Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph2 Ch7: Barber

Seven gasped as he woke up. He was still in the room, but this time no one was there. He frantically searched himself for any blood or injuries, but there was nothing, he was perfectly fine. Seven let out a sigh of relief, but then remembered, there was no one else in the room. The Grimmchild was missing.

Not even caring about the Barber, he yelled for the Grimmchild at the top of his lungs. "Friend! Grimmchild!" He yelled.

He waited, and waited for a reply, and then, he heard the faintest of chirps from the Grimmchild. It sounded scared, frightened, and panicked. Seven pulled himself up to the ground, and started following the sound as fast as he could, hoping he could find his missing friend.

He ran around the room, looking and looking for any way out of the room, to find the Grimmchild, its cries still echoing through the walls. Seven kept looking, and then he spotted something unusual. A glitched image of a girl with a braid stood on top of a shelf, looking down at him. They beckoned, asking him to follow. Seven climbed to the top of the shelf, expecting to meet this strange girl. But once he got to the top, they were nowhere to be found.

But where she stood, there was a door to a vent. Seven pulled the door open, and started crawling through. But soon, he found himself in a maze, with several ups and downs, and twists and turns. He searched for a way to navigate the maze, and in the corner of his eye, he spotted the girl. He followed the girl, crawling after her in the vents. Who ever she was, she was helping him, and that was all Seven needed at the moment.

He followed her through the maze, and then fell out from a loose vent cover. At this point, he was starting to panic. He could hear the Grimmchild calling out for him, it cries getting closer and closer. That meant that he was getting closer. Closer to finding them. As he rushed through the halls of the barbershop, he came running through a room, filled with mannequins. They all spotted him, and instantly began crawling towards him. 

Seven drew his nail, and preformed a cyclone slash. Surprisingly, the Mannequins stopped in place. They stopped crawling, and their hands rested on the ground. Once the slash was over though, they started swarming over to him again. Seven swung with his blade, and the mannequins stopped again. Were they afraid of his nail? Or was it something else? Seven didn't care, he swung his nail frantically, and violently through the crown of mannequins, and stormed to the door on the other side of the room.

He opened the door, and slammed it behind him. He looked up, and stared right into the eyes of the Barber. He heard the Grimmchild cry, and saw it wrapped up, on a chair in front of him. The Barber must've been planning to cut it! The Barber walked right towards Seven, his scissor blades slicing with every step he took. Seven fought back with his nail, managing to prevent the scissors from closing in on him again.

Suddenly, the scissors closed in on his nail, and the Barber flung it across, to the other side of the room. Backing into a corner, Seven panicked, trying to find some sort of weapon to fight back with. He bumped into a shelf, and something caught his eye. A bottle of aftershave. He pried off the entire cap, and flung the bottle right into the Barbers face. The Barber screamed, wiping the burning substance from his eyes. Seven didn't waste any time. He ran over to his nail, then ran to the Grimmchild, and cut it free.

It curled up around him, scared for its life. Seven ran back through the door, and swung his nail to avoid the mannequins. He heard the Barbers footsteps following him, and his eyes darted around the room, looking for a possible escape. His eyes sprung to a wall with weak board holding it up. He ran towards it, and unleashed a cyclone slash, shredding up the boards. Seven ran through the opening, the Grimmchild shaking underneath his neck. They were both afraid. Very afraid.

Sevens heart jumped as he heard the Barber break through the wall, and close in on both of them. He had to fight back, there had to be a way to get rid of this horrifying creature. Seven ran through room after room, the Barber following them without even thinking. As the Barber chased them, Seven tried to think of a plan. Suddenly, he tripped over a long rope, knotted onto the wall. An idea came together in his mind at that very moment.

He tied the rope into a lasso, and flung it around the Barbers neck. The hoop landed around him, and the rest fell behind, away from his scissors. Just as Seven thought, the Barber didn't even care about the rope. Seven kept running, clutching the Grimmchild as it held onto him in absolute terror. The doctor followed them, his scissors violently snapping back and forth. As he chased them, the rope began to tighten around his neck. The knotted end still strong, being pulled along.

Seven kept running, and running, until he found a large elevator shaft. Perfect. He thought. He jumped down the shaft, and landed on the elevator, not too far away. He looked up, just in time to see the Barber jump down after him. Suddenly, the rope tightened. Now aware, the Barber scrambled for air, as he hung in the elevator shaft, the newly made noose tight around his neck. His limbs frantically swung around, until suddenly, they stopped, and hung lifelessly from his body.

Seven took a deep sigh of relief. The Grimmchild flew out from his shoulders, and flew around him, now feeling safe, and happy. A smile came across Sevens worn out face. It was worth it. The Grimmchild was now safe. Noticing a hole in the elevator, the two slipped down, into the elevator, where the door was creaked open to another room. Inside that room was a series of paintings across the wall.

Seven looked, and saw a few very peculiar paintings. There was one of a large tower, the face of an old, tall, thin man, and a heart, painted scarlet red. One of the paintings stood out to him. There was a painting of a boy, his face covered with a paper bag, and a bug, wearing a horned white shell. The Grimmchild flew up to the painting, and stared at the small, horned bug. Did it look familiar to them? Did they know it? Suddenly, Sevens eyes locked on to a blank painting, with dream catcher particles flying out of it. Their way out of this horrific nightmare. The Grimmchild flew over to him, and he pressed his hand onto the canvas.

In a big burst of light, Seven opened his eyes, and found himself lying down on the floor of the same room they entered through. The Grimmchild woke up right next to him, and helped him to his feet. Was it just a dream? Seven wondered, looking around the room. Every painting in the room was still exactly the same, except for one. The painting of the Barber changed, with a rope hanging around his neck, his eyes bodied and grey.

It wasn't a dream after all.

____________________________________________________________

How long was this chapter in the works again? One day? two days? Double it to four. I've had a bit of a writers block, so this one took me a few days to get a good idea for it. Hopefully Phase 2 has been enjoyable so far, and I haven't kept you all waiting too long.

See you next chapter ; )