Free A Step to Nowhere by Natasha A. Salnikova Page A

There would be no one with her. She was going to be absolutely alone. I also had a lot of unfinished tasks at work. Who was going to take my place?”
    God, what am I thinking about? What work?
    The hallway seemed endless. There were transparent, round lamps under the ceiling and nothing else. The floor was as smooth as an ice rink. I slid many times in my socks, but hadn’t fallen. I thought we were going to walk forever, but after another turn Brown-eyes yelled to stop.
    There was hissing on the left and the door went up.
    “Go in,” the man said.
    What was I supposed to do? I went in.
    The room didn’t have corners and the ceiling was dome-shaped. There were two arched, narrow beds by the far wall, some strange machines close by. One wall of the room was made of mirror glass, which probably meant that behind that wall was another room and people inside that room were watching what was going on here. What was going on here anyway? What kind of show was this?
    My knees buckled when I noticed metal rings on the beds. I didn’t doubt why I was brought here. My pride cheated on me. I turned to Brown-eyes and clenched his arm.
    “I didn’t do anything. Let me go! If you hadn’t kidnapped me, I wouldn’t even know about your damn world. I’m not going to tell anyone!”
    Yes, it’s a shame, but I begged. Almost.
    The man gazed at me indifferently and pressed a button on his remote slash brain bursting device. He was looking at me, but he didn’t see me.
    “I’m not the first one?” I asked.
    No answer.
    Brown-eyes looked at the robots on his left, then the robots on his right (I couldn’t associate them with people), then two of the men approached me and dragged me to the beds. Dragged me. Roughly, twisting my arms.
    I didn’t have time to think about it, to understand what was going on. I was pushed onto the hard bed with some kind of rolls in the knee area, so my legs bent. Then robots pulled out something like racks from under the bed and suspended me on them. They stretched my arms out and enclosed them in the rings. The same happened to my legs. Two other robots rolled a cylindrical apparatus to my head. It was as tall as a middle height man and speckled with buttons, tubes and levers. Then, everyone left and I stayed alone inside the cold, gray room, with metal rings squeezing my wrists and ankles. I observed ten lamps under the ceiling situated in a circle. I breathed hard through my mouth and clenched and unclenched my fists.
    Probably some people, in certain circumstances, imagined themselves facing death. What would they feel, do, how would they act? What would they do in those last seconds? Would they pray, curse, beg to let them go? I wanted to use the restroom. I became weak and sluggish like a worm. My bladder became weak too and suddenly I was afraid to pee in my pants more than to die. I didn’t want to die with my pants wet and a puddle under the bed. I also thought about my makeup and hair. When they took my lifeless body off the table, they would look at my smeared mascara and hair in knots.
    So, am I really going to die? Now? Just like that? Snap of fingers and I’m gone?
    I had never thought about dying young. I hadn’t thought about my future or my death at all. Unlike me, my fate was moving forward, making plans for me, bringing me to the final line. Other people had died young, and some died suddenly, why not me ? I just had to try harder to not wet my pants, so I could die with dignity.
    What about my mom? My friends, my aunts and uncles, cousins? What about Jason? He loves me. He loves me and not some dead girlfriend or whatever.
    Piece of crap, bastard, son of a bitch. I hated Ray. How could he do this to me? Well, he apparently could. Because he didn’t care about me. Now I was going to die, but at least he could one more time …
    The door hissed. I raised my head as far as I could. My neck strained, my back wrenched, but I saw a person in a gray robe over gray overalls. He wore