Such A Small Thing

Pages 20 to 22

I turn another corner and there's a black door at the end of the hall. I head for it, kick it open, then kick it closed and lean against it to keep closed.

As I catch my breath I place H down and look around the room. It's green and has a black floor, making it gloomy, much like the rest of this place. There are three other doors, one on each wall.

I put my hand in my pocket and feel around. I panic as I can't feel my petal. I put my hand in my other one and still can't find it. Where'd it go?!

"Hey, H, do you know where my petal is?" I ask, hoping that she does.

She turns to face me.

"Oh! Yeah, I took it out of your pocket when you picked me up. Those paintings will try anything to get our petals, and your pocket would have been an easy target." She opens her left hand, which had been closed into a loose fist, and I see my blue petal lying in the middle of her palm. "Here you go," she says.

I take it from her and put it back in my pocket. "Thanks."

I feel something hit the door and much all my weight against it.

"Well, where should we go now?" H asks.

"Uh, choose whatever color draws you in the most, I guess... No! Wait! Choose whatever color draws you in the least." I brace myself against as the evil paintings ram themselves against the door again.

"Why?" she asks.

"It's a trick tactic. This place wants you to go through the door with the most appealing color, which probably means that something bad is behind it, seeing as almost everything here is trying to kill us. Choose the door that's the least appealing to you," I pause as the paintings ram against the door again,"and quick!"

"Okay. I choose..." She turns around and looks at the doors,"the sickly green colored one."

I look at the one she chose and nod as she turns back to me.

"That's definitely not an appealing color. See if you can open it." I brace myself against the door again.

She walks over to the door and twists the doorknob. It opens immediately. "It's safe," she says.

"Okay, I want you to go behind the door, and I'm going to run in there, and as soon as I'm past the door, I want you to close it. Take my petal as well." I take the petal out of my pocket and hand it to her.

"Okay," she says as she takes my petal and puts it in her pocket. "What if I don't close it fast enough?"

"You will, I'm sure of it. Now go!" I say as I push my weight against the door again.

She hurries over to the chosen door and goes behind it. Our fate is in her hands now.

I brace myself against the door once more, and after the paintings hit the door, I bolt for the open door.

I run through the doorway and hear it quickly close behind me.

"Garry! Help!" shouts H.

I hurry over to the door and see that it isn't closed all the way. One of the paintings has their hand stuck between the door and the doorframe.

I shove my weight against it and H does the same. I hit it again with my weight and wince as the painting screams as its hand is crushed between the door and door frame. The door finally shuts and there's a bolt that can be pulled across to keep it closed, so I pull it across. We both sink to the floor, breathing heavily.

"That was close," I say.

"Yeah," replies H.

I look around. The room we entered is again black and white. I sigh and turn to H, who's head is tilted back against the door. "You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, just winded is all."

"Okay. We have to keep going, we don't know how strong this door is." I stand up and offer H my hand to help her up. She takes it and I pull her up. She sighs.

"Okay."

"Tell me if you start to feel tired again, okay? I don't want you falling asleep in a bad situation."

"I'll tell you. I promise.

"Okay. Let's go, and stay in front of me."

"I will."

We head down the hall, sticking to the middle, dodging paintings that try to spit acid at us, and taking right turns and left turns. It seems like hours before we come to a big room full of doors on either side of a room that had a gray door on it and is built in the middle of the big room.

I try to open the door but find that it's locked. Kicking it doesn't do anything either.

"Should we try the other doors?" asks H.

"I guess that's really all there is to do," I say.

We go to the first door and I try to open it. It's locked. We try the rest of the doors. They're all locked except for the last one. I turn the doorknob and slowly open the door. It's a room full of bookshelves.

I sigh. "Well, that got us nowhere.

H goes over to the bookshelves and takes out a pink book and opens it. I go over to the painting that's on the wall. It's of a woman and a man, both holding hands and smiling. There's nothing to tell me the title, so I go back over to H.

I see the book that she's reading and realize what it is. I suck in a breath, take it from her hands and quickly shut it.

"Don't read that, H. Such things are not suitable for children as young as you." I stick it back into the shelf.

H is looking up at me, her head tilted back and with questioning eyes.It doesn't look like she got to reading it at all, thankfully. "Just take my word for it, okay?"