Cinnamon Scented Confinement The light flickered continuously on the crystal like chandelier. It was taunting me, flickering slowly. On, off, on, off, and on again. The glass on the side of the wall reflected color and light through the iridescent window. The room was cold and #lifeless. It smelled oddly of cinnamon. Strangely enough my eyes hadn’t adapted to the dark that haunted the walls. I felt a hard mattress on the ground but nothing else. I heard small drops of water splash onto the floor but I couldn’t find the source of it. I think three days had passed since my imprisonment, but I wasn’t sure. As I sat in my silent imprisonment I tried to recount the weeks events. It was New Years Eve, and my friends and me were counting down the minutes to the new millennium. Everyone said that the year 3000 would bring change and prosperity, but no one held their breath. That’s when I wondered into here, I was looking for a bathroom, but when I walked in something strange happened. The room house was old almost Victorian, those kinds of houses that professors mention at times, but they were from before the dark ages. They weren’t supposed to exist anymore. When I walked I felt the eerie feeling immediately, the house was covered in cobwebs but it felt oddly new like it hadn’t been lived in before, it also smelled strongly of cinnamon. Cinnamon was banned from the world many years ago after they discovered the effects it had to the human brain. Before I could get a second glance into the hallway I was knocked out and the last thing I can remember was waking up in the cellar that I am confined to today. I was about to give up all hope of getting out when there was a small crack and the door unbolted. Light flooded the room and illuminated the chandelier once more. Weak from hunger I got up trembling and crept to the doorway. The strong scent of cinnamon was almost unbearable as I pushed past the door. The door led to a small hallway, it was the same hallway I had entered through but it felt different, it looked different too. The rooms where brighter than before, but strangely #lifeless. The rooms were all colorless. The once lilac walls were now an excruciating white. The cobwebs were all gone as well. The house was spotless, it was also black and white, everything was. I glanced down at my clothing, and noticed another change as well. I was wearing an apron and an ironed polka dotted dress, all in black and white. I tried to remember what I was wearing before, but couldn’t recall. I glanced quickly at the mirror above the counter, and for a second I thought I saw something green sparkle in my eyes, but then it was gone, like nothing had changed. My hair was in curls and there were pearls on my neck, but I was black and white as well. For a second I panicked, but the smell of cinnamon increased and I began to think I had been wearing this the whole time. I walked downstairs and out the door, without a second glance as if I had been living there my whole #life. The grass was pitch black and the skies were bright white. Many of my neighbors were out and about giving me synchronized hellos and robot like hand shakes. They were all dressed exactly alike. I stared at one particular neighbor beautiful black and white garden patch. It looked different from the rest and I knew that wasn’t right. I was about to say something when cinnamon filled my nose and I forgot what I was going to ask. I was about to leave when the man living there beckoned me towards him. He gave me a suspicious glance before asking me inside. I walked in and was about to speak before he signaled me upstairs. He put a finger to his lips motioning me to keep quiet. We walked slowly upstairs before he took me into a small attic and locked the door shut. He turned on the light and my jaw dropped in shock. The room had strange colors that I had never seen before the walls were green and there were books all across the floor. He told me to sit down before he spoke. “I wasn’t sure why you were staring at my flowers until I thought you might be like me. Do you see the colors too?” I nodded too shocked to speak. He continued, “I don’t know what’s going on but I think something’s funny, I’ve been having these visions where it feels like I am in another #life. I’m not sure how to explain it but I think we’re being watched. I don’t think this town is real, it’s…” Before he could finish the walls and the floor began shaking and the smell of cinnamon increased. I tried to reach for the stranger’s hand, but we both collapsed gently to the floor. I awoke to an excruciatingly bright room the walls were all white. I stared down at my tan skin and saw it was covered in tubes and wires, there was a white robe draped around me. As I became aware of my surroundings I began to panic remembering earlier events. I tried to scream but no sound came out. That’s when the door latched open, and a man with a crisp black suit walked in and sat down in the chair across from mine. He smelled of cinnamon. “Good evening miss Swan, I must say you are very difficult to work with.” Before he could finish I shouted, “Who are you? What kind of a sick joke is this!” He smiled a #lifeless smile and continued ignoring my pleas “For someone as clever as yourself you are very clueless.” “You see my dear Victoria, you have been hand selected to participate in an experiment. A very important experiment for which your complete and utter cooperation is crucial.” He smirked at my confusion and continued, candy coating every word with a false sweet voice. “You are several miles underground and the moment far from any civilization or means of escape,” he put emphasis on the last part as he saw my eyes taking quick glances at the doorway. “This is as I’m sure you’ve guessed a government facility. Sector 95 to be exact. As you know Victoria earth isn’t a very pleasant place anymore. It’s the people you see; they’ve become a problem. It’s the protests and the revolts, they are quite troublesome, and a waste of my precious time. People have been asking for freedom and rights, as if they deserve such a thing. So we decided to build this place, these wires all connected to your hands connect you to an even bigger computer, which injects you into a sort of stimulated world. Those tubes on your shoulder constantly inject a mind-numbing narcotic into your blood stream. As I'm sure you’ve already guessed it contains cinnamon, that’s where the smells been coming from. Once you’ve been connected to these tubes it is impossible for you to leave unless you are programmed out by the computer itself. The program is designed to make the participant forget anything from their past, and take on a different counterpart, a male or female from the early 1900’s. But as we have now witnessed there are a few immune to narcotic injection, you included. We would have taken you off the experiment immediately, as your presence was becoming a nuisance but we needed a guinea pig that was immune to the narcotic, and you were the perfect match.” For a brief second his smile vanished and was replaced by a look of pure unaltered cruelty, but then a fake smile was once again put in its place. “We’ve been experimenting with different ingredients, and thanks to you we have found a perfect match.” I saw his hand moving towards my shoulder with a needle in his grip out of the corner of my eye. I screamed and shouted as a tried to rush to the door. He came rushing towards me and I felt a sudden pain rush through my arm and body. His artificial smile was the last thing I saw as I fell to the ground, overwhelmed once again by the smell of cinnamon. I woke with a start and got up from the newly polished floor and fixed my pearl necklace. I walked into the kitchen and turned off the oven containing a lovely batch of cinnamon, just in time to hear the doorbell ring, I glided elegantly to the door and opened it. A perfect stranger stood in the doorway with a too perfect smile. Without thinking I took his hand and we walked away with our programmed smiles into the colorless sunset.