It's a mystery I'll solve later. By myself. WHO: Gladys Wesker WHAT: Very short drabble involving the word/concept "flashlight". RATINGs: PG-13? Violence against animals. Noncanon, obviously.
Boredom.
Nobody truly enjoyed the feeling, but she despised it. She filled her life with things that would stimulate her -- from her parrot, Turret, to her occupation, to her odd hobbies and habits. All of them were intended to keep her moving. Functioning. Learning. Continuing.
Unfortunately, not always could she escape the mind-dulling boredom that humanity seemed to offer.
Sleep sometimes was evasive to her, to the point she wouldn't realize if she'd gone three days without it, and there was no perceptible change in her behavior. Eating also could be quickly forgotten (despite her propensity to bake. Her house could be filled with delectable treats that she rarely got around to eating...), to the point her friends seemed to wonder if she was ill. But she was not ill -- this was just how she was. She shook off their concerns, and had fallen into the habit of just pretending she did these things. Less questions to answer. Easier.
Fairly recently, she had taken a new hobby for when boredom pressed.
It was simple, really. She'd had a table made, much like a child's train set table, with a large lip and a hollow space. However, the inside was full of pegs, and she was armed with plenty of metal pieces to slip into the grooves. It was quick and easy to set up a maze, intricate and looping. Something easy to comprehend from above, in a position of power. But so confusing, baffling, and tormenting to those she put in them.
She'd buy charming little white mice to run her mazes, but unfortunately, they did not really draw her attention as she might have liked. They were stupid, brainless creatures, and without motivation, they would simply go to sleep.
Yes, they needed ... motivation.
That was something she could provide.
She found that if she placed noise-making items in the maze (simple devices she'd created herself. It wasn't at all difficult), the mice would startle and continue moving. Telling the mice that there was a prize at the end was pointless, they didn't understand the concept.
The mice were entirely too boring, really...
This is why she’d decided to make it a little more interesting.
Reaching above her table, she flicked the last light on (she had multiple flashlights, suspended from the ceiling, to intensify the light and disorientate her subject). They were old, heavy things, these flashlights. She stuck her hand below them, and was pleased to note the heat radiating off of them. She ran her fingers across the now mirrored floor, feeling the heat intensify.
Shifting away from her table, she selected her first subject. She smiled, running her fingers across the soft fur; delighted by the way it shivered and squirmed in her grasp, before dropping it in the middle of her maze. The creature was disoriented, spinning in tight circles for a moment, before moving out into the maze.
She hit her stopwatch the second it touched the mirror, before reaching out to hit a switch on the side of her table. Underneath the mirror, of course, she'd laced radiant heating wires. But, of course, with a little modification, they would heat higher than the degree of warm feet.
To this creature, in approximately three minutes, it would be similar to walking on fire.
In five minutes, she doubted it would be able to move.
In less than seven, it would be dead.
Her smile stretched as watched it run, as it began to give up. As it began to cry, squeaking and groaning in pain. The smell of burning didn't bother her, at least not as much as it delighted her. The entire maze was aglow, a pleasant orange that reminded her of a computer on standby. The power buttons always glowed the loveliest shade of orange...
Eventually, her subject slowed, sinking down. Movements stopped. She paused, watching it for a long moment, before she hit her stopwatch and turned off the switch. Only five minutes, 43 seconds, 2.3 milliseconds. How...
Disappointing.
Usually they fought much longer than that.
She moved to the table, cleanly documenting how far her subject made it through her maze, how it reacted to its constraints. How up until its last breath, it had continued searching for the way out...
By the time she finished, the table had cooled again. Enough for another subject. She glanced at the case holding her remaining subjects -- another ... 34.
There was much more research to be had...
Selecting her tongs, she reached in to remove her subject, tossing it in the garbage. It had been a valiant effort, really. It had never stopped searching, despite it all...
Dark smile playing across her face, she reached in for another subject. These mice could not complain about her experiment, and that was the one thing she almost wished she could hear. How terrible it was, what they were experiencing... How unfair it seemed.
She placed the subject down, reaching to turn on the switch once more, a laugh escaping her as once again, her subject wandered out towards its ultimate demise.
Poor thing would never realize there was no exit, would it?
She hit her stopwatch as the test once again started.
Well ... she could still learn much from this flawed experiment. And besides, this subject was far too stupid to realize it had no hope of escape. She would be able to watch it, and others like it, attempt indefinitely.
Eventually, she'd learn enough to expand her experiment.
But for now -- she paused, noting a flashlight flickering. She gingerly leaned forward to tap it, which steadied the beam -- this would be enough.