So, guess what guys?
I'M BAAAAAAAACK!
I am so sorry for taking forever to update. I've been working on a new idea for myself and it's promising. Angels chaos, love, and Armageddon, anyone? So anyway, it's nice to be back. School is proving to be hell. It's fun, but so insanely busy. My schedule is packed between homework, dance class, fall play, and writing, I seriously have no room to breathe. AND I have pop vocals tryouts on Friday, AAAAND my voice Is jacked up. Great. I swear, if I had a boyfriend and still did sports, my brain would have exploded long before now.
Confession #2: I love the color purple because it's the color of royalty, power, and romance (mostly the royalty and power part). Stick that in your hard drive.
So, rate and review! Thanks to all the people who have been following The Four! You guys are the best!
Air couldn't fill Cassia's lungs fast enough as she slowed down, huffing and gulping in oxygen. Garry slammed the door behind them, his face drained of all color. He looked ready to pass out. There was pounding at the door and Cassia braced her back against the door under Garry's arm, keeping them from busting in.
"Damn, those things are strong," Garry breathed as the door wood buckled under the fists of the things outside.
Cassia and Garry didn't have a prayer when they left the room where they'd split from the rest of the group. When they got to the end of the hallway, they were immediately surrounded by headless statues, all dressed in either red, blue, or yellow dresses. They walked like Frankensteins, but they weren't slow. Garry and Cassia had to crack some heads (or lack thereof) to get away. The halls were almost mazelike, and they were relieved that they could find a door… which was locked. Garry had the bright idea of kicking it in, which worked surprisingly, but now they were trapped, the lock was busted, and the wood of the door was compromised.
"What do we do?" Cassia's expression was pleading.
"I don't know," he said, and Cassia could see he was wracking his brain for options. "How many petals do you have left?"
"Four," she was sure of it. She could feel it somehow without even looking at it. The scratches lining her arms indicated it, too. "You?"
"Three," he grimaced. He groaned and pushed up against the door, which was opening slightly. Cassia saw a few fingers pry through and they were now curled around the wood. The nails were long and pointed. "And dropping."
"We can't do this forever," she pushed harder with her shoulder.
"What can we do?"
"How many are there?" she asked.
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Check!"
"Are you insane!?" he looked at her like she'd grown a second head. Another push came at the door, and Cassia's feet slid a little. I am so happy I wore sneakers today, she thought as she repositioned herself.
"Please?"
Garry bit his lip, then moved away from the door slightly. The door opened a little, and he peered through the crack. Suddenly, a hand lashed out towards his face, and he recoiled with a cry and pushed the door back. The hand was snapped off and fell into the room with them. It flopped for a moment, then was still.
"Don't EVER make me do that again, Cassia," he looked terrified. "There are about six. Well, like five and ten twelfths since we snapped the hand off that one."
Cassia cursed under her breath. They could never take that many without a weapon. Her eyes locked on the hand on the ground, and she realized that it was completely devoid of color. The ends were chipping like chalk, and she had a realization.
"Garry! When they fall apart, they die!" she cried.
"So how do we get them in pieces?"
"Just follow my lead," she said. "When I say 'open', open the door. When I say 'close', close the door, okay?"
"Okay."
"Ready?"
He nodded. "Ready."
"Open!" she let the weight from behind her out a little and two arms poked in, prying about and clawing at the walls. Soon, a third popped in, and she cried, "Close!" They both pushed against it, and dust and chips rained down on them as the three arms were chopped off.
"Open!"
"Close!"
"Open!"
"Close!"
Soon, the floor was littered with crumbling appendages, and Cassia's hair was covered in chalky dust. The force on the other side of the door was lessening with every slam, every crack. Eventually, the pounding came to a stop, and Cassia was breathing hard as she slid to the floor. Garry joined her, hugging his knees to his chest.
"Are they gone?" she coughed, and a puff of dust left her lungs.
He peeked through the keyhole and sat back looking like a huge weight was taken off his shoulders, "Yeah."
Relief flooded Cassia and she said, "That was…"
"Scary?"
"Terrifying," she said, and without thinking about it, she leaned against him and put her head on his chest. She felt him tense, but he relaxed after a second, and she was thankful to have another human being there. If she didn't, and she was alone in the gallery, she may well have gone insane.
After a minute of them just sitting like that quietly, he said, "Last time I held someone in this damned gallery, it was Ib. She was just about ready to give up."
"You love her, don't you?"
"Like a sister," he said, and she felt him wrap his arm around her waist. It felt nice, and Cassia could feel herself begin to feel lighter. Suddenly, an image of Adrian popped into her head, which shocked her. Why in the world would I be comparing Garry to Adrian? She pushed the thought away and moved away. He looked down at her, concern crossing his face, and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Fine," she composed herself and stood up, shaking the dust out of her hair. "We have to get moving. Who knows how many friends those things could have coming our way?"
Garry nodded and stood up too. He kicked away the debris as they made their way back to the door. Cassia kept stealing glances at Garry, who looked deep in thought. She briefly felt fluttery inside and looked away. What the hell is going on?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"This is getting weirder and weirder by the minute," Holly muttered as they entered a vast room.
The room was long and wide… or so Holly thought. She could see a gap between the walls and the ceiling and there was a fork in the hall up ahead of them. As she looked around, she somehow knew that they were in the beginnings of a maze.
"This is a maze," Toby picked up on it too.
"How do we get through it?" Adrian asked.
"I don't know," Ib said. "I encountered one like that in my last pass through here, and it was crawling with creepy things. Mostly those statues, which are some of the creepiest."
"Let's check it out," Toby suggested, and they ventured into the maze.
After a while of wandering left and right, forwards and backwards, they came to a large clearing. In the center of the far wall there was a door. Adrian went up to it and tugged on it, but it was locked. He looked around and said, "This needs a key."
"Duh," Toby said. "But where?"
"Somewhere in this maze," Ib said, moving backwards slowly, as if she was in a trance. Her eyes were glazed over and she spoke like she was on another planet. "I… I have to go."
She turned on her heel and sprinted into the maze. She turned a corner, and was gone from sight. Holly was the first to recover and shrieked, "Ib!"
Toby was close behind her as she tore into the maze, following the sound of Ib's footsteps. They mingled with Adrian's, who was now following them, and soon Holly couldn't see Ib's long brown hair whip around the corners anymore. Adrian was running in the other direction; that much she could tell. Holly stopped and looked around frantically. She could no longer feel Toby's hand in hers. She couldn't even see Toby. Her body racked with spasms, fear coursing through her veins. She could barely move her mouth to speak.
"Toby?" she said weakly. "Ib? Adrian?"
She turned around and ran down the hallway. The walls were white and blended together in her vision. She felt trapped, like a lab rat. She clutched the end of her dress and leaned against the wall, huffing and puffing. The fear was paralyzing. Soon, though, she heard footsteps coming from behind her. Toby! She thought with glee, but there was something wrong. These footsteps were heavier. Like… stone. Her heartbeat quickened as the footsteps grew closer. She turned slowly and came face to face with a tall, thin statue in a yellow dress. There was no head, and it was coming straight for her.
Holly screamed.