Chapter 8

The next room was filled with paintings of a guillotine. As I walked down the hall, I counted 6 paintings. The first 5 were of the guillotine slowly ascending. By the 6th painting it was completely out of sight. I just knew there was something bad about to happen. I made an assumption that if I walked on, the blade would fall down on me and kill me...

I froze for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. Then I decided I must do it. I must brave the possibility of getting sliced in half like bread.

I quickly ran forward to the end of the hall. I heard a heavy thud behind me as an extremely large blade crashed into the floor. With wide eyes, I stared as it miraculously began to float back up, as if something was pulling the rope it as attached to. I moved out of the hallway and went down the stairs.

The next hallway was red. I moved on. When I got to the end of the hall, I saw a fleeting shadow glide by. Nonetheless, I kept my cool. There was a painting of a white bird blowing into what appeared to be a horn, resulting in a pink gust of air. It was called "Breath." I continued down the narrow corridor and met a red door at the end. Bracing myself for what lies beyond it, I opened the door.

I came across a sculpture of a blue woman, resembling one of the sculptures I saw before the museum began to turn. Strangely, the name of it was called "Uh." On the other side of the room was another sculpture, but of a red woman. It was named "Ah." How odd.

In between them was a painting. I couldn't read the first word. "? Pattern." It looked kind of messy.

Above "Uh" were 2 other paintings. One was a portrait of what looked to be a man in a suit smoking. It was called "Smoking ?" I didn't understand that word. The other painting was called "Heartbeat." A single green line, but when I approached it, it made a wavy motion, as if it were alive...

Above "Ah" were also 2 paintings. One was "Heart Wounds." It looked like an arrow piercing the shadow of a realistic looking heart... The other was a familiar painting. I remembered seeing this in the museum! A man was admiring it, but I didn't get the title. I read it, "The Lady in Red."

As I moved away from it, I heard a noise behind me. The lady suddenly burst from the wall, crawling on the floor with her picture frame still intact. She roared and shrieked at me, sending chills down my back. I ran away from her but she just kept following me, occasionally roaring and trying to claw at me. The only exit out of there was a locked red door.

My situation was desperate. Tears were running down my face. I can't keep running from her forever, I whispered to myself. Looking behind me, I saw she was still after me, dragging herself along the floor, shrieking unintelligible things. I screamed and at the same time, remembered something fell out of the wall with her. I don't know what, but it was my only hope.

I went back to where she was before, and saw a red key lying on the ground. Yes yes yes yes yes yes! I kept saying to myself. I ran to the red door with the lady in hot pursuit. The key worked, and I slipped inside.

I slammed the door shut and tried to open the next door. It was locked... The lady banged on the door, screaming at me. My sense of security faded as I realized I would be trapped in this tiny room with her if she came in. I frantically searched the bookcases here for a key, or something, anything to get out!

I came upon "The Girls in the Canvas," which I thought could serve me well if I learned something about them. It read, "The women here become very ? once they ? a desire for humans. They'll always ? chase things until they're satisfied, it seems... Anywhere, everywhere, to the ends of the earth..." The fact that I couldn't read some of the words coupled with this newfound knowledge made me fall deeper into despair. But I noticed something odd. There was no more banging on the door. I read on. "But if they have one weakness, it's that they can't open doors on their own."

This was incredible. They really couldn't open doors on their own? I guess since they're stuck to their picture frame, they can't reach the doorknob. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued my search for the way out.

A book titled "Guertena" contained many of his works. I saw a scrap of paper sticking out from in between 2 books. It read, " ?" What a sadistic person, whoever left it there.

"Art Galleries of the World," it had many nice pictures, but it wasn't what I was looking for. I was almost out of options, when I came upon "Moving Storybook: Written/Drawn by XXXX -Carrie Careless and the Galette des Rois-" It was different from the other books. It was drawn purely from crayon. I decided not to read it since I should really be finding my way out.

Putting back, I saw that another book was sticking out. I decided to push it in. I heard a clicking sound, and the door was unlocked. I took a deep breath, and went through.

On the other side, I could still hear the lady crawling around. She was relentlessly going to pursue me... I moved on up and saw a painting of a turquoise vase. It was titled, "Eternal Blessings." Underneath it on a table was the vase itself. I decided to place my rose in there. Suddenly, it sprang to life as petals were replenished. The rose as well as my physical appearance looked good as new. I felt a little more confident in my exploration of this terrifying world, now that I knew there was some hope after all.