CHAPTER 2
You don't let Mary's seemingly innocence fool you, and you go with your gut feeling. You jump out of the way of the roots, taking Garry's hand just in time for the roots to rip the back of your shirt where Mary was holding you.
"Phew! That was really close..." Garry doesn't let go of your hand, and you blush a bit. To hide your blush, you try to look through the vines for Mary. You can't see anything, but you can hear her.
"Mary, are you alright?" You call. Even though she is strange, she was still a little girl. You hear a sniffle.
"Yah, I'm okay. That was scary though!" You detect a little anger in her voice.
"As long as you are alright, I'm relieved." Garry said. Mary doesn't say anything, and you can't hear her anymore.
"Mary? Are you there?" She doesn't answer, and you look to Garry. He shrugs.
"We'll go through this door and see if we can get back around to her." You nod and begin walking back to the door that Garry went to, sneaking a look behind you. You see a flash of yellow, but it disappears before you can make out a shape. You catch up to Garry, and begin through the bright purple door, venturing deeper into the never ending maze or the art gallery.
When you enter the room, your immediate reaction is to back out. The room was a dark purple with two tables and two shelves. That wasn't the problem though. The shelves were lines with blue dolls, with stitched up mouths and black stringy hair. They had beady black eyes that seemed to follow you as you walked further into the room. You looked up at the painting, which was a grotesque blue face with shining red eyes and spiky black hair. Around the painting were more of the blue dolls, hanging by their necks from the ceiling. You shivered.
"What? Just a second ago these were rabbits..." Garry stared up at the huge painting and began inspecting the bookshelves. You walked around one of the tables, seeing a doll on the floor. As you got closer to it, you realized that it was torn open, with blood caked around it's stomach and around it's head. You stumbled backwards, suppressing a scream. You went back around to Garry, who was pushing a bookshelf.
"It looks like there is a passage over here." He said. With one final shove, a tiny hole was revealed.
"This seems like the only way out." He gestured for you to begin
walking, and you ducked into the hole, Garry close behind you. You enter into a narrow hallway, and Garry shields your eyes again. Through a space in his fingers, you saw another one of the blue dolls. It was smiling up at you, the purple text next to it making your insides quake. 'Hey. I don't like being alone. Take me with you.'
When Garry finally lets go of your eyes an shoulders, you find yourself in a large purple room, with smaller rooms inside of it. As you walk further into the room, you enter a purple door. The room has seven pedestals, each with a small circular indent in the top. A painter's tray is on the wall, and a small note is beside it. Garry comes up behind you and reads the note aloud.
"Collect the seven balls of paint... Then the room will be colored, and your bridge will be made." He says. His breath is warm against your neck, and you try to fight a blush.
"Balls of paint? I wonder what those are..." He steps away from the note and looks around the room again before turning towards the door.
"Should we keep looking in the different rooms?" You nod and follow him out of the room. As soon as you leave, you find a small ball of something yellow on the floor. You bend over and pick it up.
"Do you think this might be a ball of paint?" You ask. Garry pokes it.
"I don't know. I've never seen one in my life. For all we know it could be a ball of-" Before he can finish what he's saying, the ball disappears. You look on the floor and around the area you're standing in, but no trace is found. You shrug, and Garry stops looking.
"We should probably look for other things. This puzzle is just collecting things." He says. He begins to walk down the corridor, and you follow him. You see a vase of water, and rush to it and replenish your rose. You notice that Garry is standing a few feet from you, staring at something to your left. You look at what he was staring at and see another doll, the same one you saw in the hallway. You slowly walk away from it, your hand over your mouth. It's head follows you as you go to where Garry is standing, but doesn't say anything.
"It's been following me... Us... Since that hallway." Garry says. He hesitantly walks up to the note besides it, but you stay away from it.
"Hey, what're you doing? I wanna play too." He says. You walk closer to him and the note, trying not to look at the doll.
"Do you think it's referring to finding the balls of paint?" You ask. Garry doesn't respond, but you have a feeling he agrees.
You only need two more paint balls, but you can't find them. The creepy doll remained in the corner throughout the time we stayed in the purple room, and didn't say anything more every time we completed a puzzle. Garry went back around the the door with mysteriously cold handle as you went to place your rose in water. As you take your rose out, you hear a thud of something hit the ground. You run to where Garry is on the floor, in front of him is the doll that had been following them. You face away from the doll and extend a hand to Garry.
"I doubt the floor is a comfortable resting place." You say. He smiles slightly and takes your hand. It fits perfectly in yours, and you can't help thinking that they were fit for each other. You quickly discard the thought, letting go of his hand.
"Should I... Read it?" Garry says after a moment.
"I wish we didn't have to." You say. He nods.
"I picked up something good... I'm making it my treasure!" You look at each other.
"Do you think it might be a paint ball?" You wonder. Garry stares at the doll in disgust.
"It's stomach does look bigger some how... Should I take a closer look at it?" He looks like he wants to run away from the doll, and you can't blame him.
"I don't think we have another choice." You reply. He gulps and reaches towards the doll. As he lifts up the doll, the stomach rips, and a red paint ball rolls onto the floor. The doll suddenly jumps off Garry's hand, running towards the door. It chatters nonsense as it runs into the room. Garry wipes his hand on his pants and picks up the red paint ball, watching as it disappeared. You walk towards the door, your hand ready to turn the knob. Garry suddenly pushes your hand off it, replacing it with his.
"I don't want you to see what's behind here." He says. You look at him in surprise.
"You think it's going to be worse than what I've already seen?" You reach your hand to the knob again, and with his other hand he grabs your wrist.
"I have this feeling that what's behind the door is... Disturbing. Not a puzzle, but just danger. Let me go. I want you of all people to come out of this alive." You have nothing to say to this. You debate in your mind whether to listen to Garry or not. He has always seemed right before, but wasn't that the reason you wanted to go now? Wasn't it too late to split up?
Go to the room with Garry, read chapter three.
Inspect other rooms and leave Garry to that one, read chapter four.
