Chapter 5
The next room was green, like a forest. There were paintings of a ladybug, a bee, a butterfly and a spider. I saw a little speck moving on the floor. It was an ant. To my surprise, it started talking to me!
"i'm an ant," it declared. "i love paintings. my painting is especially cool. i'd like to see it again, but it's kind of far away..."
I made it my mission to help the little guy out.
I saw a notice that said, "Beware the Edges." What could this possibly mean? I proceeded down the narrow hallway.
Suddenly, a black arm shot out of the wall and hit me. I screamed and ran back. Where I got hit, I saw rose petals. I saw my rose began to fade. I saw that my very body began to look like a corpse and understood the value of the rose.
I heeded the instructions and walked in the center of the pathway, away from the walls. More arms shot out but were unable to reach me.
Swallowing my fear, I reached the end of the narrow corridor. I saw the painting of the ant, which was easily removed from the wall. There was also a bright green door, but it was locked, so I decided to head back to my little friend.
Knowing where the arms were reaching out, I breezed by them. When I got back to the ant, he seemed entranced by the panting.
"oh. that's my painting. it's just as cool as i remember it," he said, staring intensely at it.
I guess he didn't want it back, so I kept it and moved on.
The next 4 paintings I saw appeared to be the life cycle of a caterpillar. The egg stage was named "Prologue." The larva stage was "Chapter 1," following that was the chrysalis, "Chapter 2." "Last Chapter" was of a fully grown butterfly. I sighed and wondered if I would ever get out of here alive and live to my last chapter. The door was unlocked so I went in.
There was a fissure in the floor. How was I to get across... I had an idea. I took the painting and laid it across the large crack in the ground. I hoped the ant painting was sturdy enough to support my weight. As I gingerly walked across, it ripped and cracked a little. I made it across without falling through.
As I entered the next room, I saw yet another picture. "Epilogue" pictured a spider eating the butterfly. What a sad end... I saw one of Guertena's sculptures there, the headless one with the red dress. In front of it, was a green key lying on the floor. I picked it up.
Without warning, the statue came to life. It approached me, and I moved back. It roared and started to chase me. So many things were flashing before my eyes. So many questions raced through my mind. Everything was defying logic and normal sense. How is this thing attacking me? It has no head, how did it do that? How can it see me?
Oh god oh god oh god, I whispered hurriedly as I ran back across the painting. Thankfully, it broke as I ran across and the monster couldn't cross over.
As I entered the next room, I heard the sound of glass breaking and shattering. I kept running and running. The little ant asked, "what happened to my painting?" I didn't answer him. I ran across the hall of black arms and came to the door. I stopped to catch my breath, and unlocked the door.