I've been trapped in the same room my whole life. After today, I wish I was still ignorant.

I don’t even know how many years I’ve been in here, because I have no way of measuring time. Maybe it’s tens, maybe even hundreds. I’ve been in here since I was a toddler. I woke up to the sound of footsteps. Not just any footsteps, but footsteps I hadn’t heard before. They were scary footsteps. They were footsteps that didn’t sound like the footsteps that I usually hear. It was a sound that I’d never experienced before. I jumped up from the bed, and started to tremble uncontrollably. I didn’t know what was going on. What was happening? Before I could even consider what was happening, my room was flooded with light. I had to cover my eyes. The last time I’d seen such a thing was when I was a child, and my mother had turned on the TV in front of me. I tried to focus my eyes on the shape in front of me. It was tall, dressed in a white outfit and wearing a mask. “Hello?” I stuttered. I hadn’t spoken in years. I had no one to talk to, and no way of communicating. Occasionally I’d talk to myself, but I’d long since stopped doing that. “H…hello?” I tried again. That’s when I saw her. She was standing next to a woman in a white outfit. She had curly brown hair and scrunched up eyes. She was smiling. “M…mother?” I stuttered again. She reached out and hugged me. I hadn’t hugged a person in what felt like decades. I squeezed her as tightly as I could. When I finally let go, she had tears in her eyes. “I thought you were dead!” She exclaimed. I didn’t know what to say. I was dumbfounded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone. “Quick, use this to call the police!” She said, her voice trembling. I looked at the phone, then I looked at her. “Police?” I asked. “Yes, they’ll come and get you out of here,” she replied. “But we need to hurry, I don’t know how long they’ll be gone.” “Who?” I asked. “The people who kept you here.” She replied. “Kept me here?” I asked, confused. “Yes, the people who kept you here all this time. You didn’t know that?” She asked, a look of horror on her face. I looked into her eyes, and shook my head. She looked like she was about to cry. “You don’t know what this place is, do you?” She asked. I shook my head again. She put the phone down on a nearby table, and sat down on the bed. She motioned for me to sit down. I sat down next to her. “Listen, however long ago, a group of scientists were experimenting. They were experimenting with making people live in isolation. You know what I mean?” She asked. I shook my head. “They were testing how people would live if they were kept in a room on their own. They’d left you here to rot. Oh…my..god.” She stuttered, then covered her mouth. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what she was saying. She grabbed the phone and stood up. “You need to come with me,” she said. I stood up. “Where are we going?” I asked. “We’re going to the police station,” she said. “And we’re going to tell them to arrest those bastards.” I followed her out of the room, without saying another word. I’d never seen this much of the world. I’d never realised how big it was. I followed her through all sorts of corridors and rooms, until we finally ended up outside. I had never felt fresh air in my life. I had never felt the warmth of the sun. I knew about the sun through documentaries, but I had never truly experienced it. I took a deep breath. I felt the cool air fill my lungs. I tried to focus my eyes on the world around me. There were towering buildings, cars, birds flying overhead. I gasped, and covered my mouth. “What?” My mother asked. I tried to look around me again. I sat down on the ground, and buried my face in my hands. I had never felt water on my skin before, but I felt it now. “Are you okay?” I heard my mother say. I nodded, but I didn’t look up. I couldn’t. I couldn’t finish crying. I don’t know how long I was there for. It could’ve been minutes, hours, days. I didn’t care. Eventually I got up. “Let’s go,” I said. I didn’t even look at my mother. The woman in the white outfit stood up, and walked towards us. I followed them, until we were standing outside a building. We walked inside, and I finally saw people. They were all dressed in uniforms. “Hello,” one of them said, approaching us. “We’re going to ask you a few questions.” “Where do I sit?” I asked. He pointed to a nearby chair. I sat down. He looked at me, smiled, then sat down himself. “So, would you like to tell us what happened?” He asked. “My mother rescued me from a room where I’ve been kept my whole life,” I replied. There was silence. He looked up at my mother, who was standing behind me. “Ma’am,” he said. “Could I have a word with you?” She walked out of the room. I looked back at her. She smiled weakly. I turned back to face the table. We waited in silence until she came back. “Ma’am, would you like to tell us what happened?” He asked. “I can’t,” she replied. “I’m sorry?” He asked, confused. “I’d rather not say,” she said. There was another awkward silence, until he finally spoke up. “Well, is there anything else you’d like to say?” He asked. She looked down, then looked back up at him. “I’d like to know how he ended up here,” she said. There was a long silence, until the woman in the white outfit stood up. “I think I can tell you that,” she said. The man in the uniform looked at her, confused. “Excuse me?” He asked. “I think it would be better if I told you,” she said. “She needs to know. “My name is Dr. Emily, and I’ve been studying the boy since he was a child. I’ve been the one in charge of taking care of him his whole life.” She said. My mother frowned, then sat down next to me. “Go on,” she said. Dr. Emily sighed, and put her head in her hands. “Twenty years ago, when you first lost him, the government took him. They were a secret organisation that was experimenting with isolation. They were testing how people lived in isolation. They put him in a room, deep underground, and left him to rot. They dropped him food and water at random intervals, and let him live his life. They never told him what was happening to him, or why he was there. “I looked after him. I was the one who took care of him. I was the one who brought him food and water. I took his samples, and generally make sure that he was okay.” She looked up, and smiled weakly. “I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He was a small child. I couldn’t just leave him. I stayed with him, and watched him grow up. He’s grown into a wonderful person, and I couldn’t be prouder of him. “I knew eventually, they’d make me stop seeing him. So, I decided to get him out before they could. I helped him escape, and brought him here. “But we need to hurry. They’ll be looking for him. I can’t keep him safe here. You need to keep him safe.” She said. I looked over at her, and smiled weakly. I was grateful. “Thank you,” I said. “Anytime,” she replied. “Wait.” My mother said. “You’re saying that you’ve been caring for him? Taking him samples?” “Yes, that’s right,” Dr. Emily said. “His blood samples, and—” “His blood samples?” My mother asked, horrified. “Yes. That’s correct,” Dr. Emily replied. “But why?” My mother asked. “We need to know how he’s coping,” she replied. “The whole experiment is to see how he’d live in isolation. If he starts to deteriorate, we can make adjustments.” She explained. “But surely you’re not going to keep him there?” My mother asked, looking horrified. Dr. Emily nodded. “Of course we are. Otherwise the experiment won’t be successful,” she said. “What?” My mother exclaimed. I frowned, confused. “What do you mean?” I asked. The man in uniform looked at me. “What she means is that you can never leave,” he said. I looked at my mother, who looked equally confused. “What?” I asked. “Well, they’re not going to let you leave. Otherwise the experiment will be ruined.” He said. “But why?” I asked. “They need to

I've been trapped in the same room my whole life. After today, I wish I was still ignorant.

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