39.

Imagine the panic jumping in and consuming the calm, creating devastation from the outside in. Out calmly walking down the street, minding her own business, she suddenly becomes aware of all that the surrounds her. The daylight, the sounds of people going about their business, the near-by traffic, road works up ahead, all sounds which are ordinary at first until the moment when each sound magnifies, intensifies, with it all seemingly appearing out of the blue.

She has no idea how it is she came to be where it is she is. She should be home with her mother and sister but instead she is out on a street somewhere, and out on a busy street at that. She may be an adult, but she lives at home with family ... because there is a reason for this. This may be a present like moment ... but it is a memory too.

That's it, there is a problem with her memory, there has always been a problem with her memory. This moment she is stuck within, is from a time many months before she is to become known as Maggie and whether she is actually in this moment or reliving it or something else entirely, the panic just grows and takes her completely over.

This particular moment comes with the feeling that she was home one minute and here the next, which, if the truth were known, is not actually the truth. She came here and completely forgot that she did so. The outdoor sounds continue to intensify, louder and louder they become, and she begins to vocalize the pain.

An older lady approaches. 'Are you alright honey?' asks the older lady but this only adds to the disorientation, it only aids to the feelings of being lost and confused. It adds to the pain. 'Honey?'

'Go away' is what she wants to tell her, go away is what she wants to tell the world. If only it would all stop and let her be. This is all so horrible, so bad, so disturbing that she can't help but.

'It's OK. It's alright' speaks a male voice. 'I am with you ... it's alright Maggie ...'

She is back within Room 211 of The Mulberry Hotel and the voice speaking to her is that of William, a young lad she has get to know over the past few days. She remembers the past few days but nothing more than that ... well perhaps beside the moment she had become lost in, a moment she is sure has occurred at some time or other. If she remembered her sister and mother while in her zoned-out moment, that that memory has gone the instant she returned to the present.

There may have been other moments, many moments perhaps, moments of panic and short-term memory loss. What she cannot yet remember is that the moment she had recalled and other moments like it brought about a position where she would take up an eight bed within a large rectangular room, a room within which a song sung by another voice would go a long way in bringing back a sense of calm.

My Bonnie lies over the ocean,
My Bonnie lies over the sea.
My Bonnie lies over the ocean.
Oh bring back my Bonnie to me.

***

Out past the little reception area of the building which four of our eight have come to, there is a hallway and this hallway is darkness. Once into this hallway, it is indeed dark, not pitch dark as there is light either side of it. If there are any wall mounted lights out here or any other kind of lights, then they are either not powered on or they simply possibly do not work.

There hallway is not particularly long. It probably would take thirty seconds or so to walk through at a regular pace and there is indeed lighting of some sort on the other side but for some reason or another, Archer does not remember this hallway.

Before first making any arrival to ROOM 211 of The Mulberry Hotel, he would have had to come through this hallway from the far side so he could exit the building, but there is no memory of it, no memory of this area. He may not have been in his right mind enough to take it in, but still.

It could be reasoned or suggested with what is going on with the group. Memory loss could be affecting initial waking periods, or it could be possible that Archer wanted out so bad that he just didn't register this hallway in his mind as he did make what could be thought of as an escape from this building.

Sue does remember this hallway. She had been within this building so much longer than Archer had, well at least from the point of waking with memory loss. As we know, they both had woken here separately on Day One. For her, this hallway had potential for being a pathway for escape, but she had no torch on that occasion, neither did Archer though that did not impede him. Sue, however, had been in pain, quite a bit of pain in fact, she still is but not so badly in this current moment. If anything, her feet are healing a little quicker than what she would expect.

She didn't want to step on anything else that may have caused further damage to her feet on that previous occasion, but get through it, she eventually did and now she has foot ware and she has had some time to recover to some degree and there are torches now as there is also company.

This place still is kinda frightening as far as Archer is concerned though he will still venture forwards as once again there is company on this occasion. Archer heads into this hallway first while making sure the others are following. Bonnie and Sue do follow while Henry follows last. Being cautious, it takes a little more than thirty seconds to get from one side to the other and yeah, there is a little lighting on that other side.

A box-like room has been reached which contains a couple of benches and a few chairs. There are also three doors. This perhaps is some kind of waiting area ...? Sue remembers coming through and remembers heading through that hallway after some debate with herself. She remembers in this moment what is behind two of the doors.

Her heartbeat quickens as she does not want to imagine what occurred behind those doors. One door leads further into the building, behind another there is an office-like area and behind the third possibly a surgery or operating room. What would have gone on within here? Sue indeed remembers looking in here, but perhaps once she was free of the building, she possibly stopped thinking of it and put it out of her almost empty mind completely.

There is a group thought of as to what might have happened here, but no one wants to speak of it, no one wants to speculate, so quiet things remain. Looks between one another say it all, Bonnie is tempted to sing again but doesn't. There is an operating table like bed, with strapping to keep potential patients still. No one to consider as to if they each were subjected to anything in this room, especially if it occurred against their will.

For now, it will be on through the third door and then deeper into the building. It doesn't need to be said that caution remains. There may be other people in this building and if there are, then that will be dealt with at such a time as when it may come into play.

Another hallway is entered into and this one is well lit. It is possibly the most well-lit part of the building, especially after nightfall, right now is still quite early in the day. This hall is not all so thin either; there is plenty of width here unlike the previous hallway. Neither Archer nor Sue can remember seeing or being near anywhere so bright in this place. This area may have been darker at such a time they previously came through.

There probably has been need for room here in this part of the building for if any of the forgotten crew had been brought to the surgery area, with which they have already seen, then possible transport may have been needed down along here and the foursome will soon come another possible conclusion as to when this hallway is so wide.

About halfway down, there is a set of double doors, not so much a familiar set of double doors but double door all the same. Henry reaches forward in an attempt to open one side.

'Oh, don't bother. It's loc...'

Sue was about to say that door was locked as it had been locked when she last came this way, but Henry had it open before Sue could finish speaking. Her thoughts, however, turn to this could be interesting for maybe there could be something of potential interest beyond those doors. Henry moves on in and is quickly followed by Sue and Archer.

This room is large, quite large and it is lit by various windows all small and squared, closely spaced and high up. It is indeed large, a fair bit larger than another room of importance in this place and the brightness is as is again with it being so early in the day. On the negative side this room is empty and gray. The flooring is concrete and the walls up to and around the windows are composed of gray cinder block.

Evidence shows that this room hasn't always been this way. It is more than likely that there was machinery in here, equipment with some purpose or other but exactly what cannot even be guessed to, well maybe it can. Whatever was in here had something to do with the four people who have come here, and it had something to do with five others too.

Yeah, there are markings, dirt and stone gathered all over. Whatever went on here, it certainly went some of the way towards current conditions. There may not be much in here at this point in time but in looking around something is missing, ... and Henry notices first.

Taking a look around he almost finds it difficult to speak. 'Hey, where is Bonnie?'

Both Archer and Sue take a look behind them.

'Did she even come in here?' asks Henry upon which the trio head back out into the hallway.

There is no sign of her. It is quite possible that Bonnie did not go into that big room at all. Henry points to the left and Archer heads down that way and to the end to see what he may see, and Henry moves off to the right and down towards that end of the hall. There is no luck, no sign at all of Bonnie and the three-remaining aquatints return to the entrance of the room they had gone into.