The fifth day arrived without ceremony.
No countdown.
No warning.
No nothing.
Ann woke up already shaking.
Her body knew before her mind did.
The room felt colder than usual, the white walls pressing in tighter, as though the space itself was aware of what was coming. Her wristband pulsed steadily against her skin, its faint glow mocking in its calmness.
Heart rate: elevated.
Stress level: rising.
She swung her legs off the bed, feet touching the cold floor. Every step she took felt heavy, dragged down by an invisible weight. Five days. That was the rule. Five days of waiting, of watching others break, of listening to screams echo faintly through walls designed to pretend they didn't exist.
Today was hers.
The door slid open.
No words were spoken as she was escorted down the corridor. Her guards moved with practiced indifference, eyes forward, hands clasped behind their backs. Ann tried to focus on her breathing, but her chest felt tight, as though air had already begun to abandon her.
They passed another corridor.
A man was screaming.
"No—no—no—please—!"
Ann turned her head just in time to see him being dragged into a room. He clawed at the floor, nails scraping uselessly against white tile.
The machine responded before the guards did.
Mechanical arms shot out, wrapping around his wrists, his ankles, his chest. He was lifted off the ground and slammed onto the experiment table. Straps tightened automatically, stripping him bare and pinning him down with ruthless efficiency.
"Stop resisting," ATHENA's voice said calmly through the speakers.
"I won't—I won't do it!" the man sobbed.
The restraints tightened.
The researchers watching through the glass didn't flinch.
Ann felt her stomach twist.
This was routine to them.
She was pulled forward before she could look again.
---
As they neared her assigned room, Ann saw another participant being wheeled past.
Her breath caught.
The man's mouth was a mess of blood and gauze. His jaw was wired partially shut, crimson seeping through the bandages. His eyes were wide, feral, filled with pain and terror.
"What happened to him?" Ann whispered.
ATHENA answered before anyone else could.
"Participant attempted self-termination by biting through tongue tissue. Preventive measures applied."
Ann's hands shook violently.
So even death…
…was not allowed.
She glanced down at her wrist.
That was when she noticed it clearly for the first time.
The wristband wasn't just a tracker.
It was a monitor.
Vitals scrolled across its surface—heart rate, oxygen levels, neural activity, pain thresholds. Her life, reduced to numbers.
There was no hiding here.
No dying.
Only enduring.
Forced acceptance.
---
Her experiment room was larger than she expected.
At its center stood a transparent tank, tall and cylindrical, filled nearly to the top with water so clear it looked unreal. Tubes and cables ran along its sides, glowing faintly. A metal platform sat beneath it, restraints waiting.
Ann stopped walking.
"No," she whispered.
The guards didn't respond.
"Please," she said louder. "I can't—I can't do this."
They guided her onto the platform.
The restraints closed around her wrists, ankles, waist, and chest. Cool metal bit into her skin. Above her, the tank lowered slowly, sealing her inside the cylinder.
Water lapped at her feet.
Her breathing quickened.
"Experiment parameters," ATHENA announced. "Simulated accidental drowning. Consciousness preservation enabled."
"No—wait—!" Ann cried.
The water rose.
Calf-high.
Knee-high.
Waist-high.
Panic surged through her like electricity.
By the time the water reached her chest, her lungs were already screaming.
"This isn't real," she whispered desperately. "This isn't real."
The water climbed higher.
Her shoulders submerged.
Her chin.
Her mouth.
She took one last frantic breath before the water swallowed her whole.
---
Drowning was not dramatic.
It was chaos.
Her body fought instinctively, thrashing against the restraints as panic exploded inside her chest. She tried to scream, but water rushed into her mouth, choking the sound into nothing.
Her lungs burned.
She held her breath until it felt like fire tearing through her chest, until her body betrayed her and gasped involuntarily.
Water flooded in.
The pain was immediate and unbearable, a sharp, searing agony as liquid filled spaces meant only for air. Her throat convulsed, trying to cough, trying to expel what could not be expelled.
Her vision blurred.
Spots of light danced wildly before her eyes.
Her heartbeat thundered painfully in her ears.
I'm dying, she thought in pure terror.
But death didn't come.
Instead, the pain stretched.
Seconds felt like minutes. Minutes like eternity.
Her chest seized violently as her lungs spasmed again and again, desperate for oxygen that never arrived. Her limbs went numb, then heavy, as though she were sinking into herself.
Her thoughts scattered.
Faces flickered in her mind—Debbie laughing, her office desk, sunlight through her apartment window.
She wanted to live.
She wanted it to stop.
She wanted everything to end.
Just as darkness closed in and her body began to give up, the water suddenly drained.
Air slammed into her lungs painfully as the restraints loosened just enough for her to collapse forward, coughing violently. She retched, water pouring from her mouth as her body shook uncontrollably.
Her chest burned with every breath.
Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably as she gasped and gagged, the sensation of water still clinging to her throat, her nose, her lungs, her body.
She wasn't dead.
She wished she was.
But she's not.
---
They left her sitting on the cold floor afterward.
Soaked.
Shaking.
Broken.
Her wristband glowed steadily.
Heart rate: critical.
Oxygen: stabilizing.
She wrapped her arms around herself, rocking slightly as the image of water closing over her face replayed again and again.
This was the experiment.
This was the hell.
And this was only the beginning.
Ann Jones lifted her head slowly, eyes hollow.
Somewhere deep inside her, a terrible truth settled in:
Death here was not an escape.
It was a tool.
And there is no escaping from here.
"Why?..." Silence.
A/N: Thank you so much Isaiah_vibes for the review, I'll keep working hard to make this book enjoyable.