The Five Rooms

Chapter 5

When we finally stop we are near the room I had originally found Aria in, which meant we were also close to the boy's bedroom, where I had started.

As Aria comes to a stop, I do as well beside her. She turns to look at me, shock still clear on her defined features.

"What the hell was that?" She asks, the confusion in her voice was clear as day.

"I-I don't know." I stutter out, basically showing I was back to my ordinary, skittish self. "It was weird."

"Yeah, I know. I was there." She tells me, almost snapping it at me.

I nod slowly, but don't say anything and then I quickly duck into the boy's room cautiously. I knew that I already hit him once, if he saw me again I bet he would be in for the kill. But the room remained empty. I look over at the wall that the clue had been drawn on. Nothing. Not even a darker shade where the ink used to be. The wall was empty. Confused I stepped back, bumping into Aria who had come to join me in the room. I jump, and turn around, only to realize it's just her. A frustrated sigh leaves my lips. I was getting annoyed with being so skittish.

"Why'd you come in here?" Aria asks me, a confused look coming to a rest on her face.

"This was the room I began in. There was a clue drawn on this wall in black ink, and now it's completely gone." I explain to her, staring emptily at the wall.

"Are you sure it was in...?" She starts to ask but I cut her off.

"It was here. I know it. Someone must have erased it?" I tell her, not even believing myself. My memories were already messed up, maybe this was a broken memory. Like I'm mixing two to make a full one. I don't know anymore.

I can see Aria is about to say something more but I'm already talking before a sound could even leave her lips. "We found the right place." I first whispered to myself. "We had found the right place!" I say a little louder, this time to Aria. "Come on."

I race back down the hall, still being careful, but not bothering to go slowly. How I knew, I wasn't sure, but all I know is that it's right where I was before. I was right the whole time. The grandfather clock in the picture is the right one. The picture on the wall had been drawn with the key beside an arrow pointing to the key hole in the grandfather clock to open it. The key was inside the door of the grandfather clock in the painting. How I would get it I didn't know, but I have a deep down, gut feeling this was right.

Aria quickens her pace to run beside me as I run.

"What are you talking about?" She asks me, confusion still on her face. "I thought you said the key wasn't there?"

"You'll see." I tell her just as we reached the start of the hallways of paintings.

I saw all the ones I had before, plus a few others I didn't have time to study since I was racing by before. Finally I saw the painting of the vintage room with the grandfather clock.

Once I was standing right in front of it, I called to Aria, "Stand guard. I don't know how long this will take."

Or how this will work, I think to myself. I glance over at Aria as she gets into a ready position in case anyone came near us. Then I look back at the painting, letting my eyes draw in even more detail from it. The painter has used a lot of little details in his work, including the ageing in the wood of the table, the creases of the cushions on the couch, and most importantly, the key in the bottom door of the vintage grandfather clock.

Without knowing quite how I would get it, I take my hand and start to reach out to touch the painting. My mind kept telling me to reach through it, but that didn't make any sense to me. It was a painting how could I reach through it. But I finally give in, and go to stick my hand into the painting. At first I think I'm insane for actually trying this. That was until my hand started to disappear into the painting. I kept submerging my arm until suddenly the whole painting sucked me inside with one swift pull.