Dark Halls, Stone Walls

Chapter Twenty-One

I sat on the floor and willed for my head to not spin so that the room did not follow. If mirrors could transport me to slightly different places without letting me go back, who knows what could happen if I lost my cool again.

I wasn't sure what was worse—the fact that I was blocked in by a mirror in yet another prison, or that the black water-sludge never came after all despite doing my best to break some invisible boundary. Not even in the bathtub behind either of us was a trace of anything except clear water.

What was I thinking?! I groaned. I only know that it came from water and that I had to disobey some invisible rule—or at least, don't do what the memories tell you not to do. Like, don't go into the hallway if the memory-person says no. I hesitated. But if this Prince William is the real version and is just a projection from his mind, then it wouldn't have mattered if I obeyed or disobeyed him. There was no way the sludge would have taken me through him.

Then why would it come out of my tear ducts? I stood up and started pacing, a common habit of mine after being borderline isolated for so long. No... Now that I think about it, that wasn't that black stuff, because even if it was diluted with my tears, it doesn't fit with what happened with me drowning and everything... It also wouldn't just disappear. That grey stuff came out of me when I genuinely planned on staying here, like it disagreed with me. Like some other part of me was sad.

Maybe he knows the rules. I stood and threw up my hands then glared at him.

He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

I shook my head. I'm not asking him for help anymore. I told myself. If that's the real him, then he entered my head without my permission and shouldn't be entertained. Unless I can get him to tell the truth about everything.

I turned to leave, but froze when I opened the door.

If my situation wasn't already odd, what I saw took the cake.

Despite the washroom being inverted, it was fully there without any spot to be missed—but my bedroom was just missing. Just a white static of nothingness—though calling it white would be generous, there was no color, no light, nothing. It should have been dark from the absence of light, but instead it was a stark white that somehow was not blinding.

I tentitavely stepped out into the void and yelped out in surprise. There was a floor, but the moment my foot touched it, pins and needles shot up my leg and up my side. A second later, I collapsed to the ground and the vision in one of my eyes slowly became dark.

I kicked on the door frame with my free foot and propelled myself away from the room.

"OH what the HELL?!" I snapped, screaming so hard that it tore my throat out. "STUPID! STUPID! JUST, STUPID! WHY CAN'T ANYTHING BE SIMPLE, DAMN IT?!"

It took me several minutes for me to catch my breath and compose myself, and when I did, I stretched my leg until it got its feeling back.

"Okay..." I said out loud, not a care given to whether William was able to hear me or not. "If that room is no good, and getting back to my actual washroom isn't possible right now, then maybe he needs to do something on his end to let me back in." I shivered. "He's the one that forced me in here, but at least he can't get in himself. He can't hurt me, but I can't hurt him, either."

I rubbed my leg. "The sludge isn't going to take me anywhere right now. I don't think it can get in here... maybe... I don't know anymore. I'm not asking him for help. I'm not." I grumbled the last phrase to myself, repeating it as many times as it took until I finally got back on my feet.

I decided to check all the drawers, which strangely, were also filled with that same colorless void.

Out of a stray hair, I yanked one so hard that it fell out of its rollers. Maybe my frustrations go beyond screaming like a banshee, anymore. I grimaced. Calm down.