Several minutes passed, as I continued to follow the endless number of locked rooms, hoping to find B52 before my time expired. Above each room, a timer with blood-red numbers counted down my remaining twenty minutes, and I had only managed to make it to the "C" section of rooms. If it took me ten minutes just to reach the C section of rooms, there was no possible way for me to make it to B52 and back to the monitoring room in a time limit of only ten minutes. I stopped to think for a minute of ANY pieces of the puzzle I might be missing.

"There has to be another way," I said to myself. "There has to be some sort of short cut embedded within these halls that I'm just not seeing, but which one?"

I couldn't afford to waste any time, so I quickly overlooked anything I might've missed. Nothing came to me, seeing I had overlooked almost everything. I clenched my fist, knowing time was running out, and I here I was, struggling to find the TRUE path to wherever Cheryl was being held. I nearly cried, before my guide spoke out from behind the hidden speakers.

"I see you've caught onto the fact that getting to your destination will require much more than just simply running through the halls of this place. No. It will require having to enter the deepest depths of your mind for answers. Think hard, back to the survey before you passed out."

"I don't understand," I claimed. "For some reason I can't remember anything before passing out."

"It's like I said, you will have to think hard to find these answers, before every bit of your memory is destroyed. The more that clock goes down, the your memories become nothing but a cloud of smoke that used to be that specific memory. The answer still remains, but you have to think hard. What was the name of the Skype contact that called you as Fluttershy?"

My mind suddenly spiked like a rocket, remembering a very distant memory. It was question three of the survey. I remembered that very clearly, when the blood-red text appeared on my computer screen and asked me very clearly, "your favorite pony now has questions for you. In an estimated time of about thirty seconds, you'll receive a call via Skype." Of course I thought it was just a joke, until I instantly received a call from a contact named, "shyponeC15," and answered it, only to be greeted with my worst nightmare.

"C15!" I exclaimed in victory, realizing that C15 was the shortcut I was looking for to find Cheryl faster, before the time ran out.

I quickly jolted down the hall, carefully watching for C15, and quickly found it with no problems. As I reached out to grab the handle to the door, I took in a deep breath, not sure what to expect. Would I find safety or yet another obstacle behind the door? I let out the breath, as I twisted the handle, and watched the door open to a new area. It was dark and cold in this new area, as I took careful steps, stepping into the new area. The door shut behind me, following a hidden light source enlightening the area, revealing an area much like the original, but deteriorating.

The flooring of the area was composed of fragile material, slowly deteriorating to nothing but rubble. I was glad that I had taken precautions before proceeding any further, due to a bottomless trench being only inches from where I stood. I felt like I was in one of those video games where the main character had to jump over trenches, seeing it was clear that this area was far from stable, and if I was going to survive, I had to be absolutely careful.

With light steps, I stepped onto the closest and largest area of intact tiles, looking around for a safe path. That was easier said than done, as I caught sight of a door labelled "B20." I was close to Cheryl, but getting to her was going to be near-impossible. I surveyed the area, carefully overlooking my options, but unfortunately I didn't have many options. The only path required jumping from unstable fragments to another. I gulped, looking at the clock above the only visible room. Only fifteen minutes were left, so I wasted no time and took my first jump onto a very small fragment of unstable tile.

I landed with both feet planted, but quickly noticed something was happening. The tile was disintegrating faster than I had jumped on it, which immediately led me to panicking, feeling my footing start to decrease from stable to unstable. With all but a quick glance, I quickly jumped toward the nearest unstable fragment, praying not to slip. Fortunately, I landed with both my feet planted, starting to feel the piece of tile disintegrate just like the last one.

Before the tile could disintegrate to nothing, I jumped to a much longer and expanded area of stable tile, tripping as I landed on the open area. I quickly stood back up, hoping for the tile not to disintegrate, and fortunately for me, it didn't. I took deep breaths, attempting to regain my composure. I knew this was far from over, and it only became obvious as I saw that this hall didn't contain doors, but lockers. It didn't even take me a second to recognize the lockers as my school's lockers.

I looked around, trying to find any clue as to why the door had led me here of all places, but once I saw the locker numbers, I quickly figured out what this area was referring to.

"I know this area all too well, and which locker I'm supposed to open," I said, starting to shed small tears. "The kid I murdered in cold blood. This is his locker area. This is where my hate came from. Where it had begun to blind me, and turn me into a ruthless monster."

I approached the locker with the number "513" embedded just above it's door on a steel plate, and opened it, only to reveal nothing but a replay of the kid's final moments, before I killed him.

"You pathetic piece of shit!" I yelled, kicking the kid in the ribs with all my anger. "I told you to stay away from Cheryl, yet you decide to push your fucking luck too far, by doing stupid shit like hitting on her! I warned you, you motherfucker! Now, you are going to learn what happens to dumbass's like you, who decide to overstep their boundaries against people who overpower them in every way possible!"

That's when I pulled out the gun, and proceeded to threatening the kid, even though in reality, I was mistaken and too blinded by my anger to realize that I was wrong.

"You want to try stupid shit like what you did again?! Huh!? Do you TRULY want to piss me off any further than you already have!? No! You won't! Not ever again, because I'm going to make it that way! If only you would've just fucking listened, then this wouldn't be happening! I'll make sure, nobody remembers you, hehe... like anybody will! You are a pathetic excuse of a human being, and never deserved to be born! Maybe you were a mistake, because you can't do shit for anybody!"

"PLEASE! YOU'VE GOT IT...

"Shut the fuck up, you piece of...

That was when the gunfire erupted, and he fell limp, being shot in the head with a clean hole right through his head.

"Oh shit... SHIT! I didn't mean to pull the trigger! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

What came next made me want to jump into the bottomless depths of this area, hearing those words once again.

"I'm not going down over someone like you... I'll make sure of that...

The memory ended, leaving my fists clenched, and tears flowing from eyes, along with the urge to commit suicide. I never did mean to pull the trigger, but the truth was that I HAD pulled the trigger out of anger. Remembering this memory made me nearly vomit, but I couldn't waste any time in this place, as I noticed a key had appeared at the bottom of the locker opening. The grip of the key had "B52" embedded in it, which meant that it was time for me to face my final challenge; saving Cheryl.

I grabbed the key and turned away from the locker, only to see that the other lockers were gone, and only one room remained; B52. I felt a strange sensation overcome my body, as I stepped closer to the room, sticking the key in the key slot of the door handle. I turned the key, hearing a "click," and slowly turned the handle, watching as the door opened, revealing what looked like the top of a building. Something was standing just before the edge of the building top, looking out into an endless dark horizon.

I entered the room, taking small steps toward whoever was standing on the edge of the building.

"Cheryl?" I questioned.

The unknown person moved at the mentioning of the name, as they continued to stare into the horizon.

"Why are you here?" they asked bluntly.

"I'm here to save you from this place," I replied.

"Is that all?" they questioned. "Is that REALLY all you are here for?"

"Yes, I now realize who I really am, and don't deserve to move on from here, but you do," I clarified. "I've been blinded by anger and hate for too long, and am ready to make up for everything I've done, by doing the right thing, giving up my life for yours."

The unknown individual was silent for a second, until finally the errie silence was broken up by a response I did not expect.

"Do you really thing that by giving up your life for mine is going to make me forgive you for what you did?! For using me as a possible free card to getting out a situation you got YOURSELF into!?" they exclaimed.

I paused, thinking hard about what this unknown person had said, realizing that they were right. No amount of anything could result in forgiveness, because, there was no room for forgiveness.

"Are you sure that you are still not blinded by anger and hate, or does that mask still exist before your eyes, and you just are unaware of it?" they stated.

Once again, I paused, thinking hard about the statements, wondering if maybe the mask of anger and hate was still there or not. That's when everything became obvious, due this unknown thing trying to make me double-guess myself, almost to the point of where I doubted myself. It had hit me, and now knew what I had to do.

"No amount of anything can result in forgiveness for what I did," I started. "It's true, I made mistakes that cannot be forgiven, but in the time I've been in this place, I've finally figured out the real truth, and why I'm here. I'm not here to save anybody, not even myself. I'm here to feel what Cheryl felt when I betrayed her, because she never was killed. That much I know is true. That doesn't mean that she didn't feel pain though. She felt pain both physically and mentally, both from Fluttershy's tactics, and the betrayal from the one she loved and cared for dearly."

"In the box, I experienced many things. I experienced fear and torture that matched what Cheryl felt in the moments she was brought into this whole thing. I felt pain when it wasn't even there in the darkness, was pushed to where I had to finally enter a different state of mind to find answers that were hidden beyond the darkness of the box, and even experienced dreams that made me feel hated, forgotten, and betrayed. Just how Cheryl felt when I betrayed her in the most selfish way I could've ever done."

"I don't expect forgiveness, mercy, or to be spared of the mistakes that I've made in both reality and in this test that broke me. Pushed me to doing things I never thought I'd do. I don't deserve forgiveness or mercy from whoever has pushed me to this point of finally realizing what had been right in front of me the entire time, it just took seeing, feeling, and experiencing the sins that I wanted to just forget as if they had never happened to finally see the REAL reasons of why I'm here, and just what I have to do to answer for my wrongs."

"You are not what you say or claim to be at all. You are the very thing that has plagued me since I arrived in the box. You are the things I saw in the box as hallucinations, when they were as real as my mind made them to be, being real enough to physically harm me, and push me to the point of no return. You are the creature that I saw outside of the box, causing me to fear what was both in and outside of the box. You are the reflections of myself I saw. My fears, regrets, hate, and anger! You are the voice from behind what I thought were speakers, that has been guiding me to this point , but now I see that I've only been hearing MYSELF the entire time."

The unknown figure stood quiet for a second, until it suddenly began change into something different; something more familiar to my eyes. Once the unknown figure had finished shifting into its new form, it turned toward me with a smile. Before me, was a reflection of myself.

"Well done, you've confronted what you were hiding from the entire time," spoke the other me. "You've proven that you are more than just a selfish and unforgivable person by confronting the one thing you've been hiding from since you killed that innocent kid. However, you have yet one more thing to do, before you are forgiven."

"I know," I stated, taking steps toward the ledge of the building top, standing next to my other self.

I looked beyond the ledge, taking in a deep breath as I prepared for the final task I had to do before my test was complete.

"Are you ready to be forgiven, and right all the wrongs you've committed?" asked my other self.

I nodded my head, remembering happy memories before I turned into this unforgivable person. I smiled, leaning forward, and falling into the endless abyss of my mind. As I fell, I didn't think negative, and only embraced the new person I had become. I had let go of all my hate and anger that had overcome me for so long, and only now could I truly forgive myself. I didn't expect to be forgiven by Cheryl, not that she ever could, and never would know if she did or did not forgive me for betraying and nearly killing her. Over the silence of the endless fall, I overheard the sound of a heart monitor, flat lined, and watched as the endless abyss closed to nothing but pure darkness.

It was over...

Cheryl Mcgreen lived through her four day coma, but was devastated by the loss of her beloved. Nobody knew what caused the two to fall into coma's and for one to live and one to die right in the same moment. All that followed was nothing but pure tragedy. Cheryl had a hard time moving on from the mysterious death of her beloved, and no answers were given to the cause of the coma, because there were no answers. Cheryl wanted answers, but never found any, until two years after the mysterious death of her boyfriend. Cheryl had come home from her graduation from high school, and like most young-adults, proceeded to getting on Skype to talk with friends.

In her recent messages, was a message from her boyfriend's Skype account. Her boyfriend's Skype account had been deleted not long after his death, yet here was the legit account with a message of only two words that immediately made Cheryl question many things, along with anybody else who saw the message.

THE MESSAGE

"I'm sorry."

Author's Note

Is it really over