Escaping the cycle

I wake up in the same old grey room. The walls are covered with photos, clippings and scribbled dates. I don't remember anything beyond this day in which I find myself immersed.

I follow the instructions that my previous self wrote down. I live in the present without attachment to the past or anxieties about the future. This day is my reality, my home that I will defend from anything that tries to make me feel alien.

But today there is a new envelope. Inside I find a key and a note: ‘Find your way out. You must escape the cycle. The message triggers something in my mind.

Desperate, I start checking the clues scattered everywhere. I discover a countdown engraved on the walls. Twenty-four hours left.

I follow an intricate pattern that leads me to a hidden door. On the other side, an endless corridor opens in front of me. The walls close in on me as I go.

I run with all my might as photos and clippings fall, revealing faces of missing men. At the end of the corridor, a terrible truth awaits me.