"Hmm," said Ethan suspiciously, "most of the accused tend to say they're innocent, until there's no chance for them to escape."

He stroked his facial hair in a very contemplative way and eyed the four, one-by-one. Truth be told, none of them looked completely innocent to the prison veteran; he could imagine each one committing some sort of heinous crime, but that was probably his prior experience speaking.

"Well, still, I don't think none of 'ya deserve to be locked up in this cell here... Nothing I can do about it though. If I knew how to get out, I'd be long ways from here." Ethan's voice was nonchalant, as if talking about being trapped in a prison cell and escaping was a casual topic.

Finally done with the smalltalk, Ethan resorted to his bed, turning away from four. He didn't plan on sleeping yet, but he was done with talking to the four and he figured they would no longer talk to him if he had his back turned or looked as if he was sleeping.

After a few moments of silence, Ethan's eyes closed unconsciously and took the man into slumber, against his will, without him remembering when exactly they nabbed him of the day.

[center][i]A few hours later...[/i][/center]

It was dark; nighttime had assumed full reign of the place. There was little light other than that all too familiar hum of white from the scarcer fluorescent lights in the ceiling and the soft, white moonrays slithering their way into the room.

Ethan's eyes had opened again, his body no longer facing away from the others, and he observed the four in the other cage. Of course, his vision was not the best because of the traces of sleep still weighing down his eyelids, but still his eyes observed. What the four prisoners were doing was hard to gather from in the dim environment. Perhaps one was sleeping? Another thinking? It was difficult for Ethan to tell, but he could at least make out the blurry figures and colors in the other prison cell.

He shifted a bit in the bed. The bed was not by anyone's standards comfortable, and such Ethan actually shifted around quite a bit to ease his tense muscles and aches. The cumbersome bed had been the worst of that day, which Ethan was grateful for. No other funny business had happened so far, which was a-okay in his book. Ethan frowned; he'd better not make such fortunate assumptions so soon, for he knew better.

Then, just as if on cue, the guards came in, four of them as per their routine. Only, instead of coming in-and-out, they made their way over to the jail cells. One opened the cell door of the other four, and one opened Ethan's door. They began shouting like malevolent dictators, shaking any of the prisoners from sleep, if any were asleep that was.

"Get up!" one yelled.
"Follow us!" blared another.
"And don't try any funny business," remarked the third. Was that a catchphrase of his? DId anyone really find imprisonment funny?

Regardless, the guards corralled the five and led them out of the holding room, handcuffing them all behind their backs before heading out. Again, the prisoners were greeted by gray walls, gray floors, gray ceilings, white lights. Obviously, their interior design choices must have been intentional for them to keep up such a color scheme. A right turn here, through a door there, another turn, another door, down a long hall, into a door on the side. A descendent of Daedalus and Icarus must have designed the prison; such a labyrinth it was.

Finally, after some time of travel, like earlier that day, they arrived in a very atypical room. For one, the color scheme was different, although only slightly. The once dull, light gray was replaced by a much darker, somber relative, but other than that, the room was styled like the rest of the building or maze or whatever it was. The furnishings was rather bare. In fact, in that room there was nothing but another door across the way. What was the point of an empty room?

"The captain just got a call from the chief investigator," explained one guard, "Apparently, things are more serious than we thought, so interrogations have to happen a lot sooner than originally planned. This is the, erm, 'waiting room'. You'll be taken one-by-one into the next room over where you'll be interrogated."

Really? A waiting room? Did the facility double as a doctor's office?

"Wait, why did you guys bring me then?" Ethan inquired a bit defiantly. Tension could be felt; there must have been bad blood between the guards and the man.

"You know why," sneered a second guard snidely. If the exchange had been in a western movie, the guard would have spit at that point.

"Actually, you got the honors of going first, champ," sarcastically spoke a third who took ahold of Ethan and led him into the next room. As the guard exited, he turned around and pointed threateningly at the four, waiting prisoners, "And don't try any funny business."

The four prisoners were left in the waiting room with three other guards. One stood guarding the door into the hall, the other two stood on either side of the line of prisoners.

At first, all was quite boring and simultaneously nerve wracking. Then, a very unsettling sound occurred. One that convoluted most stomachs and shocked most listeners, or perhaps one that merely surprised them. It came from the other room.

[i]Bzzzt![/i]

"Agghhhh!"

Things were getting interesting.

[i]BZZZZZT![/I]

[i][b]BZZZZZZZZT!!![/b][/i]

The lights crackled and then burned out. The guards gasped. The windowless room was now completely dark; no one could see.

At this point, the prisoners had a few choices: they could remain still and obedient, try to escape, or do whatever else one decides to do under custody in a lightless room with three guards and a neighboring room that could be hiding some dark things.