Sanity vs. Soulmate | JeongCheol

29

After some detours and passing by the same tree at least five times, we finally arrived at our destination: A small, nondescript house in a relatively unexciting neighbourhood. At first glance, there didn't seem to be anything special about it. There wasn't even a sign to tell us why we had come here. With Cheol's atrocious sense of direction however, I wouldn't be surprised if we had taken another wrong turn.

"Are you sure, we're at the right place?" I turned to Seungcheol. A bright grin was plastered all over his face. "Yep. That's it. Come on, let's go inside."
I eyed the red wooden door. It was the only conspicuous thing about the whole building and didn't seem to fit into the picture at all. "You really wanna go in there? Are you sure? Like really, really sure?"
"Yes!! I've been here before. So stop worrying and come on! We don't have all day!" He tugged on my hand and led the way inside.

The inside resembled pretty much the outside. White walls, a staircase, a handrail. Again, nothing special.
Cheol stopped briefly in front of a small board attached to the wall and checked which floor we had to go to.
The board itself was not particularly unusual either. But the words on it next to the floor numbers caught my attention.

Next to the three it read "Ali Baba's Cave of Thieves", next to the two "Canterville Chase", next to the one "The Snow Queen's Palace" and next to the basement it said "Rabbit Hole".

Where. Are. We???

"We have to go to the second floor. Come on. Let's go!" Canterville Chase? What is that supposed to be? I guess I'll find out soon enough but my curiosity is killing me!

I quickly followed Seungcheol up the stairs until we reached a blue wooden door with silver fittings. A screaming grimace was embedded right in the middle. I shuddered. What a ghastly face. But Cheol just grinned at me before sticking his hand into the face's open mouth. I held my breath. Just what exactly was this man up to?

It wasn't long before he withdrew his hand. Triumphantly, he held out a small silver key, before inserting it into a tiny keyhole on the left side. Up until now I hadn't even noticed it. I had been too focused on the screaming face.
Cheol spared me another mischievous glance and turned the key around. The door swung open.

I peered over Cheol's shoulder. In front of us was: nothing. All I could make our was darkness. What the hell?

"I hate that I sound like a broken record, but what exact is this? You are not about to murder me, are you?" My gaze was still fixed on the room in front of us. Who knows, maybe any second a man-eating giant worm would jump out of it and eat me in one gulp. One can never be too careful!

"Don't worry too much about it. You'll see in a second. I really hope you'll like it. Let's go inside. They'll switch on the light once the door is closed again." I swallowed hard. If this is some kind of haunted house, I'm out.
For extra support I grabbed Cheol's hand and took a hesitant step into the darkness. I better make it out of here alive or I'll make sure to come back from hell just to drag Cheol down with me. I am not leaving earth alone.

I felt the door close behind us. A short gust of wind and then nothing. Tensely I waited for something to happen.  Cheol squeezed my hand but it did little to calm my nerves. Right now I felt beyond helpless. I was at an absolute disadvantage. Since I was deaf, I had to rely on my other senses in every situation. But they were of no use whatsoever to me at the moment. The room smelled of nothing in particular and I certainly wasn't going to grope blindly in the darkness. Who knows what was lurking there.
It has been such a long time since I lost my hearing, but in moments like these, I realised how vulnerable I really was. How weak I was. And I hated that fact. I hated how utterly helpless I felt without my sense of sight, how I would squint my eyes in the fruitless attempt to see something. Anything.
Maybe I should have told Seungcheol about my deafness...