nicki (9) sat grumpily in his bed. 'it's only 8:30! why do i have to be in bed now!' he thought. he laid down, hitting his head on the backboard. "ow!" he mumbled. 'i should just try and sleep. god i wish i just woke up somewhere else! anywhere but this stupid place!' he thought, glaring at his closed eyelids. he slammed his head against his pillow and dozed off to sleep.

nicki thought he heard his alarm clock ringing, so he opened his eyelids. what he opened his eyes to, however, was anything but what he expected. he opened his eyes to a fully white room, similar to that of a solitary confinement room. the emergency red lights were flashing, but there was no alarm. an impossibly tall woman in a lab coat stood towering above nicki. she offered out a hand to help him up. he didn't take it and instead lifted himself up. "i'm ///// //////// from the ///// foundation. we've discovered an anomalous room and we'd like you to participate in the investigation of it. we'd just like you to walk through the door and explore it. you'll have an audio and video reciever on you at all times. if you'd like to leave the room, you can simply say 'let me out'." the woman said slowly and carefully, and almost soothingly. "if i die, you better be at my funeral." the young boy said.

"...and if you need anything, just consult /// ///////." she said, ushering nicki through the door. the moment he stepped through the door, it slammed shut behind him and the room shifted before his eyes. his vision blurred and cleared again, revealing an awfully familiar room. "mom, i told you i don't want a parrot! i want an elephant! no, i don't want a cheetah, i want an elephant!" a girl screamed. nicki stepped carefully through the hallways of the twisting and large house he just appeared in. he recognized that sentence. "and i don't want a kitty cat, i want an elephant." nicki said quietly as the girl screamed.

"this is my favorite book!" nicki whispered to himself. he rounded the corner to peek at the conversation nearby. the young girl held a kn!fe in her hands and seemed to be threatening her mother, who had a b//llet wound through her forehead. the wooden floorboard creaked under nicki's feet, and the young girl turned around to face him. her entire face was missing. in place of her face, was a knife carved smile with two vertical lines for eyes. ( =) )

nicki turned back to face the mother, who also had a carved smile in her face. "this isn't how i remember it..." nicki whispered. "let me out!!" nicki yelled, when he saw the young girl hold a kn//fe up at him. //// //////// responded quickly. "engaging teleporter system... recovering and unzipping video and audio files, shutting down the emergency lights... go!" she said in the background.

just as the young girl was swinging her kn//fe at him, nicki dematerialized and rematerialized in the white room he appeared in before. his audio and video gear disappeared instantaneously and he caught himself before he fell. "one more thing before i let you go... i have the book that apparently resembled the scene you just visited, and i'd like you to read through it." //// said, holding out a book to nicki.

he took it and flipped through the pages. "i swear this is not the right book. the book i remember, it was a cute little argument where they were arguing over which pet they wanted! the girl wasn't st//bbing her mom!" nicki yelled in disbelief as he reread the entire story that made his childhood. he looked up at ////, who now had a carved smile face, and b//ood was pouring out of each wound. =)

nicki wanted to scream.

and he woke up.

"that's not how i remember it." he whispered quietly.

he walked to the bathroom down the hall to take a quick walk. he locked the door behind him and stepped up to the sink. he splashed his face with water and closed his eyes. he opened his eyes, looking down at the sink. what he saw horrified him.

red. so much red. red dyed the whole sink. he looked up at the mirror and screamed.

=)