Sweden sighed as soon as he left the Safe Room. He glanced down at his boots as he remembered how he obtained the 1st floor library key in a strange way. His fingers brushed against the metal key in his pocket and his mind flashed back to when his and his group all arrived here and how he discovered that door in the East corridor that couldn't be opened. Logically thinking, Denmark wouldn't go in there if the door was locked because it obviously required a key to get in there. So… he decided not to go in there just yet, despite a nagging feeling at the back of his head demanding him to go there.
But then again… this house is working in mysterious ways that are completely supernatural. Doors that have been locked are now unlocked or the unlocked doors are quickly locked up when you walk past or close to them. Such events would be enough to make America crap his pants if he was here. Right now, in what seems like a safe place to be besides the Safe Room, the place emanated an air of mystery and suspense, like how a photograph on the wall is suddenly leaking blood from the eyes of a little girl in the monochrome picture just as the room temperature dropped to freezing. Sweden grit his teeth and ignored the picture to open the door and leave, but the door knob only rattled, preventing him from leaving.
Suddenly, the girl in the picture screeched loudly, mouth wide open with no teeth present, and the room shook forcing the Swede to quickly cover his ears. But the scream was at a painful frequency that cut through his flesh and made his heart beat irregularly. He yelled and fell to his knees, dropping the key with a noisy clatter before he blacked out and collapsed to the floor and the banshee's screaming stopped.
When Sweden woke up, he was in a different room. The smell of books wafted in the air and he groggily sat up to look around to take in the sight of some tables and lots of bookshelves. He felt in his pocket for the key and his staff, but they're both gone. Instantly worried, he hurriedly checked his other pockets and found nothing. He never felt so naked before despite being fully-clothed.
Where is he? This place obviously looks like a library, but is this the first-floor library that he was going to ignore until he found Denmark?
Sweden could only remember hearing the screaming photograph before passing out… and he dropped the key besides him… But his staff was firmly tucked in his pocket, it wouldn't have fallen out at all – not even by accident unless you take it out yourself.
As he moved to stand up, he almost slipped on a piece of paper on the floor. He took a breath and picked it up and read the writing: 'This is a happier time before daddy killed me'. …Sweden raised an eyebrow at that chilling statement.
With that, the Swede turned the paper over and his heart froze over as he recognised the photograph as the one that came from the room her was in before it screamed. It is currently as silent as stone, but he can now have a proper look at the girl in the picture. She doesn't look a very happy little girl as she wore her summer dress and straw hat and held a skipping rope in her left hand; her face was in a scowl as if someone was teasing her before taking the dreadful photograph. But the longer you look at her scowl, her limp hair and dark pits that supposed to be eyes, the more sinister and accusing the scowl seems. She seems to be between 5 and 8 years old, judging from her height in the picture and her childish dress which was adorned with ribbons.
A happier time? So… does that mean a little girl lived in this mansion before it was haunted? A stab of sorrow hit Sweden's heart. This little girl probably got killed by her father before those monsters roamed the place. He's only going by with the information he's got right now, but he'll care about the photograph later- he's got to find Denmark and fast. He pocketed the photograph.
But then the door creaked open slowly from behind a bookshelf and loud, heavy footsteps were heard. Remembering that he doesn't have his weapon on him, Sweden cursed breathily and hid behind a bookcase at the very back of the room, peeking over the tops of books to watch the doorway as a monster similar to the one he encountered earlier walked in.
On the fourth floor in the attic, Iceland stared at the table which had various papers scattered all over it. Meanwhile, Hanatamago was in the corner sniffing at fresh blood stains on the floor behind the pulled velvet curtain.
The Icelandic teen closed his eyes gently, thinking of his brothers. Almost instantly, he could see them in his mental map of the building, scattered around. He noted that there was a figure huddled in a second-floor bedroom, one lone figure in the first-floor library, but he couldn't find the other four figures. His heart hummed lowly as his blood drummed in his ears and face the longer he examined the mental picture of his family around the building.
From the pressure of thinking so much, blood ran down from his nose as soon as he detected one of the monsters getting closer and closer to the blue figure in the first-floor library.
"Something's wrong… I can't find 4 guys from the group, and someone's gonna be attacked in the first-floor library…"
…The footsteps from the tall monster suddenly ceased on the other side of the bookcase, and Sweden's heart pounded harder as he stared over the top of dusty books at the blue-grey skin of the monster.
He could only hear heavy breathing coming from the monster, which sounded more sinister than a tiger's roar at night. The low, running growls of the Thing shook through the hiding Swede's bones – and he swore that his heart stopped – before it moved… turned…
And directly faced him.
It's huge eyes that resembled black pits stared at Sweden's eyes.
Quickly, Sweden leaped to the side just as the bookshelf got smashed and books flew everywhere as he hit the ground and scrambled onto his feet. Unfamiliar shrieks were heard as the bookcases got obliterated, but Sweden couldn't see anybody else in the room. The splinters of wood from the bookcase scattered onto the floor in clatters while the Thing slowly turned to stare at Sweden again, and then it walked towards him again. The door! Sweden spun, ran past the table and yanked a chair out of place and made it fall onto its back – but it didn't trip the Thing up as it simply stepped on the poor chair and crunched the object into splinters. The Swede's blood pulsed harder from the sickening sound and he managed to reach the door and grabbed the knob, but it could not open.
"FAN!" Sweden yelled and sharply looked back to see the Thing walking closer and closer to him, decreasing the distance between them.
In a moment of madness, he charged towards the Thing without slowing down.
It opened its wide mouth and exposed its large teeth and gob, but the man suddenly dived and slipped on the floor between its long legs, clearing it before standing up again and staring at its back. Sweden mentally thanked Denmark for forcing him to play football with him during the World Cup craze as he taught him how to slide-tackle a lot.
He can only hear his blood pumping around loudly in his ears. The Thing looks confused as it stepped forward and reached out to touch thin air. Now it's Sweden's turn to be confused at the odd behaviour.
No matter, because Sweden hurriedly looked around for a key or SOMETHING to break the door down and get the heck out of there. The table. While the Thing was momentarily confused, he ran to the only two large tables and shoved books, papers and pens out of the way. Where is the key?! Did he get locked in that library from the outside?!
His body felt like from so much rush of blood in his body as his hands were shaking too hard to keep composed. His mind was in a rush too, but not quite in complete panic. After a few seconds of frantic glancing and shoving books, his eyes laid sight on a bright red book with "THE KEY" written on it in bright, bold golden letters. He frowned and picked up the book, which is a hardback copy that is rather light to carry, but then the growls of the Thing alerted him and he accidentally dropped the book on the table loudly where it sprung open and the first half of the book opened, revealing a key hidden in a secret wooden compartment as well as his precious weapon, the compact staff.
Grabbing the staff and snatching the key out from within, Sweden stared at the monster, which is now walking around the table to get to him. But with newfound determination the male charged and sprinted for the door, slamming his body into it as he hurriedly shoved the key into the keyhole and turned.
It clicked and with a yank of the door Sweden was outside, where he pulled the door shut and locked it, heart hammering.
In the Safe room, Finland was out still cold, but his wound was no longer bleeding. Underneath his bandages, a very thin membrane of skin, freshly red-raw, shuddered as blood rushed around to increase the temperature to kill off any infections that managed to get into the wound. Norway's magic worked wonders, but now it's all up to the nation's body to heal and repair itself without any more outside interference.
Ladonia was still as silent as stone while he continued to stare at Finland while he sat on another bed and sat still as if he were a statue. His mind was buzzing with thoughts, information and images, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't telepathically connect to the internet without getting the connection interrupted or severed suddenly from his flesh and bones.
Norway was perfectly fine now, but since he declared earlier that he won't bother using magic unless it's for an emergency, it was bothering him that his magic has become so weak. So now he's in the kitchen part of the room, dusting shelves and the cooker. The sink was alright, he risked a drink from the tap but the water was thankfully clean and non-poisonous and the biggest plus was that he discovered the bathroom earlier through a door in the far corner of the room besides three wooden seats with tall backs; they had intricate carvings into them of beautiful patterns, but he couldn't quite place what time period they were from. Norway was glad when he discovered that the oven even worked with what seemed to be a full gas canister behind the oven alongside a spare one.
While he dusted, Sealand got tired of sitting there doing nothing, so he decided to pack boxes on top of each other, but they were just full of old newspapers. Oh well. They'll make good fireplace fodder. Since he started working, Norway silently praised himself in his own mind for working hard and not losing his mind. On the plus side, the floor space increased and despite the large amount of dust flying around, the one open window helped. There were two windows, but only one could open as far as 2 inches. Not big enough to squeeze through. The other window was completely sealed with badly-hit rusty nails as if someone was in a hurry to keep the windows sealed.
"Sealand, would you like something to eat? I found some pasta…" Norway asked the young boy just as he finished stacking another box.
"Yes, please…" he quietly responded. "What's taking papa so long…?"
"I wouldn't worry. He's really strong," the other male said, turning the gas hob on and placing a full pot of water on it. "He survived through worse opponents, like Danmark."
Suddenly, they both heard a sharp cry by the beds and startled them both. They quickly ran over around the corner to see Finland still unconscious in bed, but Ladonia was curled up on the sofa, clutching at his own hair while trembling.
"What's wrong?!" Sealand cried out and ran around to him.
"H…headache…" the internet nation whimpered, body still shaking and refusing to make eye contact. Norway rested his hand on his shoulder.
"Have you tried to connect to the internet?" he asked.
The boy nodded quietly, slowly relaxing. "I was going to post on FaceMag that we're trapped here, but we're too far from the nearest wi-fi spot… when I try to connect to the internet, it's like being on a bungee jump except you slow down and have smooth landing, but this time… it was like being yanked back to your spot and having whiplash…"
Norway stroked his back. "No, good idea, and thanks for trying. But don't go on the internet again unless you're absolutely ready and sure that the connection is safe…"
Ladonia sniffled, and Sealand stood up without speaking before walking away to the bathroom.
It felt like an eternity the longer Sweden leant against the library door. His heartbeat slowed down to a relaxing pace, but it slowly sped up again as he forced himself to move away from the door and stared at it. Strangely, he didn't lock the door, but why isn't the thing coming out after him? Why didn't it just break the door down?
Squish… squish… squish…
Sweden's eyes widened as blood flashed before his eyes like a light and letters were splashed on the wooden door in the red substance as if someone is flailing a paintbrush around sloppily. Droplets of blood dripped to the floor while the letters were gradually slapped against the door loudly with a shriek crying out every time they appeared, before silence reigned in the corridor. The Swede didn't yell or run away, but rather he stood there, paralysed at the sight of bloody letters on the door, now with excess non-dried blood running down the dark wood to the floor.
His glasses weren't broken, but it felt like his mind was breaking as it couldn't string together what the words are on the door.
"C… o… m…" he muttered, feeling a slight headache. "E… …B… a… c… k… …I… n… s… i… d… e…"
Slightly dizzy, forgetting about his encounter with the monster earlier, he held the doorknob and turned it, opening the door and walked inside…
CHAPTER END.