Chapter 2: They were seven

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"Fine. Fine. Sophia, calm down. Let's recap, shall we?"

  After several hours of deep pondering, recessing, and a profound reality check (read: running away from the recent events by hiding in her car), Sophia ultimately decided to confront the situation.

  It was very hard, almost impossible to believe, but the young woman was categorical: she didn't hallucinate. There were moving, speaking people inside her property, they'd been statues when she first entered, then they started... awakening.

This is crazy.

  She had never heard of such a phenomenon before, which made her even more anxious. She paced around some more in front of the door, as if it could bring her back to yesterday, evening down her fast breathing, organising her thoughts and gathering some courage, then pushed it and entered the room, leaving the entrance open, just in case.

"Hello?...",she said, still by the door. "...I know you're alive, I saw you moving, stop hiding yourselves."

Nothing.

"I sound so stupid..."

  She apprehensively walked towards the sculptures, careful to be ready to run away if necessary. The carved figurines showed no sign of life, staying put no matter how much Sophia moved herself around or tried to move them around. Eventually, she gave up on pushing them. They were way too heavy.

Perhaps they're not motionless on purpose. Something's conditioning them to it.
 
  She observed the soldier, still in the same position as before, with his hand extended towards where Sophia had stood.

What else did I do earli-

The window.

He stopped moving when I shifted from that corner.

  She walked to the room's left corner, exactly like before, and stood there, sensing she finally found the solution. Her feelings were mixed between relief and fear. Why her? Why on earth did it have to be her, right on the verge of accomplishing what she aimed for?
As much as she wanted to brainstorm all of this, it wasn't the right time to ask questions. She could keep them for later.

  The young woman watched as the soldier's stillness disappeared, followed by the other statues, except he unintentionally shifted forward due to his position. Sophia could almost feel his light brown hair on her face before he stopped, startled by Sophia's terrified eyes. Immediately, the soldier took a few steps back, leaving a reassuring distance between them, then looked around the room.

"Please, nobody moves", warned Sophia.

  They were seven. Seven statues/people. They all seemed equally as lost as Sophia, if not more, as though they had no idea what they were doing here.

  One of them, a young blonde lady with a boy cut, heavy flower earrings, and the deepest frown ever known to humanity above sky blue eyes, was about to speak, when the soldier raised his hand in front of her, politely interrupting her, then gestured to Sophia, silently telling her to proceed in whatever she intended to do.

  Holding her gaze, he watched as she lowered herself into a crouch position, then lifted the carpet off the floor, her expression turning even more puzzled. She got back up, breaking eye contact.

"Alright...does anyone of you know this place?", Sophia questioned.

"Seems like a museum to me", replied a youthful man sitting leg crossed on the ground, his hair completely covered by a grey flat cap, complementing his tweed jacket and harmonizing with his deep and matter of fact voice. "Although I can't recognize the landscape from the window".

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