Chapter 9

We climbed up a set of stairs in front of us. There were two windows on the wall, and as we passed by them, there seemed to be a figure walking by them on the other side. When we inspected the second window, the figure banged against it. We gasped and hurried away. It reminded me of when Terra, Kasey, and I were back at the art gallery.

Something red rolled across the room and splattered against the wall. When we went across the room, I saw a picture of what looked to be a clown. It was missing its nose. As we walked away from it, four messages appeared on the wall. They said, "I want you to have fun, Kasey and Ib" "Come to a fun world without any adults" "We'll be together" "You two, me, and our friends"

I reached for Kasey's hand. She smiled uneasily at me.

The three of us walked into the next room. There was a large gap in the floor that we couldn't cross. There were five cords hanging from the ceiling, but we couldn't reach them. The second cord to the right had a green painting underneath it. The painting had eyes, and it blinked at us.

"How are we going to get across?" Kasey asked.

We stood there in silence for a few moments before Mary said, "I wonder what Garry and Terra are doing? We kind of left them behind..."

Kasey squeezed my hand (how many times had she done that in the past ten minutes?), and I knew we were thinking the same thing: Where ever Terra and Garry were, I hoped they were okay.

~Garry~

I stared through the vines, hoping to see Kasey, Ib, or Mary appear in front of them. But they never showed up. What could they possibly be doing for so long...?

I glanced at Terra, who was starting to look very worried. I didn't like seeing her like this... I wondered if there was something I could say to cheer her up...

"...They're taking their time... I wonder if something happened?" I mentally slapped my forehead. That was what I came up with? If anything, I had just increased her worry! What was the matter with me?

Terra's crimson eyes met mine. I thought her eyes were very dazzling, as was the rest of her face. She sighed and said, "I hope not. Maybe we should call them?"

I nodded, and the two of us shouted, "Ib! Kasey! Mary! Can you hear us?!"

When no response came, Terra punched the wall in frustration. "Dammit! I knew we shouldn't have let them go alone!"

I took her hands and enlaced them with mine. "It'll be all right, Terra," I said. "We'll find them."

She didn't look convinced, but she seemed a bit calmer now. "So what now?" she asked.

After a moment's pause, I said, "...I suppose we should investigate that room again."

She grimaced. "I don't want to go back there."

"Believe me, neither do I. But maybe there's something we missed that we can use now."

She sighed again and nodded. We walked over to the door and grudgingly turned the knob. The room was as unsettling as before — rows of disturbing dolls on shelves, dolls that were hanging by their necks from the ceiling, and the painting of that red-eyed blue doll with ragged black hair and a demented red smile etched across its face.

"This is so creepy," Terra whispered to me.

We went up to the "Red Eyes" painting. I shook my head and said, "...No matter how I look at it, this is NOT 'cute.' "

"You're right, it's not," Terra said. "Not one bit. I don't know what Kasey, Ib, and Mary were thinking."

We looked around the room a bit more, trying our best to ignore the dolls. I inspected one of the bookshelves. "Nothing of note here... Hm?" The bookcase suddenly slid to the side, revealing a hidden passage. "Terra, look! It moved!"

Terra walked over. "Why didn't we notice this earlier?"

I was thinking the same thing. "Oh, well. We can go out this way."

The two of us went through the passage and found ourselves in a large, yet mostly empty, room. On one side of the room, there were five cords hanging from the ceiling. There was also a small triangular keyhole on the floor. There was a door in the room, but it was locked. Next to the door was an ominous message that said, "There is no exit. There is no reason."

Terra and I went over to the cords. "Should we... pull them?" she asked.

"There doesn't seem to be anything else we can do," I said. She reached for one of the cords, but I pulled her hand away. "I think it would be best if I was the one who did the pulling. I don't want you to get hurt."

She smiled. "...Okay. Thanks, Garry."

I smiled back. "Of course." I paused. "Any idea which cord I should pull?"

"Um... the third one?" she suggested.

I pulled on the cord in the middle. The lights went off. "You MUST be kidding me!" I exclaimed.

"It switches off the power?!" Terra cried.

Then the lights turned back on. I sighed of relief. "Thank goodness... I thought it wouldn't come back..." I glanced at Terra. "Do you have any other suggestions?"

She mulled it over. "The... fourth one...?"

I pulled on the fourth one from the left. Nothing happened.

"Maybe that's a sign," Terra said. "Maybe we shouldn't pull any more for now."

"In that case, let's search around a bit more," I suggested. We turned away from the cords and went to look around the room together.

~Ib~

The green painting was suddenly lowered onto the gap in the floor, creating a bridge for me, Kasey, and Mary.

"Hey, look!" Mary said. "Now we can cross!"

"Is it okay to cross?" Kasey asked.

The painting looked at Kasey for a moment, and then it shut its eyes.

"Guess so!" Mary chirped.

The three of us gingerly walked across the painting. On this side of the room, there was a slightly opened box. When we peeked in, I saw something moving inside...

"Let's not open that box..." Mary said.

In the room, there was what looked like a cube with a blue triangle top. Typically, Kasey began to push it around. She accidentally knocked it into the gap in the floor. She turned to us, cringing. "Whoops..."

Since there was nothing else to do, we went into the next room. It reminded me of a snake. There was a very narrow walkway, so the three of us had to walk one by one. As we were walking, Mary suddenly stopped us. "Hey, um... Can I ask you two something?"

"Sure," Kasey said.

"Is Garry... your dad?"

Kasey laughed. "Our dad? No, he's not. Don't you see how he and Terra are, like, in love with each other?"

Mary paused. "...Really? So Terra is his... girlfriend?"

"Terra is mine and Ib's sister," Kasey replied. "You knew that, right? Anyway, no, she's not his girlfriend, but they sure act like they like each other, don't they?"

"I guess..." Mary murmured. "So... your dad is somebody else, then?"

We nodded.

"Is your mom nice?" she asked us.

"Not when she's mad," Kasey said, smiling.

"Ahahaha! She gets mad at you, Kasey?" Mary said. "You want to see your parents soon, right?"

"Of course."

"I want to get out soon, too..." Mary sighed. She became quiet for a moment. Then she spoke up again. "Hey... uh... What if... we can't all get out of here?"

None of us said anything for a moment. Then Kasey broke the silence. "As long as my sisters are safe... I don't care what happens," she said, a determined look in her eyes. "And I hope that you and Garry will be all right, too. But, if anything... I would sacrifice myself."

I squeezed her hand and nodded in agreement.

"Wha?! Really?" Mary exclaimed in surprise. "But then neither of you would ever meet your mom again! ...It would be really lonely... you know?" She looked remorseful for a second. "Don't say things like that... We'll leave together! Promise!"

Kasey smiled. "I hope you're right."

I hoped so, too...

~Garry~

While Terra and I were checking the room, an odd object dropped to the floor. It looked like a pentagon.

"Hey... maybe this can fit into that hole there?" Terra asked.

I looked at the object again. The top of it had a triangular shape, and it seemed to match the keyhole on the floor. I dragged it to the keyhole. It fit perfectly. The door in the room was now opened. Terra and I grinned at each other and went through the door. As we walked down the purple hallway, I saw something that knocked the grin right off my face. There was a disturbing blue doll with a pink dress. It had a message next to it. The message said, "Hello there, Garry and Terra... I don't like being alone... Take me with you...!"

Terra gripped my hand. She looked nervous. I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, even though the doll was most likely making me feel as uneasy as it was making her.

We continued down the hallway and then stopped in our tracks. There was another doll. It had a message next to it, too. It read, "Hey, why aren't you taking me?"

"Garry..." Terra said nervously. She was staring at the section of the hallway we'd already passed. I followed her gaze and saw what was making her so uncomfortable. The doll that had been there before was nowhere in sight. I looked at the doll in front of us right now. Was it... following us?

We continued walking. The doll was there again, with a new message that said, "Why are you ignoring me? Do you hate me?"

We proceeded down the hallway. Once again, the doll was there. The message next to it said, "Hey, play with me! I know lots of fun things we can do..."

We moved on, but the doll was awaiting us again. The message read, "I've got lots of friends, too... I'll introduce you!"

Terra was clutching tightly onto my hand. "This is freaking me out," she whispered.

"It's all right..." I said, even though I didn't quite believe the words myself. "It'll have to stop eventually..."

We kept going. The doll was there again. The message was shorter this time, but it still sent chills down my spine. It said, "Be here forever..."

We finally reached the end of the hall. There was a door, but the doll was sitting in front of it. Exasperated, I said, "...How long are you going to follow us? Enough of this! We're busy here, and we're not going to be your buddy!" I was about to kick it when Terra put a hand on my shoulder. She gave me a look that said to calm down. I exhaled and moved the doll out of the way without harming it. "You're right, Terra. It would be best not t get involved here..."

I turned the knob, but the door was locked. A message appeared on the wall. It said, "TAKE ME." Then the door clicked. I tried the knob again, and the door opened with ease.

Terra and I went inside. The room we were now in was very large and was filled with multiple doors and paintings. Directly across from where we had entered was the doll, with a new message next to it. It said, "I'll always be with you both... My home is just nearby..."

"I hope we never have to see its 'home,' " Terra sniped. I nodded in agreement.

Near the doll was a door, two paintings, another door, and a vase. According to Terra, that particular vase had an infinite water source, so we could use it as many times as we'd please.

The two paintings were titled "Depths" and "Marvelous Night." The door that was next to the vase had a tree shape over it. Unfortunately, it was locked.

We continued searching around. There was a door nearby, but it was also locked. Next to that door was a painting titled "Fishing Hook." I peered at the painting. There was no fishing hook. The painting simply depicted the color blue.

"Um... There's no fishing hook," Terra stated.

"Yes, I know," I said. "Isn't that a bit... odd?"

"What isn't odd in this place?" She sighed.

We came across two more paintings. I recognized one of them from the gallery. It was titled "Worry." The painting next to it was titled "Juggling." There was a door across from the paintings. We ventured inside. The room was filled with a strange red gas. "Oof... What's with this room...?!" I said.

Terra coughed. "This gas is probably toxic or something. We shouldn't stay here for long."

There was an umbrella in the room, an empty vase, and a cord hanging from the ceiling. The cord was too far away, but I was able to snatch the umbrella. With each step I took, a petal fell off my rose. By the time we exited the room, my whole body was screaming in pain. Terra took my rose and quickly replenished it. I smiled gratefully at her.

She returned the smile, but it quickly faded when she looked at the doll again. She sighed. "This isn't going to get easier, is it?"

I clasped her hand in mine. "Eventually, it will. We just have to be strong for now."

"Yeah, you're right..." She closed her eyes. "But I don't know how much longer I can keep being 'strong.' "

"Just think of Kasey and Ib," I advised. "You want to find them again, don't you?"

Terra's eyes snapped open. "Oh, I will find them. I don't care what it takes."

"That makes two of us." I gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "And don't worry, Terra — no matter what happens, I'll protect you and your sisters till the very end."