Book of a lovable horror

Chapter 5

His heart raced as he repeated to himself over and over again that it was just some kind of miserable hallucination his mind made up to scare him more,his knees shaking and begging for him to run,run away to who knows where. He winced as he heard a bell,like the one on cat collars,ring as if an actual cat had ran past him. He felt the urge to turn back,never look into the hallway again and instead just sit down and die of starvation. Poe didn't want to continue moving on,it felt like such a great amount of effort it hurt. But...he was bored out of his mind,as much as the house had scared him so far,as much as he'd rather die and leave it as that,he wanted to see the horrors the room has to offer,he didn't want to rot away without trying to get out. Gathering all of his courage,he stooped over to the second route,biting back a yelp when he laid his eyes on the mannequin he'd seen one too many times,his eyes closed and emoting a cheery mood like the one which bounced around to the music like a child. As much as he wanted to spend time with the mannequin,pretending it really was his Friend,he knew it would do nothing other than ease his hear just a tiny bit and waste time. Pressing a tiny kiss onto the mannequin's forehead to let his heart familiarise with it for a while,the writer went past him before stopping in confusion. The shadowy mannequins were there again,this time blocking his path to the third route. He turned back,tilting his head to the side when he didn't find anything.
...the mannequins always had some sort of clue.
Ranpo would always have some sort of clue.
His gaze traveled from Not Ranpo to what was on the wall,smacking himself on the head when he realised there was a door that had just appeared. Trying to open the doorknob,he grunted and gave up,suppressing his groaning as he wrecked his brain. What would you do if there was a door in front of you? You'd try to pull it open,that's for sure. But before that...you'd knock. Poe knocked softly on the door,taking a step back if anything happened. A loud noise made him cover his ears with his hands,his eyes catching something falling off the ceiling before blinking and looking back at the door. He gritted his teeth,knowing he couldn't back out now,squinting his eyes at the light which turned red and glancing at the item that dropped before him. A plant dotted with white carnations sat in front of the door,its petals swaying along with the indoor wind as the writer moved in closer and knocked a second time,heart lurching when another object fell from the ceiling. Glasses. Familiar glasses,the source of his lover's ability. He screeched and stumbled back,his mind abruptly playing a sort of movie of holding something tightly in his arms and lowering it into a bed of white carnations,like a representation of their innocence. What did he lower? He can't remember. Did he even do anything related to that? He can't remember. He wanted to curl up into a ball and forget everything,he didn't even know where he was and now weird kind of memories he didn't even know belonged in his mind was flashing before his eyes.
..click.
The lights went back to normal.
The plant was gone.
The mannequins were gone.
He was left confused,the memories at the back of his head now.
Shaking everything off,he gathered whatever sense of consciousness in him and carried on to the third route,fourth route,he lost count he can't remember. Going into the route with mirrors he'd stared at to break,he let out a startled yip as he saw the plush cat banging its head on the wall repeatedly,as if it was losing its mind and banging mindlessly. Moving to stick himself on the other side of the wall,the brunt slinked away from the cat back to the starting point,biting his lip when he saw the all too familiar mannequin again,doing the same thing as the plush cat did,banging his head onto the wall with the white canvas beside the dark room. He tiptoed over to the raven,cocking his head to the side when he didn't see any words on the white portrait. Looking back,he felt the same aura from the mannequin in front of him as the one outside the window,glancing just a tiny bit closer,his eyes were a bloodied red. He couldn't stand it. Even if it was the scary version of said mannequin. No he's finding something to help the object before him. Ripping a piece of cloth from his heavily dressed coat,he wrapped it around the forehead of Not Ranpo to bandage the part he kept on hitting on he wall before going back into the hallway to continue his way. Going on his merry way,Poe went to the first canvas with the window behind him. 'Cmon,drink with me,like we used to' the canvas read. Like we used to? He'd barely remembered when he'd last drank. Brushing all of the curiosity of the message,he hurried along to the next route,every fear he had at the back of his head at the moment as the cat plush with the usual stitched eyes ran pass,sprinting down the hallway into the starting point all while its bell ringed fluently.
Ding!..
It stopped.
Staring at on of the few shelf at the top of the right wall,its bell not ringing. At the entrance of the dark room was the mannequin,this time it had the cheerful presence,like the one that was hopping to the circus music a while back. He twirled around like a child enjoying his day at the amusement park,all the while his closed eyes opening slightly at each bounce to reveal those pretty emerald eyes of his. The brunet wanted to go to him,wondering if there was any clue he had for him but one look at the plush cat was all he needed to understand what this version of Ranpo wanted him to do. Looking at where the plush cat stared at,he sighed as his eyes gazed around and landed on a glass filled with what he thought was wine.
'Cmon,drink with me like me used to,'.
It was obvious
He didn't like drinking
But there wasn't a way out.
Taking the glass into his hands,the plum eyed chugged it down in a gulp,ignoring how the music seemed to go slightly faster and the world seemed a little woozy to him. Catching the sight of a second cup beside him,he drank it down hesitantly before turning around after not finding the third cup and realising it was on the shelf behind him. Getting the third cup and drinking it down,his tongue started wanting for more,an addictive wave crashing over him as he stumbled onto his knees,his mind aching with dread as he searched for the forth cup. Slamming his body onto the wall,he gulped the fifth cup down,swallowing his urge to puke everything out as the hallway around him started swaying,his mouth dry and thirsty for another glass. He was so dizzy at that point,he didn't even realise shadowy like mannequins had surrounded him and the cheery Ranpo like mannequin wasn't there anymore,only when he did realise,he was too drunk to care. Yanking the sixth cup,and surprisingly not passing out,he sipped it down,the room's atmosphere glitching out before him and the mannequins disappeared.
Fuck.
He feels so numb
He can't think
He wanted to just lie down and die
He felt so dizzy,his world twirling around as he slumped against the wall,not knowing if this was even a dream or not. He wondered how he was going to make it to where ever Not Ranpo wanted him to be while he was this dead drunk.