A million thoughts ran through Cecilia's head. Her heart beat increased and she began to feel light headed. She's never been this scared or worried, and the feeling was already hated by her. A feeling of helplessness ran through her, accompanied by the nagging thought that this was real and now all hopes of waking up had all but disappeared. This thought kept on resurfacing and wasn't doing anything to help her already fool mood.
Cecilia took a deep breath and forced the negative thought aside. Even if she wouldn't magically wake up, a way out could and would be found, she promised herself this. Taking one more deep breath she regained her composure and continued down the hall, ready to put this entire thing behind her.
She was in a room that was entirely gray. The only sources of other colors were two painting on opposite sides of the room, labeled grieving bride and grieving groom. Seeing the room to be nothing of importance Cecilia made her way towards the opening to a larger space. She took a quick check of her surroundings for any immediate danger. Nothing was making its way towards her and the room was devoid of the lady paintings. Going to her left she found a hallway filled with...eyes...this did not seem like a safe place to travel at the moment. She immediately turned around to the center of the room and moved down the path way that was there.
Stopping in front of a door on her left she went to grab the knob but was interrupted by the door opening. She jumped back at the movement and was met with a startled shriek instead of anything dangerous. In front of her there were two people, one a young man and the other a young girl. Cecilia blinked her eyes at the two still a bit surprised by their sudden appearance.
The man with oddly colored hair spoke up first out of the three " Are...are you another from the gallery"?
Cecilia was quick to answer " Yes I am. So does that mean you were also viewing the gallery when you ended up here. Do you have any idea why your here"?
The man nodded " Yes we were and to be honest I don't have the foggiest idea why were here".
She was somewhat disappointed by his answer, hoping he could put some amount of input in the situation. "Oh alright then...I'm Cecilia by the way".
He smiled " Well I am Garry and this is Ib". He gestured towards the brown haired girl next to him. " And you're welcome to come with us".
It didn't take long for Cecilia to accept the proposal. " I think I might just take you up on that offer". She glanced to the little girl who hadn't said anything through the whole exchange. " If it's okay with your companion that is".
Ib perked up at this comment, while Cecilia looked at her expectantly. She looked Cecilia up and down, then back at her face. " It's alright if you come, I don't mind".
Cecilia gave her a small smile and a pat on the head. " So what exactly have you found out about this room"? She looked towards Garry for an answer.
" Well not much...we did just find some eye drops and there is a maze like room with a bunch of walking statues inside, we decided to leave that room alone for now, so we should probably check this direction". Garry pointed to the right of the door.
Cecilia shook her head in understanding" Alright then lets get a move on".
The pathway reached a dead end in front of a painting that was of a very off putting face. He was asking for flowers and in return he would give you passage to..well somewhere. He persistently asked for Ib's rose which Garry wholeheartedly disagreed with the idea. He pulled her away from the painting he started back down the hall.
" Oh speaking of roses...do you have a rose, Cecilia"? He turned to look at her.
Cecilia caught up with them and pulled her rose out of her vest's pocket. " Yes I do have a rose, I found it as soon as I ended up in the gallery. Why? Whats so important about it"?
Garry looked surprised " Well the rose is connected to you. If the rose wilts you wilt, If you come to harm the rose comes to harm". He then took the rose from Cecilia's hand " See a few petals are missing from it. We should find a vase to return it back to health". Garry handed back the rose, which was then held more tightly in Cecilia's hand.
" I...didn't know it had so much importance...if must of lost petals when I encountered the lady in red..". She mumbled the last part to her self but Ib and Garry both heard it.
Ib went up to her and tugged at her sleeve, snapping her out of her thoughts " You've been chased by the painting to? Did It hurt you"? Ib asked with a curious expression on her face.
Cecilia peeked down at her " Hmmm..Oh yes I unfortunately was". She paused " And it did not even leave a scratch on me so no need to worry Ib".
Ib frowned " Then what happened to your legs"? Cecilia quickly looked down at the deep gashes down at her legs.
" I guess it did hurt me but there is still no need to worry"!
Garry shook his head " It seemed to do quite the number on you". He grabbed her hand, " Come on there is a vase just down here that should take care of the problem".
Garry and Ib dragged her to vase. Garry motioned for her to hand him her rose, once he received it he stuck it in the vase with water. A warm sensation over came Cecilia and the aching her legs were gone, she glanced down to see that they were healed and nothing gave away that she was previously injured there.
" I don't know whether I should be reassured by this or more worried".
Garry grinned " Well you get used to it after awhile". He glanced down the hall " We should probably find where these eye drops belong, there is a hallway with eyes just over here, it might give us a hint".
Cecilia sighed it looked like she would have to face the unsettling hall sooner then later. The small group headed in its direction, after a quick sweep of the hallway they were about to give up. Until Ib came across an eye that looked dry and irritated, she took the eye drops from her pocket and dropped a few on the eye. It blinked a few times then slowly moved to a part of the wall. Cecilia gave the wall a few taps and it revealed an opening. They walked in the small room , at the end of the room there was a small glass red ball.
Garry picked it up and stuffed it in his coat pocket, ever little thing proved to help in the gallery and he would rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it. The group quickly left the small enclosed space and continued their search. They searched every painting on the walls, finally coming across a painting of a snake that seemed to have the perfect sized slot for the small glass ball. Garry slid the ball in the slot but nothing seemed to happen. He stepped away from painting he then jumped at the sound of a painting crashing to the ground.
Cecilia walked towards it and rummaged through the shards. On the back of the there were the simple message behind the tree written on it. Tree what tree?! Hopefully we'll find this so called "tree"
soon.
" What does it say"? Garry questioned.
Cecilia stood up " It says behind the tree". She paused " But I don't know if there's a tree any where around here".
Garry's face brightened at her words " Oh Ib do you think it could be that tree in the room we unlocked before we met Cecilia"?
Ib nodded her head. Cecilia looked at them curiously, the only room that she hadn't been is was the one by the vase. Ib grabbed Garry's hand and made her way down the hall to the door. Cecilia followed close behind them. They then entered the door and walked towards the tree. On the floor behind it there was a small wedding band.
Garry looked at the ring in his hand " A wedding ring"?
" Wasn't there two hands at the beginning of the room labeled grieving bride". Cecilia spoke up hoping to be helpful.
" Ah you're right there was". Garry perked up. " Well come on lets go".
Once they reached the hands Garry went towards the one on the left side of the room and slipped the ring on it ring finger. The painting of the bride threw her bouquet in return and Ib picked it up.
Ib tugged at Cecilia's skirt to catch her attention " Wasn't that painting back there hungry...should we feed him these flowers"? Ib looked up at her with questioning eyes.
Cecilia smiled down at her " Yeah that's a great idea Ib".
Garry smiled also " Come on Ib lets put your idea in to action".
When they reached the painting Ib threw the bouquet in its mouth. It munched on it for a bit before a loud swallowing sound was heard. The painting then turned black, allowing them passage to another part of the gallery. Cecilia looked at the two people in front of her happy to have someone else with her in this horrible place.
