wrist, Austin reached into his pocket, took out his wallet, and opened it with one hand.

Lionel’s eyes widened when Austin quietly showed him the picture he had showcased in his wallet. Austin was bright-eyed and smiling widely, his arm snugly around an equally happy woman, with a boy and a girl standing right in front of them.

Of course. Of course, Austin was doing this for his family. Not everyone was like Lionel, essentially alone to the point that no one cared where Lionel was going for sixty days.

However...Lionel didn’t know what was going on in Austin’s home life but...his family needed him to be okay.

Having a feeling that Austin still didn’t want him to talk, Lionel pointed at the picture with his free hand before he pointed it at Austin, specifically at his forehead.

Lionel could only hope that he got his point across.

But to his dismay, Austin violently shook his head again, and with gritted teeth, he flipped to the next picture in his wallet.

One of his kids was sitting in a hospital bed with a shaved head and a tired smile.

Oh.

Lionel knew he was right, that his family needed Austin to be okay, but...he had heard that the worst pain a parent could ever receive is having to bury their own child. How was he supposed to fight against that?

Especially when Austin was looking at him with tears in his eyes?

Knowing that he couldn’t win this, Lionel sighed with defeat and put the glass covering back down with his free hand. Austin sighed with relief as he finally let go of Lionel while rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. Lionel could only look at him with sadness.

But what was Lionel to do?

A sudden ding rang out throughout the room. Lionel looked to the food dispenser, which now had two tubes of off-white paste…

Wait. Tubes...off-white…white walls...

Lionel had an idea.

Knowing that he had nothing to lose, Lionel went straight for the food dispenser and grabbed one of the tubes. However, after unscrewing one of the caps, Lionel didn’t feed himself. Instead, he walked to the nearest space of the white wall and spread the food on the wall. When a suitable amount of paste was on the wall, Lionel took his fingers and started to paint a picture of a dog with it.

It was probably a waste of food, but Lionel wasn’t hungry. And besides, if his idea worked, if Austin simply needed another activity...then it would be worth it.

Lionel wasn’t sure how long he stood there, painting the wall with his food. All he knew was that one moment, he was alone, and the next, Austin was beside him, painting with his own tube of food.

Austin seemed calmer than he had been for days.

Lionel smiled. They would make it through the next twenty-five days and get their five million dollars.

Together.