Part Two: Mementos and Medals

My heart continued to pound with anticipation. As strange as it sounds, I've been anxious to start exploring this place, while still a little afraid. Not afraid of anything that may be in there, regardless of how dangerous or what violent beings may come. I'm more afraid of the idea of being perpetually lost in the dark. When I poked my head through the bars to look down the corridor, I did not see very much in the distance. On the left, there was a long hall of decomposed cells, just like my own, until there came a large metal door. On my right, nothing but darkness, mist, and snow entered through, followed by a cold breeze that made me shiver back into my cell.

The doll still had their sights locked onto me as I hopped back onto my bed and wrapped myself in a blanket. Honestly the blanket was just as cold as I was, so it didn't have a very big effect. I don't think beds keep you warm outside in the winter of December.

"Aww… Are you cold?" the doll suddenly perked. They hadn't moved at all since I had pulled down that ivy, so they looked like the carcass of someone who had been stabbed by Michael Myers and they thrown into a blender. It's very spooky material.

But of course I'm cold! Luckily I was too tired out to lose any patience as I usually do. So instead I nodded as another breeze passed through the room, bring flakes of snow in with it and nearly blowing the blanket away. They smiled and heaved their unscathed arm over to flip themself onto their belly, then lifting their arm to point at one of my drawers. "He he! There's something special waiting for you under that bed! Charity didn't have time to put it under your Christmas tree, so she smuggled it right to you!" they told me. I wasn't very surprised that they moved on their own, since they could already talk and that I'm a mawile. It didn't impress me as much as I thought it would.

I just nodded and pushed my blanket aside and hopped off my bed, hitting my jaws onto the frame on my way down on accident. It stung a little, but I didn't feel as much pain as I'd expect from the impact. Ignoring the pain and the giggles from the doll, I began to take a look into my drawers to see what they were trying to give me. My bed is one of those "storage bed" that have a bunch of drawers instead of an empty space for monsters to hide inside of. Usually I keep all my old stuff in there: HESS trucks, old books and electronics, Nerf guns, and other stuff from my childhood that I hold on to. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. All of my stuff was still there, dust and childs toys. Then I opened the cabinet that usually held my toy guns, but it was empty. A layer of dust covered the wood and made me sneeze. "Bless you!" the doll shouted, followed by a giggle. I just glanced at them and nodded while asking myself why I sneeze so loud. "By the way, have you found it yet? Oh! I can't wait to see what it is!" Their smile reminded me of how I probably looked when I saw all those presents under the Christmas tree every year as a child. I shook my head and clenched my fist, trying to wave the memories away. They were too haunting for a situation like this.

So I reached into the cabinet and felt around until my hand came across a soft surface. I firmly grasped it and took it out, careful not to cover it in dust. When I held it into the light, my scarf was revealed. I didn't know why it was here, but it looked brand new with the exception of the little bit of dust particles scattered all over it. I blew all the dust off of the scarf. It was definitely mine, my favorite one at that. It was a dark gray with black and red stripes vertical along the whole thing.

I heard a soft gasp and the doll spoke once more. "Ohh! It's so pretty!" they said with their head tilted. I just stared at them blankly. "Well go on! I want to see you wear it! Pleaase!" Oh. Right. I zoned out for a moment there like I always do. It happens a lot to me, especially in classes when I'm bored. Other times that's the reason why most information given to me is filed and locked away in an eternally locked file cabinet that I have in my head for only I have the key, but I rarely check it.

Anyway, I held the scarf in front of me and blew the dust off and watches it delicately fly from the occasional breeze that kept me chilled. I shivered one last time and wrapped the scarf around my neck and somehow managed to adjust it into a comfortable position with my first try. Normally I can never seem to get it right but this time it slipped right on as if I were a natural.

Immediately I felt no cold anymore, nor heat. My sense of temperature just disappeared and I felt just fine. "He he he!" the doll giggled, seemingly to have my attention, which they attained like they wanted. It didn't take long to figure out, because they are opening their mouth to speak once more. Gosh, it's impressive how much they'll talk to someone quiet like me. "It looks so nice on you! Do you like it? Because I sure do!"

I just stared at them for a moment in awe, and then nodded. "Yeah. I do. A lot." No idea why my spirit is so low. I still can't believe this is real honestly. Initially I thought I would be more enthusiastic about being in a situation like this, but apparently not. I still feel like I just rolled out of bed and have school in the morning. And I'm sure we all know that grim feeling. Since I'm speaking again, I should think of something else to ask. This doll is telling me that I need to explore on my own, but there has to be some sort of goal or motive along with this besides exploration. "U-Um… S-So what am I supposed to be doing right now? I know you told me to explore, but what else?"

The doll's smile lingered. If anything they seemed happier to answer. "He he! Just go on ahead! Come find me, and I'll be your guide!" they replied with a grin, before resting their head on the dusty floor and shutting their eyes. I went closer to listen, and just as I had thought, I heard slow… breathing? I didn't know dolls breathe. They're definitely sleeping though, not bothered at all by their "wounds".

I'm very bad at following directions. I'm bad at a lot of things, really. Not following directions is another big one, especially when I don't have it written down or if it's not very specific. Here I have neither, so hopefully I can figure it out on my own this time.

I took a deep breath and stepped out of cell. Immediately I breathed something in and felt an irritation in my throat and started coughing. I panicked because I couldn't stop and jumped back into my cell. Once I coughed it all out and took a few breaths, I stood at the edge of my cell and peered down the hall. It was clearly the vast amount of dust, snow, and mist in the air that is just a pain to go through from all the coughing one would have to do.

I adjusted my scarf and immediately felt like an idiot. My scarf! Of course! How could I forget that I have this thing, I literally just got it!

After thinking for a moment, I just chose left since it seems as if it's calling to me. And it's the closest so I don't have to walk far in this murky place. I pulled my scarf up and tightened it to cover my mouth and nose before stepping out once more. As I had hoped, my scarf protected me from all that coughing nonsense so I could keep going.

I approached the left area with caution, or at least I thought I was. I took another step and I found myself losing my balance and sliding down a slippery slope… face-first. I panicked, shut my eyes, and began flailing my arms around until I got some air time for a split second and came crashing down into something soft, rolling onto my back and putting my jaws in a really uncomfortable position.

When I reopened my eyes, I was sitting in a deep pile of snow, with more snowflakes coming down above me and gusts of wind blowing it just above my head. I sighed, stood up, and nearly slipped and went tumbling off of a really high cliff that I just realized I was standing on. I must've been pretty lucky I landed in the snow and not down there.

I stepped away from the edge and looked around the area. I must be very high up in a mountain. There was fog and mist as far as the eye could see, and below the fog was a long forest of healthy pine trees that blanketed the ground. Although it was snowing, no sky was visible. It was just completely black up in the sky, as if nothing existed beyond. It was oddly scary to look at. Just one huge void standing above me at all times. It's like the same way I'm afraid of those pesky storm clouds that roll in on those hot summer evenings. At least there was no lightning.

Once I finished observing the scenery, I turned and began walking up the slope, careful not to slip and fall to my doom. It was tough to trudge through all this snow since I'm so small. At one point, it was up to my chest and had to start pushing through it in order to even move. And dragging my jaws through all this was even more of a chore. I can't quite get it to lift any higher and it keeps holding me back and putting unnecessary weight on me throughout the whole trek.

Eventually I came across another cave entrance and made haste to get inside. I brushed off all the snow and shook the rest off of my jaws. It just feels like powder getting stuck to you when you can't feel the cold. I took one last glance outside, and then back into the cave.

It looked like some sort of mineshaft. There were broken and mutilated rails all across the floor, as well as some nasty dents extending all the way down the hall. Ahead was a split path again. Well kind of. Only that the left side was an opening for the rails that simply leads to certain death. Fortunately there is a long row of torches propped throughout the shafts so I can see much better.

For now, my plan is to simply - as mentioned numerous times - explore; find the doll; find out as much as I can; and then figure something out from there. As you can see, I'm no good at planning things, yet another bad quality. But my positive quality is that I consider myself pretty good at improvising… for the most part at least.