The Madness Within ✓

XV.

I led Chris up the stairs to the library and pulled out a chair from the table with the statues.
„Please, take a seat."

Chris nodded and sat down on the chair. I took out another chair from one of the tables and pulled it closer to him, then also sat down.
Awkward silence filled the room. I stared at the ground as I fiddled with my hands, thinking of a way to start the conversation. Then, I looked up at him and noticed him staring at the other statues while fixing his glasses.

„Um.. may I see the statue that you showed me before?" I asked and quickly gained Chris' attention. He nodded and took out the statue from the pocket of his dark brown jacket, then handed it over to me.
„Here it is.”
„Thank you," I responded and examined the statue.

It was identical to the ones that I had, which means it was also made around the time the other statues were created, if not at the same time.
The next thing I checked was the initials with the number on the bottom of the statue. It could definitely be the statue with the number 03 on it, since it looks the same as the rest of the statues.
And the initials really were there, and so was the number. But the number was.. different.
R.S. 13 was written on the bottom of the statue.

„Wait, what?” I mumbled under my breath as I looked closer at the number. Was it a mistake? Or was there really one more statue that I've missed? Was there really 13 of them in total? Or were there even more statues than that?

„What's wrong?" Chris looked over at me, reacting to the confusion in my voice immediately.

„The statues.. there are 13 statues in total?"

„I'm.. not sure," Chris responded, looking back at the other statues, „You only have 11, don't you?"

I nodded. „Each statue that I found is labeled with a number from 01 to 12 that's written at the bottom of the statue. But I was missing one and that was the statue with the number 03 on it. I thought that you would have it, but yours has the number 13 written on it instead."

Chris and I both stayed silent for a moment. The fact that there are 13, if not more, statues around here could mean absolutely nothing. But it was somewhat strange that someone would make 13 statues that look identical.
What if there was more than just one creature too..?

„There has to be more around. But where? Maybe they don't exist anymore. Maybe someone broke them.. or something," I thought out loud.

„No. It's definitely not broken."

Chris snatched the statue from my hand and prepared to throw it, aiming it at the ground.

„What the hell are you doing?! Stop it!" I yelled out, reaching my hand out to him to stop him. But it was too late.
He threw the statue onto the floor with all his strength. I watched it slowly reach the ground, all sorts of thoughts entering my head all at once. It was all over.
But as soon as the statue hit the ground, instead of breaking into pieces just as I imagined as soon as I saw the statue flying down, nothing happened. The statue rolled on the floor for a moment, then stopped, unharmed.

„The statues don't break no matter what you do. I tried to break it many times, but nothing worked."

„You.. you fucking idiot! You could've just told me!" I yelled out, then took a deep breath and looked down. „Sorry, I.. didn't mean to call you that."

Chris let out a chuckle and shook his head. „I understand, I'm sorry. I just wanted to see how you'd react."

How I'd react? Wow.

„But when I tried it at home, I think I triggered something inside of the statue," he quickly added and picked up the statue from the ground.

„What do you mean?"

Chris began inspecting the statue from every side, almost as if he was searching for something, while he explained the situation.
„One time when I tried hitting it, music started playing out of it. It seemed like there was a music box inside of it or something. But I'm not sure what exactly triggered it. Maybe there's some kind of button, but I can't seem to find one anywhere on the statue."

I scratched the side of my head and looked at the statues that rested on the table next to us.
„The lady I talked to didn't mention any music boxes.."

„You can't trust anyone in this village. Maybe she didn't mention it on purpose," Chris responded, „but why?"

I shrugged and sighed.

After Chris finished inspecting the statue, he put it on the table, next to the rest of the statues, and looked back at me.
„I also wanted to mention something else. The lady you talked to, she had an eyepatch, right?"
I looked up at him and nodded.

„Maybe you've already noticed it, but she's not the only one that has an eyepatch. I'm not sure why, but some other villagers have them too. And all of them have it over their left eye.

„I haven't seen anyone else other than her have it so far," I responded, frowning at the thought. There are other villagers that have an eyepatch too? And even over the same eye?
„Do you know why they have it?"

Chris sighed and shook his head.
„Sorry, I tried finding out, but I found nothing."

I sighed and nodded, „it's okay."

After that, I told Chris everything that had happened to me the past few days that I've been here. I told him about the strange photos, the three creepy women, all the scary sounds and encounters I've come across in this house, and of course, I also told him about how I had to run away from the creature itself.
Once I finished explaining, Chris nodded and stayed silent for a second before responding to everything I told him.

„I'm sorry you had to do that. Now I understand why you didn't answer the doorbell at first. I wouldn't either."

I nodded and smiled. "Thank you for understanding."

„But you can't stay stuck here like this forever, Clara."

My heartbeat dropped as I heard him finish that sentence. I knew very well that I couldn't stay here, but just the thought of leaving the house and going back to the forest brought back all the terrible emotions I felt while running away from that creature. It is something that I never want to go through ever again.
I looked down at the ground and nodded, agreeing to what he said, yet unable to say anything to it.
I know I need to get out there one day.

But how?

How do I start? When do I start?

Where do I go? What should I do?

Those were the questions that I was unable to answer. It was difficult, so difficult. But I knew I'd have to start somewhere. I knew that I had to at least try. I now have someone who's willing to help me by my side. I need to try.

„There was.. something I saw in the forest while running back to the house," I said and looked back up at him, "It was some sort of tall rock with a symbol on it. I'm not sure what it was, though. We could go check it out, if you want. Together."

Chris offered me a bright smile and nodded, then stood up.
„Of course. And we can try looking for the statue you're missing in the forest, too.

„That sounds like a great idea,” I responded and also stood up.

„Shall we go check it out, then?"