The Lost Dimension: Sarah's Mind Maze

The first time I went out in the city, I had to admit that it was everything I imagined. The lights of the city were so bright and colorful. It was like a rainbow had erupted in the sky and spilled over into the streets. The buildings reached into the starry night sky like towering giants. People walked past me, talking and laughing with their friends or lovers. They brushed against me as they passed, not even giving me a second glance.

I'd spent my whole life in a small town. Everyone knew everyone else's business and talked about them behind their backs if they didn't know it already. There was no escape from the gossip, there was nowhere to hide from your mistakes. But now, as I stood on this street corner with people bustling all around me, I felt free for the first time in my life.

It was getting late and most of the shops were closing up. I should probably head back to my hotel room soon before it got too late, but something caught my eye; a glowing sign in an alleyway leading to a nightclub. This city was full of strange places like this - secret bars hidden down alleyways and speakeasies disguised as laundromats or bookshops - but something about this particular one drew me towards it like a moth to a flame.

I approached the entrance and peered inside through the glass door at the other end of the alleyway, but all I could see were flashing lights and blurred bodies dancing to thumping music. Someone bumped into me from behind, nearly knocking me off balance, and shouted an apology at me over his shoulder as he disappeared into the chaos beyond the door. I took a deep breath to try to steady myself and followed after him into the club.

The moment I stepped through the door, everything changed so abruptly that it made me dizzy for a moment. The bright lights dimmed suddenly until all that remained on every wall was a single red lightbulb surrounded by empty darkness. The music still buzzed loudly in its own way, but now it sounded more like distant static than any kind of recognizable tune or rhythm. The dance floor turned into a stage lit by rows of spotlights circling overhead while groups of hooded figures dressed in black robes gathered around it in various states of attention or repose. One figure sat on an intricately carved wooden throne higher than any of the others staring at me with cold eyes that shone yellow in the light of a flickering candle between us as two goons dragged another hooded figure up onto his stage before handing him over to be tortured by thin metal rods that emerged from what looked like holes in his chest where his ribs used to be.

I stumbled backwards away from them towards one wall trying not to attract any attention from anyone else there as I tried to process what I'd just seen, when suddenly my mind began playing back memories from my childhood; times with my parents before they died in some sort of accident involving an exploding gas tank, holidays with friends back home before everyone began treating me strangely because they thought I was crazy and always trying to avoid me whenever possible like I might infect them with whatever social disease I seemed to have contracted...I felt my mind beginning to overload and begin melting down until finally something snapped inside my head and suddenly everything became clear again as if someone had flipped on a switch inside my mind that turned off all these strange visions and brought me back to reality again as if nothing had happened...except now everything seemed darker somehow than before...and then-

*Bang!*