Green eyes flitted across the painting in front of them, trying to take in every detail of the masterpiece. The owner of these eyes found that this particular piece was their favorite out of the entire gallery. It didn't exactly catch their attention right away, considering that their thoughts were currently occupied with something other than the artwork, but the longer they looked at it the more they grew to like it. The painting was simply titled 'Selfless Guard' and everything blended together well.

The pair of eyes glanced to their left to see what their friend was currently occupied with. The petite ginger haired girl was currently looking between the coughing man and her notebook which she furiously scribbled in. This girl's name was Sophia Grant and she was an art major at the nearby college. The owner of the green eyes was Sophia's best friend Cecilia Monroe, and she was drug by her friend to this art gallery. Not that she was complaining, even though Cecilia wasn't an art major she absolutely loved art galleries.

Cecilia tapped her friends shoulder, earning a startled squeak from her. Sophia turned her hazel eyes toward her friend and gave her a disapproving look. Cecilia gave her an apologetic smile and spoke up " Sorry about that but I thought it would be nice to inform you that I am currently in need to empty my bladder and I'll be back".

Sophia shook her head at her friend " Okay just...try not to surprise me like that, Ceil. You know that I startle easy".

" And I am dearly sorry about that Sophie but if you'll excuse me I need to find a restroom".

Sophia dismissed her friend and went back to the painting. Cecilia walked towards the nearest restroom and to take care of her business. She sadly had to wait in line, and she started to feel like she would burst. When it was finally her turn she rushed to a stall. After everything was taken care of she went to wash her hands, the lights abruptly shut off leaving Cecilia in a dark room. Stepping out of the bathroom it was brought to her attention that the line was just gone. Not a single person was in sight and a walk down the halls proved her assumption that something was not right here.

She was confused and slightly frightened but forced herself to stay calm, which was proving to be a more difficult task by the minute. Normally being a very placid person it was rare for Cecilia to loose her composure and she wasn't planning to change that any time soon. Deep breathes Cecilia, just like mother taught you. The hallway just seemed to get longer and darker by the minute until it finally came to a stop at a set a of stairs. She wasn't quite sure if descending these stairs was a good idea. Mulling over all of her options she decided that this might be her only chance to figure out what was going on.

Please, please, please let this just be a dream, once I reach the bottom I'll just wake up in my nice warm bed. None of this silly gallery stuff has happened. I'm dreaming its as simple as that.

The steps led to a hallway with a small table holding a vase with a single green rose in it. Something compelled Cecilia to pick it up and place it in her breast pocket, the little flower gave her some amount of peace knowing that at least something seemed to be alive in this place. Continuing down the hall she stumbled across a room with many paintings hanging on the walls. She recognized most of them from the gallery and only a few were ones she hadn't seen before. On the right side of the room there was a single dark door. Her legs got her over to it quickly only to discover it was locked. Sighing in frustration she searched the room for some type of key.

After searching every nook and cranny of the room there was still no sign of the key. She was now ready to give up her search altogether and just wait to wake up from this damn nightmare. The only sign of a key in this room was a painting of the lady in red with a key dangling around her neck. At first it struck her as odd seeing as the same painting in the gallery had no such thing included in it but this whole experience was rather odd so she just brushed it off. Cecilia ran her fingers across the painting in contemplation, her fingers suddenly felt something cold to the touch. Snapping out of her revere she gripped the key and and gave it a tug. It landed gently in her hands and she smiled slightly.

Turning on her heel towards the door, she was ready to leave this room. Her walk towards the door was interrupted though by the sound of a crash and a thump. She jerked her head to look behind her, she was met with the sight of the lady in red painting crawling towards her at an alarming rate. The painting gripped her by the ankle causing her to fall to the ground. The painting clawed at her leg, Cecilia kicked and struggled to get away from it. Finally breaking away from it she hopped to her feet and and fumbled with the key. When the click of the lock could be heard she rushed to get the door open. The lady in red was fast approaching and was only a few inches away from her.

Having gotten the door open Cecilia swiftly moved through the opening and slammed the door.

Glancing down at her legs she took in to account the various cut and scratches from where she was grabbed. A small amount of red liquid ran down to her ankles wiping the liquid away with her hands, she flinched somewhat from the contact leaving a stinging sensation, she brought a hand to her face. The liquid was blood, her blood.

One thought rang clear in Cecilia's mind and it frightened her to even think about it.

This wasn't a dream.