I'm in Love with a Monster

The Phantom of the Labyrinth

Elena sighed as she trekked on, despite her aching feet.

She hadn't seen a single monster, or even evidence of a monster. She had gone down every corridor what felt like a million times. This whole five hour trip was turning into a bust, but that wasn't the worst part.

Elena was also hopelessly lost.

She had thought she would remember the way she came, but she forgot one of her turns and then another and now she was...

Where was she exactly?

She had come to a sort of junction area. This seemed like one of those places you would see before you saw the big, important room ahead. The ceilings were high again, and there was a statue of a skeleton (at least, she hoped it was just a statue) with wings and a toga and... was that a unicorn horn? What kind of creature had wings and a unicorn horn?

Elena shook her head, she didn't have time for this! Why didn't she just wait for her dad like a smart person?! She could have avoided this whole mess, but nooo, she just had to be Indiana Jones and now she was-!

She halted her internal self critic as she saw something glimmer in the torch light. It came from the odd skeleton statue. Looking to her right, she observed the statue a bit more thoroughly and widened her eyes as she saw what looked like a green key.

She felt her heart jump, maybe it would open the door that would lead her out of here!

She walked over to the statue and climbed up the short podium it stood on. She stood up and tried to reach for the key, waving her hand in the air as she jumped up and down. She stopped after a few minutes of her attempts and huffed angrily. Why the hell was she so short?! Why couldn't she be tall like her dad?!

Huffing some more and resolving not to give up out of sheer spite to some invisible force she couldn't name, the jade eyed girl kept jumping, trying to reach the key.

She was so absorbed by her actions, she didn't notice the figure lurking in the shadows, watching her curiously.

The figure reached out of its place behind the statue, and jostled the statue's arm just enough to knock the key down and have its actions not be noticed.

Elena was mid jump when she heard the 'clack' of the key hitting the stone floor. Looking down, she grinned triumphantly, jumped down and picked up the key.

"Ha! Take that statue! You and your... above average height!", she yelled as she pointed at the statue, causing the unseen figure to stifle a laugh.

As if she heard the noise, Elena suddenly started looking around. After she glanced in every direction she sighed at her own paranoia. Why the hell was she so spooked? If she hadn't seen anything down here by now, then she probably wasn't going to see anything at all.

As she calmed herself, the figure melted into the shadows and left, thoroughly intrigued by the girl who had managed to make him laugh.

Shaking off her sudden jumpiness, she looked down at the key in her hand. It was a jade green like her eyes, with a similar cute looking skull to the skull on the elevator at the tip of it. The only difference between the two was this one had a bow.

'This is the second time I've seen this skull. I wonder if it's some sort of crest.'

She put the key into the kangaroo pocket of her hoodie and began searching for a door. It didn't take long to find one, since there was a large heart shaped door beside the statue. Making her way towards the door, she plucked the key from her pocket and placed it in the key hole, taking a deep breath to steady herself as she turned it gently.