The Room

A slow, steady drip of water woke K. The droplets fell on his cheek, crawled behind his ear, and rested in a small puddle beneath his head. He sat up, moving his head from the dripping water’s path. As he shook off his unconsciousness, getting into a sitting position, he saw that his coat, hat, scarf, and gloves were all missing. His watch was also taken, as well as his shoes and socks. K. looked at his body and realized that he was in his under clothes, barely dressed at all.

K. looked about the room once again in an attempt to recognize his whereabouts. He was sure that he had never seen a room quite like it. He jumped up from his bed and stood on the cold floor. The bed was strange. It had belts and buckles and blood stained linens. K. felt his head where the bird had fallen to see if it were his own blood. He was surprised to find that there was hardly a bump, let alone any blood.

K. took a moment to fully survey the room in which he was. The place was extremely bright, on the boarder of blinding. Lights hung from the ceiling at each rounded corner of the room. K. had a clear view of his whereabouts, though he had no understanding of how he got there. There were no visible doors. The room had rounded edges. The floor became the wall, reaching up about four feet. From that point to the ceiling, there were glass walls. Other than the glass walls, everything was a luminous white.

There was no light on the other side of these glass structures, creating a blackened effect. “This reminds me of one of those cages they keep animals in,” said K. to himself. “Anyone can watch the animal, though the animal has no idea he’s being watched.”

Despite the cold floor and even colder atmosphere, the room was actually quite comfortable in temperature. K. recognized that the bed on which he had been lying was actually an examination table. K. felt his head again to examine where the bird had fallen on him. “Surely there was no need to operate. I don’t even have a bump on my head,” K said to himself. Just then, he heard a cough that seemed to be coming from the opposite side of the glass walls.

“Hello! Hello, can anybody hear me? Hello! I- I’m quite sure that I am not supposed to be here; that’s not to say I don’t appreciate your bringing me in from that cold wind, but I am sure there is no reason for my continued stay, now that I am well. Hello? Hello! Hello, is there anybody there? My name is Joseph K.!”

“We know who you are, Joseph K. We have known you for quite sometime now.” The voice was muffled and echoing, a distortion from what the true voice must have sounded like. K. had no way of recognizing it. The voice came from the ceiling somehow, and yet, seemed to completely surround him.

“Who is there? Please, where is that voice coming from?” K. looked around him trying to pinpoint the direction of the voice. “Please tell me where you are, so I will know in what direction to look. It is quite difficult to speak to someone when their location is unknown.”

“It is not necessary that you see us. We will see you no matter where you are speaking.” There was a soft click, and the voice disappeared.

“I am ready to go home now, hello? If you could just give me my shoes and clothing, I would appreciate it very much.” K. waited for a reply. His hope was in vain. K tried to regain contact again, “Hello!” he shouted, but there was still no answer. “Helloooo!” His voice bounced off the walls of the room, still, no voice replied.