A Start

The lights were brighter than he imagined when he walked down the white hallway. There was the slightest hum coming from the machines evenly spaced down the way. The hum would almost breach its comfortable din when he walked past them, but would settle down until he walked by the next. They all appeared to be in use.

The machines, or hubs, as he’d been told at the entrance, were as white as the walls, but had a gloss finish. The lights’ reflections slid across the hubs in pace with his steps. His steps, and the steps of the one before him, were the only sounds that broke the hum of the hall’s machines.

The hall seemed to be endless, but the boy’s guide stopped between two hubs before the boy could be lost in the hall of white. The boy might as well have been lost when the guide walked toward an empty wall. But when the guide placed his hand on the wall a digital number and word appeared. It seemed they’d stopped at room 425B and under the blue numbers was the word ‘CLEAR’. When the guide tapped the wall again it seemed to gasp and collapse backward in the shape of a doorway. The guide gestured him inside.

When he entered he was surprised to find the sustained hum of the machines had subsided and all he could hear was the doorway closing back behind him. What surprised him even more was that the room he just entered was no more than the size of his own bedroom and had a much dimmer and greyer tone than that of the hall he had entered from.

There was one hub in this room, right in the center. It had more of a metallic finish, but reflected the light all the same. The guide again placed his hand down, but this time he placed on the hub. It gasped just as the door had and split around its middle. The top half rose up and slid back to reveal a comfortable looking seat. The guide gestured again before activating something on a blank wall causing a digital keyboard to appear like the room number outside.

While the guide continued to type, the boy found his way into the seat, finding it much more comfortable than he first thought. Before entering the hub he made sure to investigate the machine. It was rounded, mostly towards the top and became wider at its base. Four cylindrical columns seemed to be grafted to the corners of the base. One very large and wide cord came out from the front of the hub and curved directly into the ground. There was one similar on the back of the device. It was exactly like the ones in the white hallway, the metallic finish being the only noticeable difference.

As he got more comfortable in his seat the boy noticed that the room was much warmer than the hallway was. The dim light and warmth of the room made the boy drowsy, sinking deeper into the chair. He had never felt so comfortable.

The guide had finished typing and walked to the edge of the hub to see if the boy was situated. Once confirmed the guide placed their hand again on the hub causing it to gasp like before —softer this time— and it began to close around the boy. Lights came on inside the hub as it closed and the soft thump it made didn’t bother the boy at all. Everything seemed to be in place to keep him as comfortable as possible. A screen appeared inside the machine that showed the guide standing by the keyboard.

As the boy’s reality began to shift he heard the guide say the same as he did when the boy walked in, “Welcome to the museum.”