CHAPTER 6

Marzia had been unable to sleep, so she kept watch until the first rays of morning crept through the tiny openings in the walls.

The lamp's flame had long sizzled out, but luckily, the sun had risen soon after.

Cry was slumped on the damp ground next to her, snoring softly. She got up and looked around. The castle was still enveloped in shadows, but a small window let in a sliver of sun.

A long time ago, she remembered reading somewhere that if you stood too long in the dark, your sanity would slowly drain. She had to make sure that didn't happen to her.

Something rustled, and she realized that Cry had woken up. The masked man was sitting up and groggily rubbing his eyes. He sighed. "Well, we'd better continue our search on finding a way out of here."

He got up and led the way through the halls with Marzia following close behind. He cradled Stephano under one arm and carried the lantern in the other. Since all of the tinderboxes had been used up, it was unlit. The shadows seemed deafening, and even though it was daytime, the place was still as dark as midnight.

Marzia was beginning to feel uneasy. Their footsteps were too loud, and they echoed around the entire building. Even though she didn't hear any monsters she could still feel their presence all around her.

Luckily, a large crack in the wall filtered in some sunlight, and they paused to rest in the faint brightness.

She was beginning to feel faint and feverish.

Cry looked worried. "Um, Marzia, are you alright? You don't look too good."

She laughed nervously. "No, it's alright. I just didn't get any sleep last night."

After resting, they continued on their way. They turned the doorknobs and rattled on the doors, but it didn't lead them anywhere.

The girl felt out of breath. She placed a hand on her forehead and was surprised to see that it felt a little bit warmer than usual.

I can't be sick, she thought.

She shivered. The cold was getting to her.

Cry was walking a few paces ahead, and she tried to run to catch up to him.

Her foot suddenly caught on a rock and she fell. As her hands flew out, she heard her head let out an echoing crack on the pavement.

"Marzia!" Cry yelled.

He rushed over to where she lay and desperately shook her. "Hey! Can you hear me?"

She forced herself to sit up and squinted up at the mask. "I…I don't feel good…" she murmured.

Cry felt her forehead. "You're burning up!"

A thin stream of blood trickled down from a scrape on her brow. Her eyes fluttered shut and she murmured something quietly.

The man quickly tore open the bandage on her arm. His eyes widened. The wound on her arm was sickly and crusted, and it oozed an ugly red color. "Oh no, you've got an infection. What do I do?" He looked around desperately, trying to see if he could find anything that could help.

The laudanum! he thought.

He quickly scrambled to his feet. "Wait here, Marzia!" he called over his shoulder. "I'm going to find some laudanum."

Through her blurred vision, the girl was able to watch him as he rounded a corner and disappeared. Her head felt heavy and stuffed, and her gaze traveled down to her hands. They were bloodied and scraped from when she tried to break her fall. Her vision began to grow dim, and she found it hard to stay awake. The shadows engulfed her, and she passed out.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Cry stumbled as the hallways grew dimmer and dimmer. The shadows seemed to flicker and dance as if they were alive, and they hissed and wound around him, trying to pull him back. He pressed on and hurriedly rummaged through drawers. There was no laudanum. His desperation was increasing.

His footsteps became more frantic and he sucked in his breath. The blackness became agonizing.

He continued to search. He opened closets, looked under beds, threw the doors open and peered on the tables. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Come on! It has to be here somewhere! he screamed in his mind.

All at once, the darkness became too overwhelming. It weighted down his shoulders and blinded him, and shrieked silently in his ears.

The man suddenly stumbled and fell, and the shades pressed into him and held him down.

In the back of his mind, he remembered that if he stayed in the dark for too long, it would drain his insanity. He cursed. How could he have forgotten?

He groped in the darkness and shuffled slowly to his feet. The shadows were screaming. They hollered in his ears and attempted to perforate his eardrums. It stuffed his head and his thoughts became slower and muffled.

He covered his ears in a desperate attempt to block it out.

Pitch black surrounded him. No, I can't give in. He fought desperately and slowly put one foot forward. He concentrated all of his thoughts on walking.

Bright lights danced before his eyes and mottled his vision.

One step forward, he urged himself. One foot in front of the other. Keep walking.

One step.

Two steps.

Three.

He faltered. He couldn't see anything at all, nothing but black. Something scurried in between his feet and he nearly fell. However, he caught himself just in time.

Cry knew that if he tripped and fell, he might never get back up again.

The shadows wailed. He could feel his sanity slipping.

Oh no. Here come the hallucinations, the man thought.

Lights danced before his eyes. Out of a corner, he thought he saw a lantern, dripping with brightness and warmth. He turned to look at it, but it was gone.

Ghostly figures appeared, but he knew that they were only tricks of his mind, and tried to ignore them.

However, one of them caught his attention. His brown eyes widened in disbelief. Pewdie?

He reached out a hand at the figure, but just before he touched it, it vanished. Cry reeled back, and banged his pulsing forehead against the wall. His sanity was dwindling. No…I have to carry on…

He groped forward and felt the smoothness of a drawer. In sheer desperation, he fumbled for the knob and opened it.

He heard a sharp clink. A laudanum bottle rolled to a stop at his feet.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Marzia drifted in and out of consciousness. Once, she thought she heard Pewdie calling her name, but then realized that it was only her imagination. Cry…where are you.

For a moment she was worried that he had been caught by one of the monsters, but exhaustion kept her from dwelling on the thought.

She shivered. She could barely keep her eyes open.

"M-marzia…" a small voice echoed from the shadowed part of the corridor.

She listened. Was it Cry?

The masked man stumbled into view. He kept lurching into the walls, and it was a long time before he finally collapsed in front of Marzia.

Her eyes grew wide. "Cry…?" she asked questioningly.

A laundanum bottle rolled out of his hand, and he sat up to look at her. There was a strange, crooked smile etched on his face, and he giggled like a madman.

"My…sanity…is gone…" he managed to say.

His eyes flew open wide.

"All gone," he giggled. "Rainbows…and unicorns…are we in Candyland?"

He began to sing a song in a screechy and dreadfully off-key rhythm, before he passed out on Marzia's lap.

He murmured softly, "…I thought I was lying in a field of flowers…"

Tears suddenly welled up in Marzia's eyes, and she hugged him with all her might.

She whispered, "Oh, Cry. You went through all this trouble for me."

"Thank you so much."

Okay, here's the tenth chapter. Btw, is that how you're supposed to act when you have low sanity? You start to hallucinate and mumble about random things…