27 FEAST FOR HER EYES (1/2)

Piercing screams pierced through Hu Lei's mind as she remained asleep in a large immaculate room in completely white bed. The cries seemed louder than usual. However, her heart did not race neither did she feel a cold sweat cover her body and soak the beddings.

Though she could not move and seemed trapped in a place filled with pain, she knew it was only a dream, a figment of unclear memories. She remained calm as she allowed the demon haunting her to leave and the sleep paralysis to wear off.

When she woke up, she wondered if her mind had become trapped somewhere. Or perhaps she had died and gone to the other place.

She took a deep breath and calmed her claustrophobia. In truth, she did not fear all closed spaces. Her terror was in restriction in white clinical rooms. And the room she had woken up in was only a few test tubes short of a medical-grade lab.

As she climbed out of the cloud-like bed, she felt her head throb like a workshop filled with jackhammers. She tried to recall the occurrences of the previous day but was rewarded with more pain. The last thing she remembered was dinner with big boss Zhong.

She also remembered ordering pan-fried beef and rice while drinking that delicious something with a nice name. Then, everything seemed clouded. What had happened?

She checked herself and found that she still wore the same clothes. She was completely unharmed, minus the headache. Had she been drugged and taken away?

Her wobbly legs led her to the door. Each step seemed to resonate through her entire being before settling in her head. She turned the lock slowly, hoping that it would open. It did so quite smoothly.

She poked her head out of the door and looked outside vigilantly. Seeing no one, she stepped out and walked towards the more open direction. She found a flight of stairs and slowly went down, ignoring the throb that accompanied each step.

Obviously, this was a home in spite of the dull neutral surroundings.

When her head began to clear up, she could already make conjectures on where she was, even though she had no idea how she got there. With those thoughts in mind, she walked with more confidence.

Before long, she found a living room. It was not as plain as the bedroom, but it only had some sparse decorative items. Moreover, it did not look lived in. She walked around the room curiously, trying to find, well, signs of the resident.

”I see you are awake.” A deep voice spoke suddenly from behind her.