Maki woke up with a groan, pressing her palm against her forehead. She could already feel a headache pulsating beneath her skin, and she tried to keep it at bay with some pressure. Her eyes were open, but everything was still mostly black. Staring up at the darkened contours of the ceiling, she could tell that she was lying on the floor. Why she was doing that, she couldn't recall. She needed to get up and figure out what was going on, or at least what time it was.
Her palm came off her forehead and she planted both of her hands on the ground, slowly pushing herself up onto her knees. That simple action nearly made her fall right back down, and her stomach quickly felt nauseous. Trying to push past that feeling, she finally got onto her feet and started walking towards the giant grandfather clock by her front door. While walking, she kicked something and sent it rolling into the abyss that her living room had become. She didn't see what it was, but the sound it made was glass-like.
The flickering light of a candle she didn't remember lighting allowed her to see the ticking face of the clock: two o'clock. What accursed happenings had her awake in the middle of the night? She must've been working on a composition. That was the sort of work that would keep her up burning the midnight oil well past its expiration date. The only issue was she couldn't remember what piece she may have been working on.
She felt drunk, and her sluggish movements gave credence to that thought. Turning away from the clock, she pressed her palm against her forehead again to try and stem the tides of the pounding drums in her skull. She needed something to quell her pain, so she went straight for the bathroom. In the medicine cabinet would be the items she needed.
When she pushed open the bathroom door, the first thing she noticed was that the bathtub was full of water. It was nearly overflowing, the darkness making it seem oil-like in substance. Frowning, she blinked a few times to see if the water would go away. It didn't. She went over to the bathtub and shoved her hand into the water, going down and pulling up the stopper to let the water drain. Then she turned on a lamp to give her some vision, barely remembering to not use her wet hand to turn it on.
Pulling open the medicine cabinet, she scanned through the bottles of pills and various hygienic products clogging the shelves. There was no debate on what she wanted, though. She grabbed the strongest bottle of pain medication she had, clumsily knocking several other bottles off the shelf and into the sink below. The headache was getting worse, so she didn't bother picking them up. Instead, she twisted off the top of the bottle and tried to get a pill into her open palm. Several pills fell out instead. Staring at them for a few seconds, she just shrugged and knocked back all three. That should help.
She stumbled out of the bathroom, leaving the open pill bottle on the edge of the sink. Her eyes were half-shut, desperate to close and take her back into blissful unconsciousness. The lack of knowledge on her latest composition kept her moving, though. She wanted to know what she had been working on. If she could just see the notes she surely had written, then she could sleep soundly that night.
She went to the music room, her sanctuary within her home. Turning the doorknob, she was blocked from entry due to the door being locked. Frowning, she stared at the doorknob, then tried again. Still locked. That was impossible. She didn't remember locking the door at all. The key must've been on her person then, but as she turned out her pockets, she was proven wrong. Her sanctuary was closed off, and she didn't know where the key was to unlock it.
She wracked her mind, swimming in unknown liquids of hours before, for where she might have left her key. If it was anywhere, it was likely in her study, which meant she needed to get up the stairs. Her nauseous stomach protested such actions, but she ignored it again. She walked away from the door and to the stairs, going up each step carefully. Even then, her imbalance threatened to send her back down to the start, head over heels.
When she finally ascended the stairs, she headed straight for her office. Thankfully those doors remained unlocked, and she entered with no problem. On her desk was the key she was searching for. Grabbing it, she pocketed it and went right back out. She was heading for the stairs when she saw that the room next to the stairs had its door open. A strange light was spilling out from it. It drew Maki over, and she skipped past the stairs and went into the room.
It was the bedroom of a young child. The dim light of a lamp showed darkened tones of pink and red on the walls and other personal affects. Children's toys were scattered around the floor. The haphazard nature of their placement made it appear as if the child had just been playing with all of it. A white rocking horse moved back and forth slowly with a quiet creaking window was shut, but the curtains were open, revealing the rain lashing silently against the glass outside.
Maki approached the small bed against the back wall, biting her lip as she got a better view of the lump hidden beneath the covers. There was a filter placed over the lamp, giving the room a strange, space-like glow. She didn't want to look at the bed anymore, but her body moved against her own will. Her hand grabbed onto the covers, gently pulling them down. All that was underneath them were two pillows and a stuffed lion.
"Kane..." A few tears slid unwanted down her cheek, her eyes unable to be pulled away from the empty bed. There was what appeared to be a piece of paper hidden underneath the stuffed lion, which she reached down to pick up and unfold. On it was a child's drawing. There were three figures, with the smallest one being in the middle. On its right was a stick figure with red hair, and on the left was a stick figure with hair that appeared to be a crude attempt at mixing yellow and brown. The sun was shining with its familiar rays in the corner, and grass was stricken in random green beneath them.
She couldn't bear to look at it anymore. Folding it back up, she left the drawing on the bed as she forced herself out of the room. She still needed to get back to the music room. It would all be okay when she was in her sanctuary. Down the stairs she went, forcing herself to not hurry down them to avoid taking an unnecessary tumble. It would do her no good to get down there with a broken neck.
Once she was down the stairs, she went straight for the music room, pulling out the key and unlocking the door with trembling hands. She pushed open the door and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her piano there. The great, grand piano, which had created the sounds of her best and most famous compositions, seemed clean and virtually untouched. She had gotten this fear that, despite the locked door, it had somehow been stolen from her. Thankfully that was not the case.
Approaching it, she gently ran a finger over the top, just to let her know that it was real and in her possession. She sat down on the bench, hoping that her most recent composition would be annotated and placed in the sheet holder, revealing the mystery to her. There were indeed music sheets in the holder, but they were blank. Though a title adorned the top - 'Revival in D major' - there were no notes annotated below. Frustratingly, no matter how long she stared at it, it remained blank.
Sheet music decorated the walls around her. The pieces of paper were tacked onto the walls, at times even nailed there. They were all major compositions she had written that she could play by heart, but they weren't the one she wanted. Anger overtook her, and in her frustration she slammed her fingers down on the keys. The sound they produced was discordant and rang hideously around the room. It seemed to take several minutes for the sound to die out, and Maki hid her face in her hands to mumble bitterly to herself.
When she finally pulled herself back up, she noticed a faint light outside of the room. It seemed so far away, perhaps even too far away with the architecture of her living room. Frowning, she stood up and walked towards the door, trying to get a better look without leaving the room. Though she was now closer, it still seemed to be the same distance away, with the rest of the living room completely shrouded in darkness.
Above the door, her eyes were drawn to something written on the wall. There were several music notes, with the words 'Can you feel remorse?' written in what appeared to be black paint. She shuddered at the words, though she didn't understand what they meant. It seemed like she was supposed to go to the light... If it would lead her to realization, then she didn't have any other choice. With trepidation, she stepped out of the room and into the darkness.
The living room was still completely dark as she walked towards the light. It freaked her out that she couldn't even make out the outlines of her furniture. Where had this advanced darkness come from? What happened to the light she'd left on in the bathroom? She pushed down the fear that was welling up inside her and kept walking towards the light. That was all she could do now.
When she reached the light, her heart seized up with terror. She wasn't in the living room anymore. The lamp that was emitting the light was on a nightstand in a hallway. When she turned around, there was only a wall behind her. Eyes wide, Maki looked up and down the hallway, feeling panic start to incapacitate her muscles. This was in no way the way she had been walking. How had she gotten there?
Instead of a door far behind her, there was one to her right. Immediately she seized the doorknob and tried to turn it, but the door was locked. Even though she pushed on it and banged on the wood with her fist, it remained unmoved. When she stepped back, there were more words painted above the door. 'Don't go back yet.'
Adrenaline now overrode her panic, and she turned to run down the hallway. Her previous instability hadn't left her, and she had only gotten halfway down the hall when she tripped and fell flat on her face. There was a quick, stinging sensation on her forehead, and both her panic and adrenaline dissipated as quickly as they had surfaced. All she could feel was confusion and steady, pulsating fear.
As she pushed herself up off the ground, she noticed what looked to be a letter in front of her. She snatched it up and looked over it.
'To Ms. Nishikino
While we appreciate your continued patronage to our university, your latest composition was an odd one, to say the least. Your skill once again has not been called into question, but your content was disturbing to our more light-hearted board members. Though we understand the incredible stress you must still be under, I'm afraid another composition of such morbidness will simply not be accepted here. I pray you take my words to heart and pull yourself together. There is only so much I can do here.'
The note was dated eighteen months ago. Reading it had begun to clear Maki's head, allowing painful, unwanted thoughts to flood her brain. Letting the note fall from her hands, she stood back up, looking out the windows. It was still pouring rain, and again the curtains remained open to reveal the nasty weather. A bolt of lightning struck down, illuminating the darkened stone courtyard. A small figure seemed to be standing there, facing the windows.
"Kane!" Maki rushed towards the windows, pushing her hands against the glass. She peered out into the storm, but the figure was gone. Shaking her head, Maki pulled back from the window and let out a shaky breath. She was sobering up enough to know that she was starting to lose it. How long her mind had been slipping from a stable state, she couldn't remember. She was steadily losing her motivation to even figure out the mystery of her last composition. All she wanted to do was wake up from whatever nightmare she had ended up in.
Her eyes drifted towards the previously locked door. There was someone standing in front of it: a woman in a peach nightgown. Her head was tilted down, but Maki didn't need to see her face to know who it was. "Ha... Hanayo?" The woman didn't seem to respond, but then she started to move forward, head still downcast. Her movements were somewhat jerky, like all of her limbs had stiffened. "Hanayo?"
Then she lifted her head, and Maki got a full view of the woman she loved. Her neck was twisted slightly, making her seem to face the wrong way. There was a perpetual frown on her once-smiling features, and her eyes were completely blackened, as if cratered. Despite there being no pupils in sight, Maki felt like she was being stared at. She whimpered, her hand starting to shake violently. Then the woman came after her.
Maki screamed and turned tail, running for the other end of the hallway. She looked over her shoulder, and seeing what had once been her beautiful wife staggering crookedly towards her made her scream again. It felt like a dream where she was being chased, and her body was encased in a form of fear that didn't exist in the waking world. If she had the time to think on it, she would've been begging, pleading with a higher power to have this be a dream that she could just wake up from.
As fast as she ran, it felt like she was wading through molasses. She didn't dare look over her shoulder again, but she was sure that Hanayo was catching up. Her desperation to escape pushed her to the end of the hallway, where she grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and pushed forward. Thankfully, it wasn't locked, and she fell headfirst into the room. She pushed herself up and whipped around to shut the door, but it was already closed.
"Huh?" She stood up on shaky feet, grabbing the doorknob again. It was locked, and when she pressed her ear to the door, she couldn't hear anything on the other side. This didn't make any sense to her. It was like she had no control over the very foundations of her own house. At least it matched with how she had no control over her sanity, it seemed.
She had ended up in Hanayo's study, as it turned out. There was dust coating every piece of furniture in sight, and honestly she couldn't remember the last time she'd entered it. Her nerves were on edge as she approached the desk, finding another piece of paper placed neatly on top of the dust. It wasn't another letter, however: it was a piece of sheet music. 'Revival in D Major' was written at the top, and the first section was filled with intricately-placed notes.
Maki's hands clutched the paper so tight, she was afraid her nails would tear right through it. This was it... There was no doubt this was what she had been working on. Only part of it was filled out, though. Had she not made any more progress? She was so sure she had... There had to be more. More of her work had to be somewhere in her house, though she didn't understand why none of it was in her music room where it belonged.
Maybe she just needed to get out of the house. That was another thing she couldn't remember last doing. Her wealth, though it dwindled from repeatedly dejected commissions, was still there, and she'd taken to paying people to purchase things for her rather than going out herself. Her reclusive nature was just part of her now, and she didn't like to think on what caused it in the first place. Considering what was going on, it was probably time to change that.
She went to the other side of the room and opened the door, preparing to find her way back to the living room. To her shock, she was looking right into the music room. Mouth agape, she looked back into Hanayo's study, then into the music room. Impossible... The rooms weren't even connected. There was no doubt about it: she was losing her god damn mind.
Without many other options, Maki returned to her sanctuary, the door closing behind her as she automatically went to her piano. She sat down on the bench and placed the sheet music in the holder, staring at it. Her fingers flexed above the keys, and soon she dipped them down onto the ivories, beginning to play the notes on the sheet. They were sad and haunting, echoing in the room and in her ears. Tears once again fell from her eyes, but she continued to play until there were no more notes left to play.
When the last note had finished reverberating off the walls, she heard the creaking of the door opening again. She looked up from the piano, though she barely dared to look. The hallway that stretched out before her was clearly not the living room that she had hoped it would be, but she wasn't surprised. Believing that things were going to just revert back to normal would be naive at this point.
Above the door, she expected to see the same words as before. However, there was a new message painted sloppily instead: 'Is there love in your music?' The messages were clearly meant for her, and she had a sinking feeling she knew what they were referring to. She wasn't going to pay them any more mind, however. If she could just escape from her house, she would be fine. A few breaths of fresh air would do wonders for her.
She got up from the bench and walked into the hall with more purpose than she'd shown at any other time that night. Her determination to escape this personal Hell was shining for the first time. However, it couldn't help but diminish as she walked down the hall. There were several paintings on the wall, and they all seemed to leer menacingly at her as she passed. Music notes were scrawled on the wall in black, the ink dripping down to the floor.
The door at the end of the hall led into the kitchen, a spacious and stocked area. Baskets of fruit were on every counter, and what seemed to be no less than sixteen empty wine bottles were all over the place. Maki accidentally kicked one bottle - make that seventeen - as she made her way in, looking around cautiously. Strangely, despite being surrounded by so much food, she wasn't hungry. She couldn't even remember when she last ate, which was a recurring theme with seemingly everything in her life right now. Maybe it was best that she didn't remember all of this stuff. She was already getting the feeling that knowing would be even worse for her psyche.
On the counter in the middle of the kitchen, mixed in with the cooking utensils, fruit, and wine, was a measuring scale. On the scale was a key, and Maki figured that she needed it to get out of the kitchen. She grabbed it and started to walk to the door, but when she reached it, the key was no longer in her hand. "What?..." There was no way she had becomethat insane. The key had been in her hand three seconds ago. She knew it was!
Going back to the scale, she was somehow both surprised and not surprised to find the key back on it. She absolutely had taken it from the scale, and she didn't know how it could've gotten back there. To experiment, she grabbed it again and stared at her hand. Sure enough, it began to vanish right before her eyes, appearing once more on the scale. If she hadn't been so far gone mentally, she would've just checked out completely and passed out right then and there.
Clearly she needed the key, but it was being obstinate. Something needed to be done about it. Maki thought on it, looking around the kitchen and hoping a solution would materialize in her brain. Then it hit her: she just needed to exchange the key for another item. Then the scale wouldn't lift back up, and the key would stay solid in her grasp.
She grabbed the closet thing to her, which was an apple, and performed the swap. The key went into her hand, and the apple replaced it on the scale. Then she stared at her hand, waiting for the key to disappear. It never did. For the first time since she woke up, she smiled, however faintly. She clutched the key and hurried to the door, unlocking it and pulling it open.
A hallway was now laid out before her. It was more brightly lit than any of the rooms she had been in before, which allowed her to see all the arrows drawn on the floor. They were white and pointing in various directions. Most of them were pointing into the next hall, but enough were pointing in different directions that Maki figured it wouldn't do her any good to follow them. She decided it was best to just go out into the next hall instead.
Out in the next hall, the arrows seemed to wither and die under the bright lights coming from multiple lamps and chandeliers. Childish scribbles covered a significant portion of the lower walls. There was grass and flowers of multiple colors, and a tiny laugh rang in Maki's ears as she set eyes on them. She gulped, continuing forward and trying to put the drawings out of her mind. There was yet another hallway, with multiple doors, but she decided to try the first door she came to. It swung open without resistance.
She walked into a very small room, with three other doors in front of her. More drawings were all over these walls as well. Besides the grass and flowers from the previous hall, there were clouds and a cute, fluffy lion on the wall to her right. In front of her was a drawing that was reminiscent of the one she'd found in Kane's room: three stick figures, holding hands with smiles on their simplistic faces.
Maki got a bad feeling immediately upon seeing that, but at the same time she found herself drawn towards that door. Tentatively touching the doorknob, she twisted it and tried to open it. Locked. Frowning, she left that door and went to her left, trying that door. It was also locked. Shaking her head, she turned towards the door that had originally been on her right. The cute scene that had been drawn on the wall was no more. All of the grass was on fire, and the flowers were in the process of wilting.
Her eyes widened in alarm, and she turned to the door that she'd originally entered from instead. It was gone. In its place was a large drawing of the lion, but its head had been torn off and left next to its body. She screamed and whipped back around to try and open the door in front of her again. It remained locked, no matter how many times she yanked on the doorknob.
Even though the fire was just artwork on the walls, the room felt increasingly warmer. She felt sweat start to drip from her face, and panic was guiding all of her actions. Her attention finally turned back to the door that she had been facing upon entering the room. The drawings of the stick figure family were still there, but there were now noticeable changes. There was fire that seemed to flicker up and down around them, despite just being a drawing. She could hear the flames crackling in her ears.
All of the happy faces were gone now. The smallest figure now had a sad face, and blue tears were drawn falling from its closed eyes. The figure with the brown and blonde hair was still smiling, but there were X's over her eyes, and trickles of red dripping down from its neck area. Finally, there was the redheaded figure. Its facial features were completely gone. It seemed to just stare at Maki, faceless and accusing.
Maki fell to her knees, covering her eyes to block out the sights she was being forced to see. "No, please... No, stop! No!" She started to sob openly, tears falling onto her palms as she begged for it all to stop. Then the air seemed to cool down, and she finally pulled down her hands. Through blurry eyes, she could see all the drawings melting away, as if someone had dumped a bucket of water on them. Three of the doors had vanished, leaving only the door in front of her. She slowly got back onto her feet, her walk shaky as she got to the door and opened it up.
She was back in Kane's room again. It looked exactly the same as it had been when she'd first entered it that night. The only difference was that the nightstand with a music box on it was now in the middle of the room. It had been next to the bed before, but somehow had changed places over the last... well, she didn't know how much time had passed since she'd started this fever dream of a reality.
Approaching the music box, she looked over it with a sad fondness. Kane loved the sound it made, and the little ballerina that would pop out and spin around as well. She started to turn the windup key, releasing it and watching as the little ballerina popped out of her box. The little figurine began to spin in slow circles as music filtered into the room, more sad and haunting than it should've been.
Maki closed her eyes, wishing that she could just re-open them and everything would be back to the way they were. That was the vain hope of the weak, though. Had she really fallen so low? She didn't want to believe that was the case. This wasn't who she was. She was not a woman driven to insanity. Her pieces, her art... It was beautiful, it was loved. Those things could bring back everything that she lost. She just couldn't lose herself as well.
Opening her eyes, the room started to spin around her. Or rather, she was spinning around the room instead. As the ballerina spun slowly around its pedestal, she spun along with it. She tried to move away, or to at least turn around, but she seemed to be rooted to the ground. There was no escaping this ride now.
As she spun around, artwork began to appear on the wall closest to her as the rest of the room disappeared into darkness. It was a familiar scene: there were three stick figures, then two, then only the redhead remained. They disappeared each time she spun around in a full circle. On the opposite side, something seemed to be coming out of the darkness. As it got closer, it appeared to be a soulless, grotesque-looking mannequin head. It was pale blue and staring at her with empty sockets, while several gaunt lion heads surrounded it.
Her mouth opened in a silent scream, and then she was spinning around at a much more rapid rate. She grabbed onto the nightstand and shut her eyes, trying to keep from growing too queasy. It felt like there was someone breathing hotly on her neck, but she didn't dare open her eyes to see who - or what - was doing it.
Even when everything had finally stopped spinning, she kept her eyes closed, as her brain hadn't yet registered that she had stopped moving. When she at last opened her eyes, the drawings and the grotesque heads were gone. Everything was back to the way it was. Shuddering, Maki tried to make her way to the bed, but collapsed immediately upon trying to walk forward. She had to crawl the rest of the way there.
Grasping onto the bed covers, she nearly yanked them to the floor as she dragged herself up onto the bed. Her actions moved the pillows and the plush lion to reveal a piece of paper. She figured initially it was the drawing she'd left behind earlier, but it wasn't folded up, and it was on white paper. Grabbing it, she realized that it was the second part of her most recent pieces. There was more than the previous part, with every note just as meticulously notated as before.
Clutching it in her hands, Maki went back to the door, having a feeling that she knew where she'd end up. Without hesitation, she opened the door, revealing her music room. Just as she'd expected. She walked into it and right to the piano, placing the new sheet over the previous one. Then she closed her eyes and began to play. The melody was just as haunting as before, but there was a swell that made the sounds rise in scope and intensity. It was like the whole room was being painted over with unrelenting turmoil.
The music ended, leaving her in silence once again. Though the door was closed, she knew that it would be unlocked. She would open it and walk out into another mutated part of her house, tortured by the sights of her failures twisted into nigh-unrecognizable form. Resting her arms on the keys, she hid her face in her hands, wondering if she could even make herself go through all of that again. It was too torturous.
She knew that she needed to do this, though. There were only two parts of her latest piece left to find. Once she found them, then things would be okay. She would be able to play it in its entirety, and it would do its trick. The memories of her writing the piece had come back to her: not the notes themselves, but the reasons for them. Music had always been such a huge part of her life. It was her talent, her livelihood. If she could just play something so unarguably perfect, then she could put everything back to the way it used to be. She just knew it.
Those were the thoughts that made her stand back up. The thoughts that made her walk to the door and observe the new message scrawled above it: 'Are you thirsty?' She shook her head hard, grabbing the doorknob and flinging the door open. Without bothering to look at where her new surroundings would be, she walked forward and let the door close behind her.
The hallway she walked down seemed to stretch on for ages. Every time she found a door, it would either be locked or would lead into yet another hallway. It eventually exhausted her. She panted and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, wishing she had a drink. Something, anything. The message above her music room door echoed in her mind, but she chose to ignore it.
Up ahead, she could see a small dresser with several bottles of wine on it. She made a beeline for it, grabbing one of the bottles and putting it to her lips. It was empty. Frowning, she set it down and grabbed the next one. That one was empty as well. Frustration started to take over as she practically shoved the third one in her mouth. Of course, it was empty.
"Ugh!" She slammed the bottle down, smashing it against the wood. The force knocked the other two bottles off, sending them to the ground, where they shattered as well. She yanked open the dresser drawer, hoping to find something to drink inside, but instead she found several cork openers, a pair of glasses, and a note.
'I'm scared, ||||||. She spends all night at the piano, drinking and playing. We haven't gone to bed together in weeks, and Kane is starting to have nightmares. If I have to leave... but I can't. I love her, |||||. Please, tell me what to do. I don't know what's going to happen if her next composition isn't purchased.'
Dropping the note back in the drawer, Maki backed away from it, covering her mouth with her hand. The nausea was starting to resurface. She ended up backing into the wall, and when she turned around she realized it was actually a door. Wanting to desperately escape the hallway, she opened it up and stepped inside.
She was in her office again, though it seemed more spacious than she remembered it. Approaching her desk, she expected to find something useful on it: a key, a note, whatever. There was nothing, though. Just the usual things she would find on her desk. There wasn't anything that was going to help her. Not even a drop to drink. It frustrated her, and she lashed out again, smacking her phone off of the desk. The force stung her hand, and she cradled it against her chest with instant regret.
As soon as the phone hit the ground, the phone itself fell out of the cradle and began to ring. It shouldn't have been ringing, and yet, there it was: ringing. Maki walked over to it and picked the phone up, putting it to her ear. There was no sound coming out of it. "Hello?" Still nothing. She put the phone back down, but it started to ring again. The ringing seemed to be coming from somewhere above her, though.
That didn't make any sense, though. Maki then looked up and gaped at the sight she saw. The ceiling was gone, and her office seemed to stretch forever into the abyss. There were multiple desks defying gravity up the walls, and bookcases as far as the eye could see. It was almost as dizzying as her previous venture into Kane's room.
The ringing now seemed to be coming from one of the bookcases, and she made her way over to it. It grew louder, but it was still behind an entire bookshelf. That wouldn't be too much of a problem, however. This particular bookcase was actually rigged up mechanically to move out of the way when a certain book was pulled. It was where Maki hid her most precious works to avoid them being damaged in any way. There also may have been a bottle or few hidden there on occasion.
She grabbed the book in question and pulled on it. The sound of gears began to turn behind the shelf, and then the entire thing shifted out of the way, revealing Maki's secret hideaway. What she usually kept in there was gone, however. In their place was a marble stand and a telephone, still ringing away. She picked up the phone, and again there was no answer. Again Maki hung up, and again the ringing continued in a different place.
It was coming from somewhere above her, and now there was a hallway behind the marble telephone stand. Maki rubbed her eyes, swearing that it hadn't been there just a second ago. It had just been a wall when she'd answered the phone. How was there an exit now? She'd certainly never commissioned it. Then again, she hadn't commissioned an infinite ceiling.
Walking down the hallway, she felt like she no longer had a will of her own. It didn't even occur to her to not walk down the hallway. Her feet just seemed to carry her that way without any input from her common sense. She likely would've done it anyway, but the fact that she couldn't even remember coming to a decision to do it concerned her. That didn't stop her from continuing on.
To her left was a staircase, and she walked up it to find the phone ringing on its stand again. She expected to get no response, and she was disappointed to find out she was right. The phone was slammed down into its cradle, harder than necessary, and she wasn't surprised to hear the ringing continue. So she continued on, until another bookcase blocked her path. It seemed to be the exact same as the one she had down below, so she quickly looked for the same book that opened up the other one. It was there, in the same place, and she pulled it.
The bookcase opened up, and Maki was immediately stopped in her tracks. She could see her office again, and it wasn't from ground level. Slowly she inched out of the staircase, standing on yet another bookcase and looking down at her office. She was a good distance away from the ground, and the sight seemed to give her almost instant vertigo. She hurriedly backed away, pressing her back to the wall and trying to steady her suddenly-wild breathing.
To her left was another passage, and she slowly sidled sideways towards it, her palms pressed flat against the wall behind her. She kept her eyes on the opposite wall, doing her best to not look down at the drop below. When she reached the passage, she stepped into it and sighed with relief, putting a hand on the wall to steady her breathing.
The ringing was getting louder, and she followed the short path to yet another phone. This time, when she picked it up, there was a voice on the other end. "Where did your muse go?" Then they hung up, with the phone falling out of Maki's hand. It hit the floor and shattered, leaving numerous pieces at her feet. A door suddenly appeared on her left, swinging open without any input from her.
The door led right back out to her office, though this time she seemed to be even higher up than before. She had looked down without any hesitation, and vertigo threatened to drop her right to her knees. There was a faint ringing sound, coming from down on the ground floor. She needed to get down there and answer the phone. There was some kind of haze filtering into her brain, and she barely registered the sensation of her feet slipping. She hardly even saw the descent.
Maki felt no pain when she came crashing to the ground. Everything went black, but it didn't feel like any time had passed before she was staring up at the never-ending ceiling again. Groaning, she pushed herself up onto her feet and tried to orient herself towards the ringing. When she got there, however, there was no phone. Instead, there was a music sheet lying on the ground. The ringing stopped as soon as she saw it.
She picked it up, but she was so tired. Any energy she may have had was completely zapped. The headache that had disappeared was coming back, and she just wanted to go back to the bathroom and swallow more pills. She knew that the chance of any door leading to where she wanted to go was slim, however. Now that she had the third part of her composition, she knew where she would end up anyway.
Exactly as expected, the door out of her office led back into the music room. Calmly, numbly, she again went to the piano bench and sat down upon it. She put the music sheet in the holder and played the notes on it, though there was no enthusiasm to her playing. In fact, she barely even registered the sounds in her mind. It was just a chore to complete, and her desire to finish it off was dwindling fast.
When silence once again drowned the room, she stood up automatically, eyes going up above the door to see what cryptic message she'd be cursed with that time. However, there was nothing. The flames of the candles flickered in her periphery, but nothing appeared above the door. She went over to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.
That wasn't right. It had been unlocked every other time. She turned back to her piano, and it was gone, as well as the entire room. It was her office that greeted her this time, which put her right back on edge. The apathy that had grown stronger within her was pushed to the side. Instead, she felt on edge again. She cautiously went to her office door, opening it and looking at what place she'd end up next.
It was the second floor landing, just like it was supposed to be. Maki blinked once, twice, waiting for the scene to melt away before her eyes. It never did, though. Things were exactly the same as they should be. That just left her more on edge, however. She carefully left her office, only to have a quiet yelp draw her attention. Looking towards the stairs, she saw two people standing there, obscured by shadow.
"Please, stop! You're... You're drunk!" The familiarity of the voice hit her, and Maki found herself running to the stairs. She threw herself down the first set of stairs, and the shadows vanished. There was only one person standing there now, backing towards the edge of the stairs with wide, scared eyes. "No, please! I'm sorry!"
"Hanayo!" Maki rushed towards her, reaching out to grab her hand. Though her mind commanded her body to grab, she watched in horror as her hand grabbed at nothing but air. Hanayo was falling backwards, and though she tried to grab her, to stop her from falling, it made no difference. Her cries echoed in Maki's mind as she tumbled down the stairs. "Hanayo!"
As her body hit the last step, it turned into shadow and disappeared, leaving the entire house seemingly devoid of sound. Maki stared at where she had been with tears forming in her eyes, breathing heavily. No, it wasn't her who was breathing that loudly. Whipping around, she found Hanayo standing behind her, but with that same horrifying appearance from earlier. She reached forward and grabbed Maki's shoulders.
Maki screamed, falling backwards as Hanayo pushed against her. She fell down the stairs, Hanayo's horrid visage disappearing from view as she slammed into every step on the way down. When she hit the ground, pain seemed to surge through her entire body. The faint sound of a piano could be heard as she turned herself onto her stomach. She could see the fourth and final music sheet on the ground in front of her, surrounded by empty, blood-splattered wine bottles.
It took all of her effort to crawl over to it, knocking aside bottles as she grabbed at it. However, it disappeared right before she could get a hold of it. "No..." Everything she tried to get a hold of slipped just out of reach. She needed that sheet of paper. Nothing would return to normal if she didn't have it. She... She needed more pills. It wasn't just for a headache anymore: her entire body ached from her trip down the stairs. However long she'd been running through her own house, the pain medication had clearly worn off. She needed more.
It was agonizing to crawl all the way to her bathroom, but she didn't feel strong enough to trust her sore feet. She dragged herself there, taking what felt like hours before she finally reached the door. At that point, she had to force her hurting self up onto her feet, so she could reach the doorknob and open up the door.
As soon as she got inside, she surged forward and clutched onto the sink for support. The floor was slippery, and Maki could see that the bathtub was overfilled with a reddish liquid. She grabbed the pill bottle she'd left out and poured two more pills into her hand, which she swallowed down without hesitation. Then she left the bathroom, being as careful as she could to avoid slipping on the wet patches. Somehow she had to find that fourth part of her piece.
Though she stayed upright until she exited the bathroom, the moment she reached the living room, her foot hit a bottle and she went crashing down. There were empty - assumedly - bottles all over the living room, seeming to surround her from every direction. Crawling on her hands and knees, she knocked bottles out of her way, though she didn't know where she was going. The sound of running water came from behind her.
She turned around to find the reddened water seeping out from under the door, spilling into the room. That kicked her brain into the high gear, or at least as high as she could make it now. She got back onto her feet, her walk unsteady as she headed for the stairs. Looking over her shoulder, she could see the water filling the room at a rate much too fast to be possible. It was filling every part of the area and heading straight for her.
She went up the stairs, her movements slowed by the aches and pains threatening to take her down. Grasping onto the railing, she could see the entire living room had been submerged in water, and it was lapping at the first step. Her heart was pounding as she tried to climb up the stairs, but her body was giving out. With a sinking feeling, she realized that she wasn't going to make it.
Up the stairs, she could see Hanayo standing there, staring at her with a pitying expression. Maki reached out for her, but she couldn't reach. "Hanayo... Help me..." There was no response. All she did was blink and stare. "I love you... Please..."
"I know you did." Then she faded away, leaving Maki alone on the staircase. The water had risen up the stairs, covering her from the waist down. She kept reaching up towards where Hanayo had been standing, screaming as the water kept rising.
"Hanayo! Hanayo!"
She remembered drowning. There was nothing but water everywhere, stifling her senses and leaving her strangely hollow. Then she was swimming, though she couldn't remember putting in the energy to do it. Parts of her house appeared and vanished as she moved through what seemed to be endless corridors. The grandfather clock was still in the living room, its face smashed and its parts littering the floor. Inside of the now-empty face was the final piece of sheet music, which she grabbed out of there.
It was all a distinct memory to her, yet she couldn't remember doing any of it. All she knew was that she ended up coming back into consciousness on the floor of the living room, dry and with the sheet clutched to her chest. She started to crawl towards the music room, each movement sending sharp pain shooting up and down her body. It was so tempting to just lay there and disappear, like Hanayo had, but she kept pushing herself. This was to bring Hanayo back. She was going to make everything right again.
Enough strength returned to her that she was able to stand up, slowly shuffling into the music room. The door swung shut behind her as she sat down on the bench, hissing at the pain even that caused. She shakily sorted her music notes out so that she could see all of the papers, and then she began to play. Music filled the room as she hit each note with deft precision, refusing to allow herself to make even a single mistake. Memories flooded her brain as she played, but she didn't let them distract her. They fueled her instead. She was going to do it this time: she was sure of it.
As she played the haunting melody, a ghostly form shimmered into existence next to her. Maki didn't stop playing - she couldn't stop playing - but she stared at it with a hopeful expression. No longer did she need to see the notes she had written, for the memory of the piece took hold of her fingers and played without error. She held her gaze on the spectral form of her wife, desperate to keep her there forever more.
When she finished playing, and the music stopped, the ghostly figure slowly vanished. She stared at the spot where she had been standing, waiting for something to change: waiting for her to come back. She held her breath as the seconds ticked away, her vision shifting between the spot and the door. Nothing happened: she didn't return. Not willing to believe it, she stood up and went to the door, opening it and looking out into the living room. Everything still looked the same. The wine bottles were still scattered all over the floor, and the atmosphere felt the exact same. Her composition had failed... again.
Visibly deflating, Maki slowly walked back over to her piano, sitting down on the bench and grabbed the music sheets out of the holder. She crumbled them up and tossed them to the side, the papers falling onto a growing pile. Hints of the words 'Revival in D Major' could be seen on each one. Sighing to herself, tears prickled at the edges of her eyes as she grabbed her pen and several blank sheets. Putting the pen to paper, she wrote 'Revival in D Major' at the top.
The candles burned low as she again wrote the notes that she was sure would make everything return to normal.