Indolent Nature

The sound of an alarm blared across the hallway.

"Awaken experimentees. Your afternoon scheduled meal preparation will be provided in five minutes. Following this will be another set of testing. Be prepared." The voice spoke through an intercom along each room down the hall.

Ian groaned. He rolled around in his bed. His body was exhausted. His mind was exhausted. He wanted to stay under the covers and sleep.

The sound of doors opening led up to his room. An Angel walked in, plopping down a plate of food at the foot of his bed. The Angel walked towards the opposite side of the room, plopping down another plate of food at the foot of another bed. The Angel then walked out, keeping the door open.

The food was always the same. Even though he hadn't eaten since last night, Ian had no appetite to eat. He knew they were putting who-knows-what in there. Everyone was aware of that. Yet he seemed to be the only one conscious of what they were eating. The overseers said it contained 'specific ingredients' that would benefit the results of their experiments, but that only made Ian more paranoid. Either that, or he just didn't care enough to even try for good results anymore.

"Sedia, are you gonna eat that?"

Ian rolled onto his right side to face the one who asked. Across the room, sitting on another bed like his, was a well-built six-footer holding an empty plate. He pointed at the plate of food below Ian's bed.

"Don't call me by my last name," Ian said, irritated.

"Is that a yes?"

Ian exhaled in disgust. "Go ahead."

The six-footer walked over, picked up the plate, then brought it back to his bed. He began munching down.

"This is why you smell like ass," Ian said under his breath.

"What was that, Sedia?"

"Fuck off Luca."

Ian rolled back to face the wall, attempting to continue sleeping. This was immediately interrupted by another announcement through the built-in intercoms.

"Proceed towards your designated chambers for testing. Tests will commence in 10 minutes."

Ian groaned again. He didn't want to get up at all. He felt glued to the bed, and so with that, he was planning to stay there.

"Sedia, lets go to our chamber. Experiments are starting soon."

"No." Ian was quick to reject.

The six-footer sighed and walked out of the room. Ian was now left at peace.

He closed his eyes once more to indulge in his desire to sleep. His only incentive was to not do anything at all. He didn't care if these experiments were supposed to 'reform' him. He was comfortable with who and how he was now. He didn't feel like putting any effort in wanting to change.

Ian eventually dozed off, engulfed by the drowsy sensations that was sleep. But for the third time now, his snooze was interrupted. The intercom voice spoke once again, this time directed at Ian.

"Ian Sedia. Make your way to your designated chamber to begin your testing otherwise consequences will be inflicted. Your roommate Gian-Luca Yvox will also be penalized alongside your doing."

Ian stared at the ceiling. It was a mesmerizing pure white. He didn't want to get up and go somewhere he didn't want to go. He didn't want to get up and do something he didn't want to do. The only place he wanted to be was in bed, and sleeping. He closed his eyes.

Fallen within desire.

Time passed, more time than he initially thought. His eyes unraveled the darkness he sought, back to the bright white ceiling. He rubbed his eyes, forcing himself awake. Looking aside, he immediately noticed the person standing next to his bed. He wore a sleek white uniform top over black pants. His black hair was cut short and fell as bangs over his forehead. The familiar look struck Ian with surprise. It was Gabriel, one of the Seven Overseers.

He sighed. "How many times do I have to call you on the intercom?"

Ian stared at him blankly.

"Everyone's two hours into their testing and you haven't even exited your room."

Ian's realization quickly kicked in.

"You will receive punishment for your disobedience of orders by being held in the Cell of Solitude until further notice. Gian-Luca Yvox has already been penalized in accordance to being your roommate. He now suffers physical injures imposed by the extra burden of testing you didn't do."

Ian didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. He didn't even know if he should be speaking back at all.

"Two Angels will come retrieve you and bring you to the Cell of Solitude."

Gabriel turned around and began walking away, but suddenly stopped, his back still facing Ian.

"And if you disobey orders once again," the back of Gabriel's uniform suddenly shifted, revealing a large span of white carbon fiber wings that emitted a blue hue, "you will be painfully judged."

The stretch of artificial wings quickly retracted back into Gabriel's uniform, leaving it as if it hadn't even been touched. He then officially walked out of the room, leaving Ian behind in awe.

Shortly after, before Ian could even recollect his thoughts, two Angels walked straight into his room. They approached him quickly, aggressively grabbing each of his arms and pulling him along out of the room.

The Cell of Solitude? Ian thought to himself. He found himself unexpectedly happy at the name itself. Solitude, that's what Ian wanted. He just wanted to be left alone, left untouched. A place where he could do nothing and be unbothered.

How's this a punishment? He thought.

Turning into a more dim hallway, he was still being pulled along by the two Angels. Approaching the end of the hallway, the sound of yelling could be heard coming from one of the doors. The door had a small head-height window in which an excessively bright beam of white light shone through. The sight was comparable to that of a thick white laser.

"Is someone already being held in the Cell of Solitude?" An Angel asked the other.

"We should ask."

The closer they approached the door, the louder the yelling got. It sounded as if whoever was yelling had completely lost their mind. It had no specific emotion to it. It wasn't of sadness, nor madness, nor excitement. It was just a monotone state of yelling.

Ian was bothered. "Is that coming from the Cell of Solitude?"

"Yes." One of the Angels replied. The confirmation unsettled Ian.

Walking past the door that beamed a bright white, they knocked on a door next to it labeled "Control Room".

The door was opened by a man holding a pen and clipboard.

"What?" He asked.

"Overseer Gabriel sent us to contain subject Ian Sedia inside the Cell of Solitude-"

"Oh no no no no," the Angel was interrupted. A man with sleek glasses walked up to the door.

"Can't you already tell? We already have a subject inside. Just listen to the joyful sounds of his senselessness. He's completely lost it," the Overseer smiled.

"Our apologies Overseer Raphael, we just wanted to confirm and make sure."

"No no no, it's no problem. Just unfortunate timing right? Is Mr. Sedia over here supposed to be penalized for his absence in testing? I heard those announcements."

"Yes sir," an Angel replied.

"That's alright, leave him to me. You Angels can return to your units."

The two Angels walked off, back down the hallway.

"Huh?" Ian was confused.

"Come inside Mr. Sedia, you can observe the Cell of Solitude from here."

Unsettled, Ian walked into the room, past the man with a pen and clipboard.

"Close the door for me, will you Matthew?"

He closed the door behind him.

Ian looked around. The room was tight, and had a single set of control panels against a wall with a slanted window.

Must be one of those one-sided mirrors, Ian thought to himself.

"Come here, you can observe the contained subject through the glass," Raphael said, waving Ian over.

Ian walked over and looked through the window that slanted down. He could see nothing but bright white light that engulfed his sight.

"Hope your Resistor's not expired. Otherwise you'd be burning your pupils out right now," Raphael laughed.

Ian continued to look. Slowly but surely the bright white started to fade, and his eyes adjusted to the brightness. There inside a deep circular pit, stood a subject. His expression was absolutely faded, fixed on one look in which looked erased. He stood still, his mouth wide open, yelling frantically without sense.

"Hasn't even been a full day yet, but he's already lost it. He still has a day to go!" Raphael grinned.

Ian watched with concern at what looked like the shell of a human. A hollow being filled with nothing but the voice he constantly yelled.

"You were supposed to undergo this Mr. Sedia, aren't you jealous?"

Ian turned his head to look at Raphael who asked. The overseer smiled.

Ian felt an unsettling fear begin to rise. A kind he'd never felt before.

"If our subject hadn't already been scheduled for this cell, you could've been that person right there."

He looked back at the vegetable in solitude.

"The white light so bright would've not only taken over your entire sight, but your sanity too. He not only sees nothing but white, but is one with the white; that's what he believes," Raphael said.

Ian's breathing unexpectedly picked up. He looked back at Raphael, who was already staring at him.

"You were lucky this time Mr. Sedia. Disobey orders again and you might just not have a second chance next time." His face was expressionless. Ian watched with fear.

"You don't wanna end up like Mr. Regardius, right?"