Fables and Folklores

4 | The Blue Room

"House of stone"

  She let out a loud scream and continues falling. The tunnel was wide and then, she saw it. The dust from the storage room last night! It was in front of her as she slides down. If she didn't go after the man who saved her, she would have been safe, in the surface, not here where she's falling in an unknown tunnel of mystery.

'I'm falling. I'm falling. I'm falling.'

But then, where was the end of the tunnel? It seems that the tunnel was long and very wide. She was eyes widen when she saw a whole bookshelf in the tunnel, it was stuck. She look back to see it clearly but it was now out of sight. 'Who on earth have done that?'

Things have started to become weird and weirder every second she spends in this mysterious place. But she can't go home now, can she? She's falling and lost. There isn't a labyrinth —yet— but she's lost, and she doesn't know where to go rather than down, down, down, down, and down.

'How long will I keep falling? How long? How long?"

And then, just meters away from her feet, she saw a bright light. Similar to what she have seen last night when she opened the door to the storage room, and now, she have seen it. It was here. And she's nervous.

'Curiosity indeed killed the cat, which I hope didn't, killed it quite literally.' "I wanna go home!" She screamed as she closes her eyes and preparers for the impact. Before landing to hard but rather soft thing.

She close her eyes tightly and felt herself landing on top of a soft thing. She started touching it with her hands and, it felt like leaves and a mattress. Why was the mattress has leaves?

She slowly opens her eyes to clearly see what's right in front of her eyes. Her eyes took half a minute to adjust to the bright light. It was bizarre. It was maddening. She landed herself in a room full of blue. The color was the only one present, and even the leaves she landed on was blue along with the mattress. What on earth was happening? Inside the room was filled with many picture frames, there was no bookshelves and any other things other than the frames hanging from the wall.

The room, the blue room wasn't that big but spacious because of the lack of other furnitures. And she must say, it was rather dull. She approach one frame and saw a big fish. It was big, no understatement. The fish was blue, and it was on an aquarium where the other features of the fish was hidden because of the darkness. She walk forward and the next frame, was a flower—a blue flower. It looks like that even the pictures in this blue room is all blue, no exception. She tilted her head to try and understand the flower but nothing came. And so, she just grab her notebook and tries to sketch it, with name unknown.

The third picture was a mystical blue tree, unlike the other two frames, it has a description. It said that, this mystical blue tree is five hundred years old. "This tree is the second of its kind, and only living tree of its kind. This is found near the Neveah Forest, and is said to grant any wish to those who finds it. This was the only painting of the tree, and it wasn't even said to be accurate. Just a fragment of someone's hallucination."

Without looking, she walk forward again and stumble upon something on the ground. It was also blue to camouflage on the wall's paint. She picked it up and it was another frame. There, was a house of stone. It was near a lake, and what was interesting. It wasn't blue. It was the only brown and a combination of green and yellow. It was intriguing to watch. As from she can observe, the house was covered in ivy.

It was rather curious.

But then again, everything she had seen so far was curious. It seems to be the theme. Just then, noises came. Hard and fast footsteps approach the room she's in. Frightened she was—she don't know what to do. Will she hide? But where? There is no space. Without spaces to hide; hopeless she felt in her heart as it race in a fast pace, her feet moved backwards until her back meets the end of the room and her foot stepped onto something. She looked down and saw a trapdoor. A small and brown door, leading somewhere down. And again, it was different from the blue things in the room.

The noises only became louder and louder. And panic came into her system and then she opened the trapdoor to let herself in. Fortunately, her body fits. With the small light, she saw a ladder going somewhere far down. She hoped to have a lantern so she could see the end of it. Then another loud thump startled her. Without anymore thinking she squeezed her body in. And for the final touch, she put the painting to cover the door and closed it. Her fingers wrap the ladder as if her life depends on it—as it is.

"Ah, the 'blue' room. Why are we here? Its rather, dull." One voice said. It was raspy.

"Its the queen's orders of course, what else?"

"Wished she just assigned this for another, its all energy draining all that going up and down. And its busy with the factory going on and on about their new project, goodness!"

Clydeth's mind swirled with a lot of words. Like, factory (what factory?), queen (there was actually a queen?), blue room (the room she's in), orders (she ordered this?), dull (how could they say that?), new project (what project)?

So many questions unanswered in her mind, she could barely digest everything. Everything.

"Now, now. Do not say that. We have to be happy because the queen entrusted us to do this job as it is important." The other says.

"Look, the painting was moved." It took everything of Clydeth's willpower to hold out a loud gasps. Before she gathered her strength to go downstairs and quit the eavesdropping. But then one of the stairs has to broke. "Ah!" She let out a yelp that echoed. She realized she was in a cave of some sort.

"Who was that?" A big man suddenly turned his head as he was about to leave and stride towards the painting left in the far corner of the room. His team eyeing him suspiciously. "What?"

In the room with him, was two man and an owl on the others shoulders.

He then proceed to get the painting out of the way, before finding the trapdoor. Slowly, he opens it. With light from a lantern by the man behind him, it only showed nothing. "I think you're just hungry."

"Perhaps I am." He said before returning it. With one last look, they left.

The sound of the door closed, echoed inside the cave she's in. The beating of her heart echoed inside her ribcage. She couldn't calm down. She was scared not because she was almost found but rather, the place she was in now. A place where skulls were in. And they were many. She bit her lower lip that she could taste blood.

'I'm going to die,' she keep on repeating in her mind. She hates this place.

Then a light pass by.

It distracted her attention away from the place she's in. It was not a big light, but rather a small one. It was like, a small ball of light passing right under nose, literally. 'Fireflies.' She thought.

And this one small firefly, became many. And soon enough, she could see another cave connecting with the place she's in. With a bit of hesitation, she decided it was best to be anywhere rather than the place of skulls. Carefully, she walk towards the next cave, some hanging plants touched her face. She continued to follow the fireflies until it disappeared, flied to separate ways. Leaving her in the dark, alone on her own.

She was still traumatized by the skulls, but having another cave without light is stressing her out. 'Get me out!' She wanted to scream that out. But no voice came out. And because of the darkness, her mind began imagining things that weren't there.

"N-no.." Her voice cracked as she clutched her head. She was absolutely scared of the dark, the place she's in and the scenario playing. She doesn't liked everything. At first, she was rather happy with her discovery of a new world, but then things got an another turn and it became all this! Darkness, and even skulls. The thought of the later send shivers in her spine, she couldn't handle them well. The thought of skulls from people, who was died? Many, she thought. Was it soldiers? Or was it prisoners?

She was scared of getting more lost as she is, she just walked on the straight line. But then a door opened and it created a light that Clydeth saw just a few steps in front of her. Then someone came out, scared of who it may be. She ran to hid, only to meet by wall (made of soil, which she was lucky she could sigh). Because she could not afford to make anymore noise, seeing what it caused. And good thing, it was dark--

"Wait, who are you?"

Surprised, she cursed.