My teeth ground together as my shoulder pressed into wooden designs I didn't have time to admire. Using as much force as I was surprised to when I struggled to push the door open, I pushed it shut. The heavy and thick wooden slabs towering over me weighed more than I had expected. I had no doubts that if one of them fell on me, I would become a human pancake that wouldn't be rising again.
My shoulders rose to my ears as the door snicked shut. Pushing myself off it, I didn't waste time uselessly worrying if the two in the kitchen had heard the faint noise as I started down the hallway the doors opened up to. Scones lit the arching stone passageway that was lined with stained glass windows. It was straight and long, a dark red carpet running down its length to lead to another heavy set of doors in the far distance. I had to squint to make it out in the darkness across the stretch.
A quick look out the windows I hurried past told me I needed to find a way downstairs. I was on the second or possibly third floor judging by how high I was. An exit would be easiest to find on the first and reduce my chances of breaking a leg.
It didn't take long for me to come across what I hoped to when the walls of the hallway widened as I reached the chandelier that could be seen from the end. To my left appeared two staircases. One stood beside me, while the other was several feet away on the other end of the widened space. To my right, the wall was replaced by a marble railing that reached up to my waist and looked out over a wide and open great hall.
Darting down the stairs closest, I made my way to the landing that both staircases led to. From there, there was only one grandiose staircase carved out of marble that led to the floor below.
I followed the thick red carpet down the stairs and into the great hall with high arching walls that made me feel miniscule in the vast open space. Each arch was filled with more colorful stained glass windows that depicted warm autumn scenes. They lined both sides of the space, separating large portraits that stood twice as tall as me. The warmth they conveyed clashed with the cold painted stares looking out from the canvases. They seemed to be following me as I darted across the hall to where double doors twice the size of the ones I struggled to push open upstairs waited for me. I didn't even need to try to know that I wouldn't be able to make them budge.
Looking around for another option along the cold and empty expanse, my dejection lessened when I spotted a normal-sized door off to the side. It was peeking out from behind a curtain that mostly hid it.
Cold seeped through the fabric covering my feet as I stepped off the carpet and onto the hard marble that separated me from the hidden door. Luckily, when I reached it, it opened with ease. I didn't want to have to turn back if it had been locked.
The narrow corridor it led into was a stark change to the grandeur I had just been walking through. The off-white walls were roughly plastered, the brick underneath showing through where it was layered thin. They were set far enough apart that my finger would brush them if I stood between them and stretched my arms out. They curved towards the top, forming arched ceilings that had a row of lights running down the middle of it that gave it a tunnel-like appearance. It was higher than what I would consider normal, but nothing compared to the tall halls of the upper floor.
The path was one riddled with turns and doors that opened into dark windowless rooms that I could barely see in. I didn't dare venture into any of them for fear that they were already occupied. I knew for a fact that a few of them were. The sound of soft snores and wheezed breaths gave weight to my caution, keeping me from entering the ones that were quiet and seemed empty.
I continued down the passage, opening and closing doors that were hidden behind curtains that I had to push aside to peer into the room I couldn't see much of regardless due to the darkness.
