As we enter the first floor, we find more people dressed like us walking into a big room from hallways like the one Dante and I met upstairs in. The staircase we came down is directly connected to this room in the corner of both sides of Building 0. There are people seated at square dining tables scattered throughout the room, angled 45 degrees to appear in the shape of a diamond relative to the room, like an Italian restaurant. A buffet can be seen on the other side of the room from where we came in. People dressed in our clothes are lined up at the buffet, making plates of bread, eggs, fruit, and meats.

  I look down at my phone, checking the map to see my location is the lobby of Building 0. Go figure.

  "Looks like we're here." I tell Dante.

  The opposite corner of the lobby has a glass vestibule with doors connecting to the outside that people with our clothes are already leaving out of. There's my exit. Once I get out of here, I should be able to find help from someone. Although, it's a little strange that no one is guarding the door to keep people in. If someone kidnapped me and brought me here, I would assume they would want to keep me here. Then again, The TV did say that Stratosylum is where I've been taken to, which seems to be a whole town. I wonder if getting out of this town will be a challenge then.

  The only people I see who look like they work for Stratosylum are the ones standing behind the buffet table replacing the chafers when they run out of food and two people bussing tables. They each wear a dark jacket and the word 'HOUSEKEEPER' is printed on the back of each of them. They also wear masks with a dark visor covering the entire face with a matrix of lights behind them, lit in a pattern to depict a face through the visor. It's hard to see from where I'm standing, but it looks like the masks contour almost perfectly to each of their faces with no visible holes for breathing.

  I've never seen a mask like that before. I can't imagine they would be very comfortable seeing how they are fitting all the lights and electronics in front of their face. I wonder how they can see, let alone breathe in those things.

  Dante already made his way over to the buffet without a noise as I was gawking at the exit and the housekeepers. I think he will be fine after he eats.

  I make my way to the exit without haste before an artificial voice coming out of a speaker startles me from behind.

  "Don't you want to eat before you leave?" the voice says to me.

  I quickly turned to the voice to see a housekeeper placed inches away from me as if he magically spawned behind me. The housekeeper's mask is smiling at me. I never heard this housekeeper approach me, nor did I see them in my path to the exit. I cannot tell what species they are. They each have the ears of wolves but are much larger. Their tails are fluffier than any I've seen before. But their mask, now that I can see it up close, is probably the most unnatural thing about them. The mask has no holes to breathe. I can barely see the unlit lights behind the visor that line the entirety of the inside of the mask. There is no way any eyes can see out of that. Hell, I don't think there's even a camera in that mask. What's worse is that I can feel a certain darkness behind that mask. Whatever this thing is, it's not mammalian.

  Their jackets have a glyph over their left chest, similar to the one on my watch and sweater but it's got a different shape. The same glyph is also on both sides of the housekeeper's mask. Now that I think of it, Dante had a glyph on his sweater that looks exactly like mine.

  "N- No." I said to the housekeeper as I was slowly stepping away from it. "I just want to go home"

  I turned away from it and made haste to the exit door with a light jog as there was only 15 feet between me and the door. I did not look back to see if the housekeeper was following me, but I could still feel their chilling emptiness behind me, like I was running from a black hole that was growing as fast as I jogged to the door.

  The door to the vestibule was secured with a panic bar which allowed me to escape through the door arm first. The second door that went outside was the same which also allowed me to escape quickly. The breeze of fresh summer air put me at ease. The dread from the housekeeper no longer creeping behind me. I felt safe enough to look back to see if it followed me but they were nowhere to be seen.

  I took the time to look at everything surrounding me. The buildings all look similar. They all have their own personality, like each of them have their own role in this town. But I can assume they were designed by the same architect. The people in this town act like any normal person despite all the crazy shit I've seen this morning. The only out of place thing about these people are their clothes. They're more colorful and eccentric than normal clothes and they even have parts that glow. It's hard to tell but I can see it when people walk through shadows from trees or buildings. They all even have the same glyph I have somewhere on their shirt or jacket.

  Surely someone here can tell me where I am. There are several people walking outside, going between buildings, and I need to pick someone to very casually approach and ask where I am without looking like a crazy person. I take a deep breath and lock eyes with a rabbit who just happened to be walking towards me. As I begin to raise my paw to signal the rabbit, I hear a voice call out behind me.

  "Adrian?" the voice calls out.

  I quickly turn 180 degrees towards the voice to find a gray wolf waving his left paw at me from a distance while his phone lays in his right paw. The wolf is wearing a white jacket with the zipper towards his side and a tribal pattern illuminating on the left arm, like a tattoo. Our glyph, like everyone else, is on his jacket over his left chest. Do I know this wolf? I don't think we've met before. Maybe one of Ryan's friends? He briefly looks down at his phone before looking back up at me with a smile.

  As I approach him, I ask, "Do I know you?"

  The wolf shows me his phone which says 'New Roommate' on the top of the screen with a mugshot-like picture of me and my full name, 'Adrian Stripes' towards the center.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "You're my new roommate." the wolf tells me. "I'm Jonas, by the way. Jonas Lief."

  Roommate? So he must know Ryan. But Ryan kicked me out, now he's our roommate? Is Ryan letting me back in if I'm their new roommate? This is fantastic, Ryan must have known where I was and sent this guy to come get me. Shit, this really beats having to find my way back home.

  "Oh thank God," I tell Jonas. "Did Ryan tell you to come get me? Dude, the craziest shits just happened. I blacked out, all my stuff got stolen, then I wake up here with new clothes and a new phone and the TV was telling me some weird-"

  "Woah woah, slow down." Jonas interrupts. "First off, I'm not sure who Ryan is. My phone told us we will be getting a new roommate today and I decided to come greet you at Building 0. Our home is down towards the south end of the tower. I'll take you there once I give you a tour."

  Now I'm confused. He has a picture of me and my name on his phone and he doesn't know or live with Ryan. His house is on a tower too? None of these buildings seem tall, nor do they look like they can fit houses on top of them. I still don't even know where I am.

  "Jonas, right?" I addressed him, confirming his name. "Where the hell am I? How do I get back to Lansing?"

  "I'm assuming that's your hometown?" Jonas asks me.

  "Yes! I'm from Lansing, Michigan. Do you know where that is from here?" I ask him.

  "I" -Jonas pauses, looking at the ground- "I can't say I know where that is from here. But it's a little unusual for residents to want to go back to their old hometown."

  He's dodging my question. This is getting really suspicious. And what exactly did he mean when he said that? 'A little unusual for residents to want to go back to their old hometown.' Did everyone here get kidnapped? There's no way everyone here got kidnapped like me and are just cool with it.

  Wait... Did he kidnap me? That must be why he's acting suspicious. I start to change my expression from confused to angry. I look at Jonas with a glare, silently telling him that I'm not fucking around anymore.

  I slowly walk towards him and ask, "Did you bring me here?"

  "Oh no!" he replies, unfazed by my intimidation. "We all woke up in Building 0, just like you did."

  Ok, now he's fucking with me. Someone doesn't just wake up in a strange town with weird people and no explanation of what's going on and is just cool with it.

  "Bullshit!" I say as I grab him by his jacket "You're going to tell me what's going on right now or, so help me God, I will slam your head in the fucking cement!"

  People around us stop and watch us as I have Jonas by his jacket. Jonas looks scared of me now that I grabbed him. Before he could say anything, a large, cold paw grasps the top of my right shoulder. The person next to me, grabbing my shoulder, speaks to me in a familiar, artificial tone.

  "Please refrain from violence against other residents." the voice tells me.

  I turn my head to the right, towards the voice, to see a housekeeper smiling at me through the screen in their mask.

  I really want to tell this masked dickhead to butt out, but I'm suddenly unable to speak. My lips won't move and my vocal cords won't move, preventing me from speaking. My body is frozen, except for my arms, letting go of Jonas without me telling them to. Why am I so scared of this guy? What is he doing to me? The darkness behind that mask radiates on me like a space heater. It doesn't look scary. It doesn't sound scary. But it is scary.

  I nod my head, agreeing with the housekeeper before he lets me go and walks away. I feel calmer now as he walks away. I look at Jonas and he does not seem as mad as I would expect him to be. I no longer believe Jonas is behind my kidnapping. I can't tell if I should apologize to him, ask what happened, or just walk away. But there's only one thing I want to say.

  "I just want to go home." I tell Jonas.

  Jonas opens his mouth as if he were about to say something. A little noise even made its way past his lips before he paused, thinking about what his next words would be. He knows I won't like his answer. Either the way out of here is treacherous and deadly, or I'm stuck here.

  "No one here has a home outside Stratosylum." he tells me after a brief pause. "I think you should talk to Heather. She's Stratosylum's longest resident. If anyone knows how to leave, it would be her. But as far as everyone knows, there is no way out."

  My body goes numb again after hearing that, just like when the housekeeper took hold of me. I do not believe that no one here knows how to leave. Maybe they just don't know the way out and that's why they are still here. I have to believe people have left. No, this is insane. I'm going to find a way out.

  I look around to find a path that leads me away from the cluster of buildings. I don't see anything definitive, so without a word, I just start running past Jonas to follow a path behind Building 0.

  "Adrian Wait!" he shouts to me as I run past him.

  The path behind Building 0 leads to a 'T' shaped bend in the sidewalk with a building dead ahead of me. The path to the right of the building is a courtyard with buildings surrounding it. The path to the left has a bridge going over a river at the end of the building. I feel more confident going to the left.

  As I'm running towards the bridge, I look behind me to see if Jonas was following me. He was lightly jogging towards me. He clearly wasn't trying to catch up to me.

  There are condominiums on the other side of the river. They're scattered about so I can easily run around them in this direction. I couldn't see behind the buildings until I ran over the river where I also sped past Dante, sluggishly walking with his phone in his paw. I didn't pay him any mind.

  As I close the distance to the condos, I begin to see less buildings and trees in my general direction. My memory of the map should lead me to believe I am getting close to the edge of the square map that was on my phone. I would assume if we are trapped here, there should be some kind of fence or wall around us.

  There were only two rows of condos in front of me. I banked to the left of the closest one towards the perimeter. From here I should be able to see the wall, but thankfully, I see nothing but sky ahead of some small trees and foliage-...

  Wait... this isn't right.

  I'm standing roughly 30 feet from what I'm... afraid... is the perimeter.

  A few trees, neatly arranged in about 20 feet of grass ahead of me.

  Flower beds with flowers and park benches placed next to each other in a repeating pattern just outside the grass on a thick strip of sidewalk.

  A three foot tall iron fence like one you would find surrounding the front yard of a nice suburban home.

  Sky and clouds...

  Nothing... But sky and clouds in the distance... No grass, no road, no water... Nothing.

  Like I'm on a tall cliff. I've never been on a cliff, or anywhere high up because of my fear of heights. I'm 30 feet from the edge and I can't see the Horizon below, so... I must be really high up.

  Maybe if I look down at the horizon, I can see where I am at. But I really don't want to look down from here. My body is feeling lighter the more I look at the ledge.

  I take a big gulp and start moving my legs towards the ledge. One step at a time with each step checking to see if I can see the horizon.

  Still no horizon after four steps. I'm now roughly 20 feet from the ledge. Shit, I'm really high up, but I have to do this. I have to know.

  Four more steps, ten more feet. Nothing. I should definitely see the ground from here. But all I see down below is blue sky and more small clouds. I'm feeling lightheaded, like a balloon. A furry, sweaty balloon.

  Four very tiny steps. One foot away from the iron fence, well within reach of my paws, too shaky to hold onto it. I am now looking straight down this cliff. I see bricks arranged down below the fence that stack all the way down into the blue abyss right below my feet.

  I become nauseous and dizzy, like I'm about to puke over the edge, now that I've recognized the reality of this place, especially after recalling what Jonas said earlier.

  'Our home is down towards the south end of the tower. I'll take you there once I give you a tour.'

  Stratosylum... is the tower.