This one gets pretty dark, not gonna lie.
Now that the hall had stopped looping, Aya could make her way down the stairs. The stairs emptied into a room shaped like two uneven trapezoids. The smaller one to the south was an alcove with metal torches while the larger one to the north had two stairways leading upwards. Between the stairs was two stone fences and a pedestal in the middle with a crow perched atop it. A hallway continued to the east.
Where are all of these birds coming from?
Up the stairs was a large pair of ornate doors with a stained-glass window above it. Two torches, one on each side, burned brightly, illuminating the room. Aya inspected the torches, curious as to how they remained lit. A tattered red carpet lay in the center of the floor. To the right was what appeared to be a knife switch without its lever. It would seem Aya wouldn't be going this way, not unless the lever magically appeared.
Aya Continued down the hall. The next room was hexagonal, with the only thing of note in there being another tattered red carpet and a mirror on the north wall. Aya was beginning to wonder if her father was just building this stuff for kicks at this point since there was no apparent use for the room or the mirror.
Aya looked into the mirror, inspecting it, waiting for anything of note to appear. She noticed a glimmer of light coming from the brick work on the south wall. When she went to inspect it, she found a gem. That likely wasn't the original intent for the room, given that these gems just started appearing recently, but nonetheless, it had served a purpose. Now if only Aya could find out what these Gems were for.
As Aya prepared to leave, she caught a glimpse of a doll in Japanese clothing in the mirror. She looked around the room, saw at the ready, but found nothing. She smashed the mirror with her saw just in case.
Aya continued down the hall. She passed an inlet with marble pillars and yet another tattered carpet that led to a stone archway. Three barrels sat by one of the pillars. In the center of the room was an old man in tattered clothing and tinted glasses motioning to the side. Aya followed his glance to find a passageway obscured from view.
The passage led to a small room with a metal door similar to the ones in the Lab. Aya grabbed the handle and pulled it open, raising her saw in preparation for whatever waited on the other side.
The room appeared to be a supply room, and a rather large one at that. Crates, shelves full of specimens, furniture, scattered documents, and medical equipment, all fairly standard equipment for the Doctor's work. What was out of place was the skeleton that stood on a rolling stand near a set of cement stairs, and the large metal table containing several preserved brains in specimen jars, as well as a phonograph with a glass bowl on top of it with a large brain inside. When Aya inspected the skeleton, its neck cracked, the skull fell to the side. Aya also noticed a rather large shipping crate to the left. She inspected it closer, it had a small piece op paper on it identifying the cargo as medical forceps.
Aya noticed a red book on the far side of the table, and walked over to inspect it. The book was labeled "Anatomische Tabellen".
Father was always reading this. It has a lot of gross pictures, so I don't want to look…
Aya was suddenly reminded of the human experimentation data, and was even more reluctant to examine the book. Suddenly, a loud splashing noise echoed throughout the room. Aya jumped and turned around to face the source of the noise. An IV bag full of blood had fallen off its stand, splattering the ground. Aya new the curse was messing with her now, since there's no way Father or Maria would leave a full bag of blood on the stand while putting it away.
Aya decided to inspect the specimen jars next. To her horror, each one contained what appeared to be rabbits. Aya felt sick to her stomach.
Yuck… these rabbits… They kind of look like Snowball.
Aya noticed one rabbit in particular had a sizable gash on his hind leg. Similar to the one the Doctor claimed to have treated so long ago. Aya felt like she would vomit at the realization dawned on her. Her head spun; the saw felt like a solid lead weight in her hand. She set it on the table and braced her hands against the cool metal surface.
No… no no no no no.
Aya thought back to all the times Snowball had been injured. All the times she'd tried to help him. All of the times she'd tried to replicate the operations her father did on his patients. She remembered how nervous her father looked every time he'd claimed to have healed him. She felt sicker and sicker the more she thought about it.
Did I…did I seriously…? Snowball….
Tears began to stream down her cheeks at the realization. She'd only wanted to help them. Her father always said that nothing could have been done, but how hard could it be? He's always been able to heal so many people. He'd cut them open, fix what needed fixing, and stitch them back up.
Aya thought back to the cat, and to the bird. She thought of what horrible pain they must have gone through.
I… I just wanted to help. I'm so sorry.
Now you know how I said I was going to take a break? Yeah, it's 1:35 AM as I type this.