"What is this place?" I asked the thin, rather musty air. I couldn't remember how on earth I had gotten there. I had never seen this place before. 

There wasn't much light wherever I was, but with the little light there was I could see that I was in a dark, circular room with no windows. There was absolutely nothing in this gray, dark room, other than a closed door a few yards in front of me. That seemed to be where the sliver of light was coming from. Since there was no other way out, I headed over to the door and opened it. For a second I was blinded-- there were lights all along the ceiling of the place I entered. 

Once my sight came back, I noticed a few more things. I was in a corridor. That was the first thing I noticed. Other than the door I just came out of, the corridor was empty. Though, judging from the slight absence of dust on the floor, people had gone through this corridor fairly recently. At the far right end of the corridor, there was a sharp turn to the left, which seemed to be headed... outward. The other end of the corridor turned right—so both ends of this corridor turned inward, in the same direction. But it seemed that the end on the right headed out—as if it was the out-going way of a coil.

I wondered what to do next. Should I head out, or should I try to explore more of where I was? Should I find out where I was, or try to escape? I almost favored exploring, but then a horrible thought struck me. What if this was a never-ending coil? Or a trap? Or what if... what if this was a coiling maze, what if I got lost? What would happen then? What if there was no way of escape? What if I was stuck here forever? What if—then I stopped myself. There was no reason to panic. I shouldn't be thinking this way, I should be trying to escape back to my family.

Woah. I blinked. My family. That triggered something in my brain, and a flood of memories came back. How had I gotten here in the first place? I had a normal life, a normal family, and was having a normal day shopping in a mall with my family—oh. In a mall with my family. I searched my brain, trying to figure out what had happened, on my last day of normality. I vaguely remembered something about a brain store--something about little brain games, a mini maze, my family separating, and—oh! The mini maze and the cashier! How could I have forgotten? He took me into the back room, and--. The flood of memories, just as suddenly as they came, disappeared. I couldn't remember anything more. What was I missing? What had happened, to bring me here? Had I fallen unconscious, and this all was actually a dream?

Suddenly I was aware of noises other than my thumping heartbeat and racing breath. What was it—a slight murmuring noise? Voices, far away? Soft footsteps? But, from which direction did they come? Left, towards the center of the spiral--or whatever it was that I was in?

Which way should I choose to go? Towards those voices, where I might be able to ask what on earth is going on? Or to the right, possibly towards a way out? I was pulled by both choices. I wanted to escape--but if I did, how would I know what this place was, or how I had gotten here? 

But if I went towards the voices, perhaps they could tell me how I got here and where I was.

My "want to know" overruled. So I chose to go further into this spiral thing. A little voice inside my head suggested that the voices might not be friendly voices, but I pushed that thought aside. I wanted to know, I wanted to understand.

* * *

After seemingly walking for hours in a constant spiral, the voices finally became louder. The air seemed clearer, and felt nicer to breathe. I passed several more closed doors, scattered throughout the massive spiral. There were more noises--of conversations, of breathing, of footsteps, and even of music, rare as that was. I wondered what kind of place this was, that could have normal everyday noises, but was most definitely not normal. What kind of people lived here? If they even were people. And how did they get here? Just like me? Unknowing and uncertain?

As I wandered further, I came across another one of the random rooms. Loud voices sprang out from it, starting so suddenly that I jumped a foot off the ground and nearly had a heart attack. I couldn't understand a word of what they were saying, though. It was like English, but not quite the same. I strained my ears to try and hear what they were saying.

"Ner! Iz impozeevl! Notz all wumerz ar twu. Notz a bozzy haz beeen he since zuh..." Whoever was talking said a word I didn't understand. I heard another voice interrupt insistently.

"Yew mih nohn zink zo, buz lem may tell ther thiz—Ringzleheimer toldz mee," it said impressively. There was a gasp—or at least that's what I took it as. It sounded as though they were choking.

"Ner!! How didz he te'en yew ziz?! 'E 'az bin—" but someone shushed him, and they started again, quieter than before. I took a step closer to the door to hear what they were saying. 

But then the voices stopped. My heart stopped along with it, and I held my breath lest I make a noise. I couldn't hear anything for a breathtaking minute. Should I run or should I stay perfectly silent? My body decided for me in its frozen state. 

There was nothing for a long, excruciating minute. Then I heard ever so slight a rattle on the doorknob.

"Shh!!! Ner! What if itz Ringzleheimer?!" Instantly the noise stopped, and it sounded like everyone in the room had reorganized themselves. I very nearly collapsed. My heartbeat and breathing restarted. My head swam from not breathing that long. I laid my hand on the wall to steady myself. Sure, this normally only happens in books, but it is a completely different story when it actually happens to you. Also, my life apparently is not normal. At least not anymore.

After a few moments of calming down, I moved on. I couldn't understand much of what they were saying anymore, and I definitely did not want that to happen again. But as I quietly rushed forward, I wondered yet again what kind of creatures lived here, and why they spoke the way they did. And how long had they been here? How long had this maze been here? Where even was it? I couldn't think of answers right then, but I promised I would find out.