A dull warmth wraps around me like a soothing coat, the low hums and thumps of machinery reverberating from somewhere nearby. They sound odd, drowned out and muffled as the noises struggle to make it through the walls of wherever I was.
I try to remember exactly what had happened to me, what I had been doing and most importantly where I was.
Thinking feels almost painful, the sluggish response making finding each thought feel like walking uphill in an intense and overbearing heatwave. It takes me far to long to notice the lack of light, and even longer to notice the fact I can't move or even feel my arms or legs.
A slow and creeping panic slips into my dulled mind, the lack of my limbs soon becoming punctuated by another more terrifying thought.
"I can't breathe" I groan inside my head, the panic building more and more as begin to try and focus on my missing body. "I... my heart.. it's..." I continue, the realization that I can't feel my heartbeat any more washing over me like icy wave.
Suddenly I hear a little chime, the cheery tone echoing through the warm and cozy space easily over the low mechanical hum. The chime is definitely familiar, having heard it every time I went to the laundry these past few months.
It was the telltale greeting of the Auto-Closet.
Rachel had purchased the thing a few months back, dropping an unimaginable amount of money on picking up a top of the line model. As our landlord and the owner of the building, the aging woman had placed it in the laundry room in the back in he hopes of claiming it as a business expense.
For the most part people left it alone, with only the matronly woman using it for a little nip here and tuck there. The slouch in her back was suddenly gone one day, her white and grey hair becoming fresh and rejuvenated the next. Despite these minor changes we all knew it could do more, the multi-million dollar machine having a near impenetrable series of sub-menus full of options that no one really had the time to paw through.
The value of the thing only really caught our attention as residents when Alex Jennings had, in a stupor caused by lack of sleep, stuck his hand in the garbage disposal in search of his engagement ring. In a panic, missing several of his fingers, he had raced into the Auto-Closet with a trail of blood and bone following him.
In only a matter of minutes the device had diagnosed the problem and staunched the bleeding before, over the course of another hour, rebuilding his severed digits. From that day onward we all saw the bump in our rents less as Rachel simply wanting to offset her purchase, but as a form of insurance in case of any future injury.
And for someone else, something more came to mind...
"He.. ake..." comes a voice, the source coming in and out as it struggles to break through wherever I'd been trapped.
Another chime soon rings out, the delightful tune quickly being followed by a series of beeps as a nearby touch screen is pressed over and over. The rumbling and humming around me quickly picks up, a harsh light soon creeping into view.
I try to cry out in pain, the shift from pure darkness to even just a sliver of bright light causing my unprotected eyes to burn while they struggle to adjust. The world is tinted a subtle green, the sight of the laundry room lined with washers and driers slowly coming into view from the heavily blurred mess.
The sight is hard to parse as the room looms at large over me. I'm only a few inches from the floor, my view bobbing slightly in the green haze.
Suddenly, a shadow is cast over me as someone moves beyond my view. With a gasp from the stranger I'm forced to watch as a downright giant seeming foot nudges me. The foot impacts something before it can touch me, a think pane of glass separating us as I'm slowly turned to face them.
It sudden comes to me, the last few memories before being here. I had been doing my laundry, just like usual, though with the looming form of the Auto-Closet sitting in the corner. Usually it was sealed up, waiting for some sort of order of interaction to open.
However, this time it was simply open to the world. I could see inside for the first time, the smooth metal surface inside hiding all manner of tools beneath the shiny plates. The floor was covered in a metal grate, allowing for blood and viscera to fall away to enable easy cleaning.
As I had ducked my head inside, checking out the ominous device for the first time, something had bumped me from behind and pushed me inside. The doors had sealed shut almost immediately, darkness overcoming me before I even had a chance to call out.
"Oh wow..." mutters the stranger, my hazy vision slowly struggling to see them towering over me. After a short moment they snap into view as I find myself staring up at...
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