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At one time or another, you find yourself alone in a hallway moving toward a dark, empty room.

As you enter the room, there are always questions. The room is new to you, but has anyone been there before? Who was the last person to enter the room, set a lamp in the corner and watch the darkness retreat into shadow? Perhaps no one has been in that particular room before, providing a better explanation of why it looks and feels empty, perhaps even lonely, but still new.

Normally when you enter that room, you have things that you’ve brought with you. Items and people attached to memories to fill the room. Sometimes things are left behind. You wish with all your heart that you could have brought them with you. Perhaps they will arrive later on their own, those lost people and things. Of course, there is no rule against finding new things and new people to fill the room. But to begin with, there is only your dark, empty room, waiting to be filled. Once you choose to enter the room, all that can be done is occupy and fill it.

After a room has been filled with things and people, it may become very comfortable, so comfortable that you have no reason or want to leave. For some, the things and people filling the room become overwhelming, causing despair that you are trapped inside with the walls beyond your reach. For others, the desire to find and fill a new dark, empty room is a powerful motivation.

There is a rule, the only real rule, that says you can never go back, only forward, so if you must find another dark, empty room, you must find a way out to reach it. Sometime there is a door to the next room, or a door to a hall leading to it. Sometimes there is no door, forcing you to smash through the wall or otherwise invent a door suitable for opening and leaving the old room behind. But no matter how you exit the old room, once done, the way back is forever closed, and you find yourself alone in a hallway moving toward a dark, empty room.