A/N: What's this? :O An update?! :O Why yes, yes it is :3 Well, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! :D

Zach stumbled blindly into a long room decorated with stop motion pictures of a guillotine in action. He walked down the hallway, following the pictures and their little story. The first picture showed the blade at rest, and each picture that followed showed the blade rising a little higher until at the very end where the blade had risen so high that it wasn't even in the picture frame anymore.

A quick, sudden whizzing of ropes jerked Zach's attention above as a large guillotine blade rushed towards him. Barely able to think, Zach tried backing up as quickly as he could, but the blade was advancing much too fast. He could feel time slowing down as his knees buckled and failed beneath him. Before he knew it, he started falling backwards, his coat flapping around him, enveloping him, and then the blade came down to finish the job.

BOOM. White hot pain coursed through his entire body and everything went black.

Zach's breathing came out deep and ragged; he was in so much pain. His hand reached up and clenched over his stomach, but he didn't feel any blood. He then realized that the darkness was just spots of black that had been popping into his vision when he must've slammed the back of his head against the floor in the desperation to get out of the way. He was in pain… but he was still alive. Waiting for his vision to clear up, he finally had enough sense in his head to slowly sit up and assess the damage. The blade was gone. Zach began checking himself then looked up. He could see the blurry blade retreating back into the ceiling.

The room had seemed so simple, just a walk from here to there. But of course, nothing could be that simple in this dungeon. How could he have been so stupid?! He should've seen something coming!

Zach looked down at his legs and saw how lucky he was to be alive, or at least in one piece. He had fallen so that his legs spread apart in a 'v' shape and the blade had chopped right in between them. Staring at the large crack in the ground, Zach also saw with horror (and relief) that the blade had been inches away from cutting him in half.

That was too close. I need to be more careful and observant! He chastised himself. I could've died! The memory of immense pain quickly flooded his memory again. For a moment, it actually felt like I did, so where did that pain come from? Zach reached for his rose only to find that it wasn't there. Panicked, he squinted and tried to scan the room for a little patch of green. He thought about finding his glasses first but decided life first, vision later. Finally he spotted a green blur a little ways off from him in the trench that the blade left… WHAT?!

Zach tried to scramble up to go retrieve his rose, but he didn't realize how evident the pain was until he stood up. His knees buckled again and he collapsed to the ground in a fit of pain. Knowing better than forcing himself up, Zach stayed in a crumpled position until the pain subsided. Once he was sure he could stand, Zach shakily got up and picked up his rose.

Five petals had literally been chopped off the rose, but Zach was just glad he was still alive. The rose must've flown out of his outer pocket when he fell backwards. After making sure to put the rose in his inner pocket this time, Zach began the cliché search for his glasses, all the while keeping an extremely wary eye on the blade in the ceiling. He finally located his glasses somewhere near the stairs. Luckily, the blade stayed put the entire time and he didn't have any incident with the monstrosity again. Zach fixed his glasses back on his face, thankful they had not been destroyed yet, and headed down the stairs into the next hallway.

The entire room was now a shade of crimson red. Zach's senses heightened and he felt himself go on high alert. He had five petals left on his rose and he wasn't about to make another dumb mistake. Or at least he hoped he wouldn't make another dumb mistake. While inching towards the left turn ahead, Zach froze as a dark shadow of a man ran from the wall adjacent to him into the hallway's turn. Not once taking his eyes away from the turn, Zach reached into his many pockets, looking for a weapon of any kind. His fingers wrapped around a thin cylindrical item and he pulled it out.

Oh great, he scoffed, a pen. How lethal. Zach rolled his eyes at the measly weapon. I guess I can make a pretty good dent in the adversary's skin. Zach continued inching closer to the left turn, brandishing his 'weapon' in front of him. Who knows, he shrugged, maybe I'll even give them ink poisoning, Zach joked sardonically before turning the corner and…

Nothing. There was no one there. No weird, dark spirit guy or anything. Zach lowered the pen, but still kept it out just in case. He moved more briskly now and only stopped to admire a large painting with a dove on it, "Breath", before turning to the left again at the end of this hallway.

Up ahead he could see a door and another writing desk. As he was walking towards the door, he felt a breeze hit him on the left side of his face. Zach froze and slowly turned his head to the side to see… a wall.

But I could've sworn… He inspected the wall cautiously. Looking down, he noticed a small portion of the floor was inconsistent with the rest. He pocketed his pen and walked up to the wall planning to feel it for a switch or something, but he never got the chance to. His hand fell through the wall and he along with it.

Inside, it was pitch black, but Zach actually managed to not fall flat on his face. Regaining his balance, Zach reached out and felt the walls around him. He brought his pen back out again and used his other hand to guide himself through the darkness. Feeling the wall turn, Zach turned right with it and from there, he could see light in front of him. He walked towards it and came out into this small room with one large painting adorned on the wall in front of him.

It was a painting of dark figures all with glowing red eyes gathered around a sinister tree. The title of the rather disturbing painting was

"Soul-Sapping Throng".

Zach couldn't help but wonder why, of all things, the detour would lead him here to this one painting. Nevertheless, Zach took his 'weapon' and scribbled down the title, just in case he needed it. After he made his way out, Zach walked towards the door and opened it.

It opened up into a spacious room, and inside, there were many paintings and two large sculptures on display. Zach went to look at the sculptures first since they were the closest. The first one he saw when he entered the room was the large blue one titled "Uh" and the second sculpture on the other side was titled "Ah". The two were mirror opposites of each other except for their expression. Between the two was a painting on a long pillar in the middle of the room, "Peacock Pattern", and behind the pillar was a door.

As much as he would've enjoyed looking at paintings, Zach was still sour about his near death experience and wanted to get out as soon as he possibly could. He headed towards the door and crossed his fingers before trying the doorknob. Much to his annoyance, the door was typically locked. Zach sighed and decided that he might as well look at all the other paintings for a clue. Zach turned to the left and stated there.

There was nothing especially special about the first painting save for the fact that it could project his heartbeat, but that didn't really help with the door at all. The next painting was one titled "Smoking Gentleman". Zach scoffed. A gentleman would care for the comfort of others and not pollute their air with such toxic chemicals. But other than the misleading name, this painting was of no help either. Zach walked past the cursed locked door and onto the next painting. "Heart Wounds", while rather lugubrious, was nothing extraordinary. Last but not least, Zach rounded to the last painting.

It was a painting of a beautiful lady in a red dress sitting in a very sophisticated manner with her hands in her lap. Her brown, flowing hair framed her form and her red eyes bore into Zach's. However, her beauty was nothing compared to the vibe Zach was getting off of her. Unfortunately, it was a malicious vibe.

He felt as if the lady was staring daggers into him and he was even more afraid that if he turned around, she would throw some at him. Zach began slowly backing up, but before he could take another step, he witnessed in horror as her beguiling smile contorted into a bloodthirsty grin. Her hands reached up to the glass holding her in and she let her nails scrape against her side of the glass. The wince-worthy sound coming from her was thankfully muted since it was on the other end, but then Zach heard a troublesome noise.

The glass was splintering.

Then everything began happening very fast. Her fingers gathered into a point and she shoved her hand through the glass, shattering it around her. Zach saw a red glinting object fall from her grasp as her whole body somehow lunged out of the frame. The whole top half of her body was dangling out from the picture frame and she picked up her head just enough to flash Zach that same bloodthirsty grin. Zach spared a glance down at the floor and saw a red key before the lady entered his downcast vision with a THUMP. Somehow she had managed to get off the wall and wasted no time in lunging after Zach.

Zach turned around and ran. A roar sounded out behind him as he heard her coming after him. How? He had no idea. He didn't want to turn around and risk running into something, but he was curious as to whether or not she was gaining on him. Zach ran all the way down past the red "Ah" sculpture and rounded the velvet ropes in order to be able to spare a glance over his shoulder.

The demented lady was using her hands to claw at the ground and to drag her body… frame? Well, whatever the technical term for it was, it still didn't change the fact that she was still dragging herself, pretty quickly too, after Zach. He turned right at the next corner of the sculpture and could see the lady advancing on him. Picking up his pace, Zach rounded the sculpture again, making a complete circle. Turning left this time, he sprinted back up to the key as fast as he could and grabbed it before the lady could catch up to him.

Zach abruptly spun around and was about to make his way to the door when he heard an alarmingly close growl. He saw the lady had caught up to him and he quickly nosedived when the lady shoved herself off the ground, leaping for his head. She screeched when she didn't hit her intended target and even more so when she slammed harshly into the wall behind Zach.

Zach, on the other hand, hit the ground hard, but he didn't have time to think. The lady was already picking herself up to begin the chase again. Zach scrambled to get up and when he heard her roar, he leaned sharply to the right and she went sailing past him again. This time, when the lady recollected herself, Zach found he was face to face with her and, lo and behold, the door was right between them. Shocker.

There was a pregnant pause as Zach eyed the lady and the door before he abruptly turned around and ran down towards the "Ah" sculpture. However, this time, he had the advantage of the long pillar temporarily blocking him from view. He rounded the corner of the pillar and watch as the lady clawed past him. Zach ran around the pillar and ended back on the side with the door, stealthily escaping the grasp of the evil lady. He shakily rammed the key into the keyhole and jerked it so hard that he was afraid that he'd broken the key. However, to his immense relief, the door clicked open and he ran inside, slamming it shut.

Leaning with his back against the wall, Zach sank down and sat at the foot of the door, trying to calm his breathing down. What happened next really didn't do much to help.

BANG BANG BANG.

Zach swore he leapt twenty foot into the air. He spun around and deliriously wondered if the lady could make it through the door. Immediately regretting his decision to shy away from the door, Zach quickly ran back and pushed his back against the door to try and block her from coming in. Only when he didn't feel much resistance did he realize that she wasn't even trying to get in.

Zach let out a sigh of relief, closed his eyes, and sank down, again, to catch his breath, again. Once he was certain he was in no immediate danger of his heart escaping through his ribcage, Zach pushed himself up and then took in his surroundings. He was in a library of some sort. There were four rows of bookcases filling up the room, two on each side. He ignored all of them and headed straight towards the door at the other end of the room.

It didn't open.

Ah, it was worth a shot, he thought. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the door had no key hole and no code dial. Turning around, Zach looked at the room of bookcases and deduced that he probably had to take out a specific book or something to unlock the door. Zach walked to the left side of the room, which was his right at the time, and started scanning the shelves for any suspicious titles. He pulled out quite a few, but Zach didn't hear a click or anything to signal he got the right book.

As he scanned the second bookshelf in the row, he noticed a rather odd book. It seemed to be written in… crayon? Zach pulled it out, temporarily forgetting about the door. The title read "Careless Carrie and the Galette de Rois: Moving Storybook". Zach's curiosity was piqued and he opened the storybook to see what it was about.

The storybook opened up to what seemed like a small stage. The crudely drawn stage curtains were drawn closed and the title was written across the curtains. Black crayon letters titled the book "Carrie Careless and the Galette des Rois". The book paused at that moment as if giving Zach time enough to stop reading and put it back. Zach began to feel a little bit apprehensive, but then the curtains drew back and then that was it. He couldn't draw his gaze away. He wasn't able to actually. It was like the book had commanded his attention and wouldn't release him until it was done spilling all its secrets.

The opened curtains framed the book and revealed a scene of four kids gathered around a table with a brown mound on it. The kids were standing on a brown floor drawn into the black background. The two kids that stood in front were more noticeable that the other two in the back. The front one on the left had pink hair and a smiling face drawn in pink. The other one in the front was drawn in blue. Zach guessed that one of the two in front was Carrie because they both looked like girls. The two in the back seemed more like boys and were drawn in different shades of brown. Everything was drawn in crayon.

Suddenly the all kids, sans the blue one, began shaking, almost jumping, up and down, as an incoherent, garbled squeak came from the book. Simultaneously, white words appeared over their heads on the background spelling, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Then the white words disappeared as the blue girl on the right squeaked and shook a bit. This time, blue words appeared above saying, "Thanks, guys!" Zach realized that the shaking was to signal who was currently speaking and the garbled squeak was actually the people in the book speaking. The blue words disappeared and the pink girl spoke up. "For your special day…" The words were coming line by line because all the dialogue couldn't really fit onto the small space allotted by the background. The pink girl kept going. "We made a Galette des Rois!"

"What's that?" The blue girl questioned back and the pink girl replied, "There's a coin in this pie…"

Oh, so that brown mound is a pie… Zach thought amused.

"And if you eat the slice with the coin in it…" Now the pink girl was tilting back and forth, her tiny, stiff movements symbolizing excitement. "Then you'll be a happy person!"

"That sounds like fun!" The blue girl replied.

"Doesn't it?" Then the pink girl waded off the stage, behind the side curtains, and came back with a large knife in her hand. "Okay, let's divide it up!" The red curtains drew in and opened up again, but this time, the pie on the table was cut up into four pieces. "Now pick the slice you want!" Then all four little people began to move and white words appeared at the top.

"Let's eat!"

I guess white words are for everyone else, Zach thought as the curtains drew closed again. Upon opening up again, white words hung above their heads. "Nom, munch…" The blue girl suddenly shook.

"Aah…!" The blue word quickly disappeared as the pink girl leaned closer to her friend.

"What is it?"

"I think I just…" Everybody seemed to be waiting with bated breath, but that could've just been Zach imagination. "…swallowed something hard!"

"Ahaha! Oh, Carrie!" The pink girl leaned back, her hands still in the air. Then, someone from the back stirred and deducted,

"It must've been the coin!" But instead of leaning back in joy, the blue girl, Carrie, leaned forward, seemingly worried.

"What do I do…?" Zach thought about it and realized that the only way for the coin to go out was through the other end. Suddenly, the Galette des Rois didn't sound like a good or appetizing idea anymore. But the pink girl seemed to have no quarrels with that idea and hopped closer to her worried friend.

"It's fine, the coin's small!" Zach hoped it wasn't an important or expensive coin. "Well, I'll clean this up now!" The curtains closed once again, but when they opened, they revealed a new scene. The floor and the background were still the same; however, there was a taller lady with long pink hair standing in front of a table. Next to her was a red door that coincidentally looked like the one he was trying to get through. The pink girl had just walked in holding the empty plate with the knife resting on top. She saw her worried mom, Zach assumed the taller lady was her mom, and asked, "What's wrong mom?"

The elder woman replied, "Have you seen the key to the study?"

"To the study?" The girl continued though her mom had turned around. "It's always right here on this tabl…" The girl stopped as her mom began walking the other direction. "…Huh?" The mom had revealed that she was standing in front of a yellow circle on the table. "It's the coin…" The mom turned back to look at her daughter. "The coin that should've…" Zach's stomach plummeted. "…been put in the pie…" Carrie turned around and looked back at where she came from. Then the mom spoke up.

"Where could it have gone…" She turned abruptly and started to walk out the other way. "Oh, my dear will be so upset…" And she disappeared off behind the left side curtain. The pink girl turned back to watch her mother leave.

"What do I… do…" Her worry seemed to have made her temporarily forget about the plate in her hand as it tilted at an angle. Zach watched in horror as the knife slowly slid down the plate and landed of the floor with a clatter. The pink girl spun around and looked at the knife of the floor. Suddenly the curtains drew closed. Zach's heart leapt up to his throat.

This girl isn't serious, is she? Zach thought, sick. The curtains opened again to show the pink girl hop across the floor towards the right curtain.

"Looks like I was just as careless as Carrie…" She giggled and finished her walk to the other side. The curtains drew closed as a sick, disturbing noise echoed behind the red screen. Suddenly, the pink girl stuck out through the curtains covered in blood. "I found the keeey!" She then proceeded to wave the said key up and down and informed Zach, "I'll open the door now!"

The screen then somehow faded to black as the storybook finished its tales. Zach stared in shock as he heard the door click. What kind of sick, twisted 'key' was that?! Zach shook off the shivers and shoved the book back in place its place. Note to self: Never. EVER. Trust crayon drawn books. Zach didn't want to stay in this room any longer. He felt as if it was somehow connected to the friend killer, that's the name he gave the pink haired girl, and he didn't want a crayon-drawn, 2D psycho girl coming after him. Zach briskly walked to the door and turned the knob, entering into the next room.

A/N: You guys thought he was finally going to meet Linda, didn't cha? Well nope! :D I felt like it would've made the chapter too long, soo I put it off T^T.

But seriously, college. O_O I'm soo busy most of the time, I don't really feel like I have time for anything! And on top of that, I don't wanna rush my beautiful beta, so I give her really lax deadlines... (She's in college too XD). But anyways, hopefully you guys liked this chapter and think it was worth the wait! :'D

Please review if you can! It really motivates me to keep writing, and just thanks everyone for reading! lessthan3! I really appreciate it! KC-Z out!~