Chapter 17

I was getting tired of waiting by the stone vines. I tapped my foot impatiently. "..." it was so quiet. "...They're taking their time... I wonder if something happened?" I muttered. I walked a few steps and began to shout, "Ib! Mary! Can you hear me?!"

There was no response. "No good..." I said, bringing my palm to my face. "Argh, I knew I shouldn't have let them go alone...! what to do..."

I looked around. The only place left to go was that god awful room. "...I suppose I'll investigate that room again. ...As much as I hate to go back in there..."

I readied myself to re-enter the disturbing room full of bunnies. I braced myself for the eerie sensation of being watched. That was all in vain.

The room still haunted me. I looked on at the disturbing dolls with tangled masses of black hair, piercing red eyes, disgusting blue skin and demented smiles. The dolls hanging by their necks from the ceiling... I shuddered looking at them.

Averting my eyes from the many small dolls, I looked at "Red Eyes." This was the most disturbing painting yet. The magnified face of a doll. I felt it watching my every move. How could the girls see anything in this room as "cute?"

Looking away from "Red Eyes," I told myself, "...No matter how I look at it, this is NOT 'cute.'"

Nothing was different since I was last here. Browsing the bookshelf on the right side of the room, I sighed and said, "Nothing of note here..." Then I noticed something. There was a crack in the wall. "...Hm?" I tried to move the bookcase and it slided as I pushed it. "Ah, it moved! Why didn't I notice that earlier?"

Behind the bookshelf was a small hole in the wall. "Oh, well. I can go out this way." I guess there was some merit in visiting this horrid room after all.

As I left the terrible room, I crawled into a much larger area. A violet message on the wall read, "There is no exit. There is no reason." What a defeatist notion... The door adjacent to it was locked.

I explored a little bit more. There was a black triangle shape sticking out of the ground. I couldn't do anything with it... Around the back of the room were 5 cords. How mysterious...

I decided to start from the left side and make my way over. I pulled the first cord. A black arm shot out from the wall and hit me. Ouch...

Hesitatingly, I pulled the second cord. A green mist flowed out from above me and assailed my lungs. Hacking and coughing, I said, "What is this...?!" How many more of these cords were going to be detrimental to my health? My rose was starting to look wilted...

I stepped over to the third cord and gave it a tug. The lights went out. It was pitch black. "You must be KIDDING me!" I yelled out to no one. "It switches off the power?!" Hurriedly, I pulled the rope again. The light came back on. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew... Thank goodness... I thought it wouldn't come back..."

Reluctantly, I moved over to the next cord, and pulled it. There was a click and I heard something over on the other side of the wall fall. I could faintly hear the sound of cheering. Maybe pulling that cord helped out Ib and Mary? I wondered.

Not wanting to overstep my boundaries, I refrained from pulling the last cord. I could just sense something bad would happen... There was a drawing of a red rose on the floor. I went over to sit and plan out my next move...