When we get through the door we come to a screeching halt. I let go of Roman's hand.

"What is this?" I ask, my voice shaking.

'This' is a small room filled with a checkered pattern. Black and white. Everywhere. My vision starts messing up and I close my eyes for a moment to give them a rest. I open them back up and Roman is observing the four walls.

"Roman. What are we supposed to do here? Find a trap door or something?" I say sarcastically.

A small smile spreads across his face and he looks at me.

"Right. Exactly. These walls are just an illusion." He responds.

He walks across the floor and slides the toe of his boot over the ground lightly. He stops for a minute and stomps on the ground with his heel and I see a thick black line appear on the ground. I run over and grab the trap door, pushing it all the way open. I smile at Roman.

"You're smart."

"You're smarter. Go ahead." He motions for me to walk down the steps of the trap door.

I go down the steps as fast as I can and Roman follows me, leaving the trap door open. The room is so dark that we cant even see right in front of us. I feel on the walls, brick, for something that I could possibly light. I suddenly feel metal through the brick and I pick up the metal object. I stare at it hard, trying to figure out of its a torch or something. I feel Roman's hand glide over my booty and I jump. I grab his hand to keep him from grabbing anything else and I hold the object in front of his face.

"Can you see this?" I ask in the darkness.

He takes it from me and examines it as best as he can. 

"We cant use this to light anything, if that is what you're thinking." He answers.

I sigh and grab the thing from him, tossing it on the ground. With a loud 'clink' light appears in the darkness. We both turn around and I pick the object back up.

"I thought you said.." I start.

"It made a spark... we just need some wood or something that we can light when it sparks." He says pulling me in the direction he is going.

"Roman the walls are made of brick. The floor is concrete. I dont think there is any wood or paper around here." I say angrily.

"Trust me." he says simply.

I tighten my grip on his hand as he navigates around the darkness as if he can actually see. I almost trip and I lean down, dragging Roman with me, and pick up the object that I almost fell over. I almost drop it as it pierces my skin. I keep from screaming as I grit my teeth.

"I think I found a stick. A splintered stick." I say through gritted teeth.

"Okay all you need to do is hold the stick on the ground as I create another spark." Roman says.

I hold the stick near the ground and Roman bangs the object on the ground, creating a spark. The stick lights, but the fire goes out after a second. I scoff. Roman hits the object on the ground a few more times and finally the stick lights and stays lit. I sigh and hold it up. Roman takes the stick from me and places it inside of the metal object, some kind of torch holder and we navigate through the semi-darkness.

"What if we went the wrong way?" I ask.

"Then we will just turn around." Roman says nonchalantly.

His calmness is almost aggravating. We are on limited time and he is just making it seem like we have all day and night to do this. I take the makeshift torch from him as he slips his hair into a bun and my eyes get wide when there is a door at the end of the hallway.

"A door. " I say untrustingly.

"I wonder what is gonna pop up behind that door. Maybe a shark." Roman says, almost jokingly, but I know he is just as worried as I am.

We make our way to the door and Roman slowly reaches for the door knob.

"What if it burns you?" I say, worried.

"Then I hope there is some burn cream behind this door." He says, grabbing the knob. "It's fine."

He turns the knob quickly and opens the door a little bit. I peek inside and it's bright again. I sigh and walk inside. It looks like one of the rooms that we all sleep in. It has the huge mirror and the bed. I place the torch with the  holder on a hook by the door. Roman closes the door and throws his hands up. 

"Guess we're sleeping here." He says.

"Roman. Look." I point to the room across from us.

We both go closer to the glass. The people in that room... they look like me and Roman. I look at him and he just stares at the people in the other room.

"What is this? Is this a hologram or something?" He asks, weirded out.

I just shake my head, seeing what these clones are doing. Clone Roman sits on the bed, looking in a lot of pain and he takes off his white shirt, revealing bullet wounds and gashes in his otherwise perfect skin. I stare at Clone Roman. Is that what Roman's body looks like when his shirt is off? I resist the urge to ask him if they got the anatomy right when he stands up, punching the glass, but it doesnt budge. His muscles ripple behind the glass and I am suddenly fascinated. Clone Me walks over to him and grabs his arm gently. She turns him to the side to face her. She takes some tweezers and takes one bullet out of a bullet wound. I cringe at the sight and she drops the tweezers on the perfectly white ground, tainting it. I forget that the real Roman is next to me as we are both engulfed in this crazy scene. They are saying something to each other, but we cant hear them. Clone Me slides her hands up and down Clone Roman's large arms and he pulls her into him. My eyes get wide at that action and suddenly, they kiss. We both pause and cut our eyes at each other at the same time. What is this supposed to be?

Before the tension can get any thicker, I back up, my back hitting the wall and I take off running towards the glass, throwing myself through the glass. I feel it shatter around me and right before I experience more pain than I probably ever have before, Roman catches me. I open my eyes, the ground not that far from my legs. I feel Roman loosen his grip he has on my mid-section. I plant my feet firmly on the ground and Roman lets go of me. He hops down from the glass-less room and stands next to me, brushing glass off of his pants. I do the same. I look around and I feel Roman taking some glass out of my hair. I look at him and we lock eyes as he tosses some glass to the side.

"Thank you." I say quietly.

"That was crazy. But brave. Did you know the glass was going to break?" he asks.

I turn around, avoiding his gaze. "No. I was hoping." I was actually hoping that I would hit the glass so hard that it would knock me out and I wouldnt have to see that scene anymore. It was... embarassing.

We silently decide not to talk about what we saw as we walk across the platform through double doors and into a room full of... lazers. I resist the urge to drop to the ground and give up so I just groan deeply and turn to look at Roman.

"We've been doing this for hours." I whine.

Roman looks through the double doors at a large digital clock. "It's been fifteen minutes. We're doing fine. We just need to find a way to deactivate these lazers. I may be... flexible, but Im way too big to get around this like you can. This is what we're going to do. You navigate your way around these lazers and on the other side there must be some kind of shut off switch. Deactivate it and then I can get through." He explains.

I nod. Seems simple enough. I get low enough so I can see where all of the lazers cross. I tuck my ponytail in the back of my shirt and start sliding, flipping, and gliding through all of the lazers. I guess Im more flexible and graceful than I thought. I get to the end of the room with the second set of double doors and there is nothing there.

"Roman! There is no switch! No button or anything!" I yell.

"Alright. Go through the doors. It has to be on the other side!" He yells back.

I press the big red button to open the double doors and indeed there is a shut-off switch for the lazers. I press it and yell to Roman. After a few minutes he isnt in the room. I go back to the doors and press the button, opening them up.

"Roman! Come on! I pressed the shut-off switch!" I yell.

"I cant hear you in that room! I need you to give me a signal." He answers.

I run back into the room and try to find something that I could use to give him a signal. I kick stuff around and push stuff over frantically. I find a flashlight and click it on and off. That'll work. I hit the shut-off switch and click the flashlight on and off through the window of the double doors. After a minute I run to the door, opening it. Roman is stuck in the middle of the lazers. My eyes get wide.

"They're timed!" I yell, panicking.

"Just cut it back off!" He yells back.

I cut it off again and flash the lights. I run back to open the doors and Roman jumps into the room with me before the lazers pop up again. He is breating heavily as he gets up, brushing off his clothes. I look around the room. It's some kind of control room. There are so many switches and buttons around here. I dont know what they do or how they can help us in any way. Roman looks around, holding his arm. I touch his hand and he backs up.

"Dont worry about it. Let's figure out which button to press." he says, walking past me.

"Roman you heard what she said. It's not gonna take long for this medicine to wear off and when it does, that is one more injury for you to have to worry about." I say to him, concerned.

"Then we need to get out of here as quickly as possible." he says, examining the buttons.

"That is not a flesh wound. Let me see if I can do something to it." I say.

He removes his hand slowly and the smell of scorched flesh fills my nose and I cover my eyes. Wow that looks really bad. It's deep too. I open my eyes and slowly bring my finger to the burnt flesh. It's so hard and warm. His skin has been tainted, blues, blacks, reds, and purples cover his otherwise perfectly tan skin. I remove my fingers and rip the piece of his shirt that is hanging from his arm. I tie it around his wound, as gently as possible and he grimaces. 

"If that gets infected, you're screwed." I say simply, going back to to the buttons.

"Thanks. Okay so I think our best bet is this yellow button right here." he says.

"Why? Because it's not a big red button?" I ask.

"No. Because the way these are wired, it's the only one that leads to something in this room. Whatever that is." He explains.

"Okay. Hit it." I say.

He hits the yellow button and we wait for something to open or for anything to happen at all. Nothing does. I sigh. 

"Well let's pick a different button. We dont have time for malfunctioning buttons. We could be in here for hours!" I say, panicking.

Roman observes the room again and just as he is about to hit another button, I feel a powerful wind jerk me back. Roman grabs my hand and holds on for dear life. The wind drags both of us out of the room. I latch on to Roman's wrist as my vision is filled with flying wires, dirt, and smoke. My stomach drops repeatedly and just as I feel like I cant take it anymore..

Concrete.

I squeeze my eyes as they are shut, trying to mask the pain. I feel like I cant move and Roman's hand is still resting in mine. I lay for a moment, getting the will to get up. Roman's hand  moves from it's spot and pulls me up, making me open my eyes. I get to my feet and I can feel the pain. The medicine is wearing off, plus, we just fell on solid concrete. I look at Roman and he doesnt look so good anymore. 

"We have got to get out of here right now." I say weakly.

Roman walks slowly around the place. It's all white, as usual, but the ceiling is very high. At least 20 feet high. Is that where we fell from? Roman tightens his grip on my hand and starts running, dragging me behind him, towards the only door in this room. After a few minutes, I feel like we arent getting anywhere. Why does the door look like its further away now? I stop running and pull Roman's arm.

"It's an illusion. We will be running for hours and never reach that door." I say, out of breath.

"How are we supposed to leave if the door is unreachable?" He says, frustrated.

"It's like a mirage. We have to find something in this room that isnt an illusion. If you can touch it, you can open it." I explain.

We split up, trying to find the truth in this illusion. We run around the whole room and we're just wasting time. Suddenly, a digital clock drops from the seemingly 20 foot high ceiling. We've been running around this building for 30 minutes. 

"Roman! The ceiling!" I yell, realizing what is going on.

"What about it?" He says.

"It's an illusion!" I say happily.

He raises his eyebrow. "So?"

"Reach your hand up." I say.

He reaches his hand up and his hand slides over the ceiling, that we thought was 20 foot tall. His eyes get wide. "That is some crazy shit." 

"Push it!" I yell. 

He pushes the wall as hard as he can and it flies away from the rest of the walls, effortlessly. I frown. What is going on? The walls all fall at the same time, revealing.. a dessert. I slowly walk over to Roman and grab his hand. We look all around us.

"She doesnt want us to get out." I say, almost crying.

"Angel no. It's just another illusion!" Roman yells over the wind.

I reach down and sink my fingers into the sand. I grab a handful and let is slip through my fingers, falling into the endless piles of sand. I fall to my knees, releasing my grip on Roman's hand. He kneels down, trying to get me to meet his gaze.

"Angel! Angel come on we dont have time we need to get out of here! We will find a way!..."

I drown out his pep talk and I mentally sink into the sand, letting it overtake me. I am tired of playing these games with her. Im tired of it all. I feel Roman's grip on me tighten as he wraps his arms around my mid-section. Why is he hugging me? I focus my eyes on him and my surroundings and his warning I can hear perfectly why he is panicking.

"Quicksand!" He yells just in case I wasnt listening.

I start to panick, moving my body around so I can force myself back onto the top layer of sand. My arms are the only thing above ground as I slip under. I hold my breath, my lungs hurting as I slowly slip farther under the quicksand. I wish this 'quicksand' would be a lot quicker. The sand is heavy on my body, forcing the air from my lungs faster than normal. I feel like a ton of sand is sitting on my chest and then suddenly, it all goes away. I feel light as a feather. I take a deep breath as I am falling to the ground. I see my life flash before me. I dont know how far I am from the ground, but I can feel it approaching fast. The light at the top of the room comforts me as I take my last breath. I feel the ground in my grasp and then..

Arms.

Someone caught me. I breathe heavily, knowing for sure I was gonna die, and Roman is looking up as he holds me in his arms. I look up and the ceiling.. is low. The sand has disappeared. He puts me down and I run over to the door, kicking it down. In the other room is that bitch, her brother, and one of the security guards. She smiles at us.

"Well done! I knew you would not let me down! Record time too! Only took you 35 minutes. Usually it takes a few hours, but that's why you two are my leaders." She claps, happily.

Roman limps over to me and I feel my whole body get hot with rage. I lunge at her, ready to take her life, and Roman holds me back.

"You bitch! You could have killed us! Do you have any idea what we just went through?!" I yell at her.

"Of course I do. We were all watching. You were brave and strong and confident. You knew what was at stake and you still managed to fly through our little... obstacle course." She responds.

"Obstacle Course! This wasnt a fuckin-" Roman covers my mouth and looks at her.

"What was the point of all of this?" He says calmer than he probably is.

"It was a test. And you passed with flying colors. From here on out, you will be treated with respect and class, because you have earned it. You are our leaders! Just... dont defy me again." She says, a warning tone.

~~~.~~~