PipeLine

Pipeline

You enter through an eighteenth-century Victorian mansion. It doesn't look rundown; in fact, it's very well maintained. It is the present day, & when you knock the mechanical doorbell, you’re greeted by a well-dressed woman to come in. You hear nothing. The second you enter, the lady greeting you disappears & everything is pitch black. You see nothing. You search for a light switch but can't find one. Eventually you find a door & once you touch the handle, it glows gently in green with red tint.

Volumes

You go through the mysterious entrance, & immediately the door closes behind you. It's pitch black again. As your eyes adjust, you can dimly see the silhouette of brick, as if in a basement. You go up some stairs & it gets brighter. When you turn around, you see the stairs & doorway are no longer there. Instead, you see that you are now facing towards a restaurant. You see familiar faces of people you recognize, but can't put your finger on where. It sets your mind at ease. You see a friend with food coming out from the serving doors. He says “Your friends are waiting on you over there.” He points behind you to a new set of iron stairs. You go up them & see green & red lights everywhere, with a mural you can't quite make out. It is filled with shadows, hills, & groups of people. You wander around the restaurant, looking for anyone familiar. Within a few moments find your friends & ask where they invited you to. Speaking in unison, they say “The Pipeline, but don't worry about it, just go with it." You look at them puzzled, but try to brush it off. They’re all immensely relaxed, having an amazing time. You don't want to break the social norm & say anything. You get to talking, laughing, & joking for a while. After an hour, you ask them “Where’s the bathroom?”. They stare at you as if you uttered something terrible. They all point as a group & say "Over there…" to where you originally came from. You go towards the back side of the restaurant & see that your friend is busy preparing the daily special. You walk towards him & ask the same question of where the bathroom is. He points & says "Back from where you were & make a left. It'll be hard to find". You go with what he says since he works there, but when you turn around, no one you know is in the area you just left. They couldn’t have left yet as there’s only one entrance, right? So where did they go? You begin walking around the painting of the hills & notice large groups of people speaking languages you can't understand behind you.

The assortment of people are all either laughing, looking at you with disgust, or pointing towards a direction. You begin to panic as none of this is making sense, & the lights glowing around the paintings begin to flicker & strobe. You start running, trying to find a door but only see blurs of faces. You see a new mural but can't quite make out what it is. On top of one of the hills, you can discern what might be a door. You go to this unknown mural & try to open it, but it's locked. All of a sudden you hear maniacal laughing that sounds like the unsheathing of a hundred swords. You are panicking, trying with all your might to open the painting’s door. You hear the twist of the latch slowly becoming unlocked. You put all your weight into opening it. Falling through the entrance upon entry. Unbeknownst to you, you've entered:

Creature

The door closes behind you, & the room you’ve entered is pitch black. A single candle lights itself. You observe that you're in a very old room. You see antiques of European design; warm tones of mahogany walls with crown molding all around, creating intricate detail. The room has a large seated bay window covered with curtains, where you see a young kitten stretched out in bliss on a cushion. This calms you down from the panic that ensued. You walk fifteen feet across the room, & begin to pet the cat. She meows while being pet, but you hope to calm her down. Soon she is screeching while being held in your arms. She jumps out of your embrace, & runs to a dimly lit corner of the room. You can barely make out her silhouette. You stand up & begin to look around, feeling as though you're shrinking, & getting shorter. Your bones twist & break, but you feel no pain. Hair begins to grow everywhere, along with a tail & claws. Within moments you have become a cat, but can’t remember being human; even though you remember the process of transformation. The feline in the corner has become the outline of a skinny old man with long white hair & piercing blue eyes. He picks you up with reassurance & says "Don't worry, it's just a part of the journey." You purr with acceptance, not really remembering what transpired. Knowing every detail in the back of your mind. The man sets you down & opens a new door. You gracefully walk through with pride, & the door slams shut behind you. You are in pitch black again, yet you curl into a ball & lull to sleep.

Deception

You awake as a human walking the streets of London at midnight. The air is damp & gas lanterns flicker around you. There’s no memory of what's transpired, but you feel uneasy & you're unsure why. You see a group you know but can't quite remember, who gesture to come over to them as they're walking by. You start walking towards them but you don’t get closer, as they’re walking at a faster pace. You run to catch up to them, but look away for a moment as a car hits the side of the curb in front of you. The car honks; it's the same old man from moments ago, but you don't remember him. He’s driving a classic hackney carriage & says "Hey kid, do you need a ride anywhere?" You rudely say "Thanks but no thanks. I'm trying to catch up with my friends & you’re in my way.” He says "Alright, but I'm the only one who can get you to where you really need to go." He peels out under a puddle, & drives off in a rush. Leaving your clothes soaking wet. You swear in contempt, & look at his license plate. It says "Pipeline". You turn your attention back to chasing after your friends, yet they're gone. You think to yourself “Maybe they went to another bar or to grab some food, it is pretty late." You text one of them & notice you can't make out the name. You rub your eyes as you're walking, & get a text saying "Turn left, stop at the third building, & go through the second door on the right." You do what it says & see people inside a bar. Your friends’ wave at you to come in. It's a tattered old house that doesn't quite fit in with the buildings around it, as it's the only single-story building on the block. It’s also the only house pained neon white. You look at the door & in etched glass, the sign reads "Human Kindness". You think to yourself "What a terrible name for a bar. If that's where everyone is then I guess it's okay.". You open the door & get pushed down to the ground by a stranger behind you upon entering. You hit your head on the way down & suffer a short shock wave of paralysis. The stranger walks past you without concern, entering the establishment. Once you get up, the blood rushes back towards your head.

Human Kindness

You gain your bearings, & see that nobody is in the bar you entered. Giant Steps by John Coltrane is playing in the background. You hear the clinks of glasses & even subtle whispers. A rainbow of lights are on, contrasting a black & white tile floor. What the hell is going on? You notice there's a stairway leading to a door, with white light glowing at the top of it. You go up the stairs, & with every step you hear the old wood creak. The music gets quieter, as well as the subtle conversations with each step. All you can hear is the sound of a drill the closer you get. You look at the door & see a crystal handle with a warded lock beneath it. You try to open it, but it’s locked. You notice a skeleton key on the floor in between the bottom crack of the door. You pick up the key & quickly appreciate the intricate design; three circles on the handle with accentuating grooves on both sides. You insert the rusty key into the dirty old lock You open the door, it's bright... too bright! Covering your eyes with your hand & walking forward, you vaguely try to make out what is in the room: the door slams shut behind you. It’s silent, but as you make your seventh step, you hear the floor creak beneath you while smelling a putrid stench. You see the shadow of a surgeon removing a brain tumor, but the patient is flatlining & dies. You run to the corner of the room & witness the newly deceased cadaver’s lungs being removed by the surgeon. With shock & revulsion, you gasp. Recognizing the old man from earlier! Lying there with a lifeless gaze, staring at you with an open chest cavity. You panic once his eyes lock with yours. His mouth moves, & desperately whispers “Help.”

You shriek with fear & search for the door you came from. You see a gleam of light, hoping it’s the crystal doorknob. You unfasten it immediately without doubt or hesitation, flinging it open with all your might. It slams open as you fall face first down the stairs.

Emotion

You get up from the fall still in a panic, memory intact. The room is pitch-black. The bar is gone, & you can only hear your own panicked breathing. Decades feel as if they fly by in the darkness. All of a sudden, different strobes of light flash before your eyes, making you feel a new emotion with each passing hue. You see the color red & feel angry; blue & feel thoughts of sorrow & regret. Yellow brings happy thoughts, pink creating feelings of love. Soon, all of the colors flash in unison to create a panic inside of you that’s too much to bear. You think to yourself “I want to die". The second this thought occurs, you see the outline of a purple door in the distance. You run, thinking you have to make it out of here no matter what. You open the door and find yourself back at…

Volumes

The stairs leading to the restaurant’s basement area. The door slams behind you & disappears. You run back to where your friends were, but everything looks different. The hills are an effervescent color of green, but give off a sense of darkness lingering deeper than ever before. You look at the mural on the wall & see that it's a portrait of three men on the beach surfing tsunami waves.

You feel a strange sense of déjà vu, & notice that the same people are staring at you as they did before. Talking, laughing, & now pointing in the opposite direction than last time. You can clearly understand the languages they’re speaking now: French, Japanese, Italian, & Arabic. You notice the difference in your interpretation but can't quite remember why it matters.

After searching the restaurant for a little, you conclude that you can't find anyone. You look back at the mural a second time; all the memories experienced in each place come flooding back. You panic & run to your old friend in the kitchen & scream "WHAT IS THIS PLACE?! How do I get the hell out of here?!?!" Saying nothing, he stares at you & points to the direction where you first came in; realizing the other people in the restaurant pointed to the same place, too.

You run towards the entrance & notice the stairs missing earlier are back. You climb down them, leading to a dark tunnel that doesn't seem to have an end. You sprint through it with all your stamina & hope for the best. Running in pitch black, not daring to stop or look back. Soon the memories of all that transpired become vague & dull; forgetting how each scenario played out. All you can remember is eating at a restaurant, petting a stranger’s cat, drinking out on the town, dancing to strobe lights, visiting your grandfather, & watching surgery videos at home on YouTube.

As your memories fade to these thoughts, you see an exit & feel a mighty gust of wind push you through the infinite tunnel. Within seconds, you’re thrown out of the mansion; landing in the cool grass outside. What just happened? Why did that happen? You feel you had a long day, & must have tripped on your way out of this strange building. You think to yourself "I should probably just go home & get some sleep; today has been rough." Withdrawing the mansion none the wiser of the events that happened. Leaving your memories behind, as well as the location of the mansion itself.