Chapter 2 - Years Ago

After some time, I feel my consciousness slowly returning, the darkness in my eyes fading as I collect my bearings. My vision is blurry, but… I think I see someone… looking down at me…?

“Y- you’re awake! Oh, thank god, I… I was so worried you wouldn’t make it-”

“Who… huh..? What happened?”

“Well… I heard a loud crashing noise, and I ran to go see what it was, and I managed to pry the elevator doors open and get you out. I mean… you’re really lucky to be alive, freefalling from such a height…”

In a daze, I slowly sit back up.

“...Where am I?”

“Um..! I don’t know how you even got down here, considering this place was abandoned so long ago… but you're at the bottom floor of Cedar Laboratories, floor 10. At least what remains of it.”

My eyes lighten up and a rush of excitement flows through me.

“So I was right! This place is some huge abandoned lab! Has anyone else ever explored this place? Maybe I’m the first! Who are you? Are you one of the scientists? How come you’re still down here? What happened to this place?”

“Ah– T- That’s a lot of questions… Um, I’ll just start simple. My name is Calliope. You’re right, I am one of the scientists of this place, but, um…”

She adjusts her glasses and sighs.

“I kind of got left behind. It’s… a long story about what happened, but out of fear that our research and experiments would soon be uncovered and that the public would find out what we’ve created, the company behind these operations shut down and covered up everything immediately in a panic. That’s why this place has barely been touched…”

I look around, and the entire place looks like your typical laboratory, despite the clutter and dim, flickering lights above.

“How’d you get left behind?”

“...There’s another series of working elevators all the way on the other side of this floor, but they need an employee ID to use them. When everyone was fleeing, I was the last one to make it out, but I dropped mine through the small gap between the elevator and the floor, and, um… I never got out. I tried for hours to find a way to retrieve it or look for a different ID somewhere, but… I never had any luck.”

“An employee ID? When I got here, I found this on the ground next to the elevator, and didn’t think much of it…”

I rummage through my pockets and hand Calliope the strange object I found.

“T- that’s it! That’s an employee ID! We could use this to escape, but…”

“I haven’t told you about the other floors, have I…”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“They’re significantly more dangerous than this one. I mean, this is just one of our research floors that contained mostly employees, so there’s nothing too dangerous here, but if everything was truly left behind like I was told, then… who knows what the other floors could be like? There could be dangerous chemicals everywhere or entities that broke containment, and… Oh, geez… It’s hopeless, isn’t it? It’s probably much safer down here, but…”

“...This really isn’t a place for someone like you. You’re so young, and getting yourself trapped in a place like this, I… It only makes me feel even worse that I can’t do much to help.”

She sighs and leans against the wall, anxiously picking at her nails. I realize what I’ve gotten myself into and my troubling situation begins to set in.

“It’s not your fault… I was a little reckless and went exploring this place not realizing how dangerous it was…”

“You’d think they’d do a better job of hiding it, huh? What a joke this whole place was. Even now things still manage to constantly go wrong. So many scientists died here because they were so careless. All they wanted was data and results, and I guess in the end they paid the price. Well, not actually, because they never got caught for it. But still. So many people went missing, and their families never saw them again…”

I rummage through my bag to retrieve my camera, and out of luck, it’s still intact.

“I want to try to get out of here. I know it’s dangerous, but… someone has to bring all of this to light! Someone has to, I don’t know, bring justice or whatever! It’s a good thing I brought my camera with me…”

“Y- you did? Here, take one of me! I’m sure people have been looking for me for years, and even if you don’t make it far… I want at least someone to know I was still alive here, waiting. I don’t want to be another person who disappeared one day and never came back…”

I grab my camera and snap a photo of her.

“Thank you… Oh, right! I forgot to ask for your name, sorry...”

“I’m Hazel! No need to apologize, haha… I should probably be the one apologizing for getting stuck down here.”

There’s a quiet pause between us.

“I think I’m just happy to see another person again. And even if your chances of survival might be slim… I feel a little hopeful again.”

“Oh! And before you go…”

She points to a bunch of file cabinets across the walls.

“I’m supposed to say that these are classified, but… I don’t think it matters anymore. Take as many pictures as you’d like. The more evidence you have, the better, I suppose.”

I peer over the files, intrigued.

“Oooh, interesting! I’m going to be here a while…”

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