The Black Cat

Chapter 11 Gala

I opened my eyes and met a harsh daybreak.

I was in the room again, I was...human again.

I looked down at the loose clothing I was dressed in and admired the silver dress with gold for stars. My hair was the same, a soft, but warm feeling to it to.

The door to the golden room was different this time. This time it didn't look thick like before, it was shinier frame and the doors were made from a lighter shade of wood. As I walked over to it and laid my hand on it, it felt strangly cold.

Everything was quiet in the golden room and outside of it. If I was to run into danger, I'd blame it on my hearing. Humans have weaker hearing, no?

Even though light at sight, when I pulled the double doors open, they both cried out like before. Dust shifted down from the top of them and I could only stare at what was outside.

"Hello?" I whispered stepping out of the room for the first time.

There was tall man standing on the other side. Tall, wearing an exquisite suit. His brown hair was brushed back and his face clean shaven. His smile was frightening, but smooth. At the sight of me, he took a long, deep bow.

"Who are you?" I said in the same tone as I wafted away dust. "Where is this place?"

He stood tall and extended his hand to me. It too was dressed in a perfectly clean hand glove. He didn't say a word, but I took it carefully. He swiftly led me down the hallway outside of the room.

The hallway was strange. In one second it was rich looking and vibrant and the other it was dim and dusted. The conficting sight burned my eyes in its serious transaction.

"Why is it like that?" I asked picking up a small picture fram from a dresser agianst the wall on my right. In the picture was a small baby.

The man tugged on my arm lightly and led my down the hallway faster as if in a rush.

I tripped on the rose red carpet countless times. The rich or poor looking rugs kept switching from clean to fithy before me. Vases sitting on stands agianst the walls did the same as well. The light from the elegant wall lights changed from a beautifull glow to a dim, dark spider web sitter.

Soon I just shut my eyes and left the man guide me from the twisting hallways into a large room indicated by the echo of our feet.

I looked at him and he bowed again and gestured to a chair sitting alone in the middle of the room. Timidly, I went to it and searched it. The dinning chair was the only thing in the entire place that remained constant. It was old with a few rose carvings and a single jewel in its side.

I looked back at the man who led me here and following his eyes, I sat in the chair.

The room hummed as if it was a generator being turned back on. The walls seemed to straighten and everything was sharper and more defined.

The man lifted something off of a table next to the door and slowly walked toward me. His smile never faded in any of his hesitated movements.

"I'll ask you agian, who are you?"

He didn't even acknowlege my question. He did, however, more faster.

When near me he slipped a chain around my neck and put his hand on my shoulders. I touched the chain and examined the strange gold ring at the base of it. I fiddled with the ring and wiped away the dust from it.

The man sat in front of me and put his hands on my knees. He nodded his head. He dissapeared suddenly and everything every where went dark.

"I am Alex," a weary old voice breathed slowly.

A light lit and it was followed by another and another along the walls of the room. The wall lights gleamed brightly and the entire empty room shown itself as a elegant ballroom with Alex standing in the middle.

He pointed at me. "Blink."

I cocked my head and shut my eyes obediantly. When I looked up agian-.

The wall lights were a dim blue and covered in spider webs. The walls were cloaked in dust and the wall paint was peeling off with a rotten stench in the air. The floor was torn up by rats and cockroaches. A few snakes roamed on the floor as well.

And there in the middle of the room, where Alex stood, was a skeleton corpse standing up and still moving. It took a bow and unmistakenly a eyeball fell from its right socket.

I pushed away from him and fell back in the chair to the ground.