Ib

Chapter 3 - All Alone

I went to the left corridor and saw a rose, inside a vase sitting on a table, similar to the one back in the gallery, I picked it up and it seemed to be blocking the door, I pushed it and went inside the room. I don't really see how the rose is that much important. The room was empty, all I see is a painting of a blue-haired girl smiling. Her eyes were closed. Her hair was dripping outside of the painting. I'm afraid it might come to life. There was a key laying on the floor, I picked it up and saw her eyes opened. It was staring at me wherever I go. I ran outside and blocked the door again with the table. A paper was posted on the wall, I didn't notice that earlier! "Take good care of your rose, Ib. You wanna know why? Just a hint, the rose is your life, you get one step closer to death each time a petal falls!" Then there were other scribbles like "HAHAHAHAHAHA". As I walk through the corridor, "THIEF" was written all over it in red paint, or something else?

I went to the other side of the corridor and a door is spotted. I tried putting in the key since it was kinda obvious because it is the only door found in this place. I went inside and saw more paintings. Hooray. The paintings were insects. "Psst". I turned around to see who it is. "Down here!". I looked down and see a very tiny ant. Nice to know I'm not the only living thing here. "I'll tell you a secret. I love paintings!" The ant said. I giggled a little since this particular ant can talk. "Especially my painting! But I can't find it, can you find it for me?" He asked. I had to find his painting, he seemed nice, and he may be able to help me escape this place. "Excuse me, but, what does your painting look like?" I asked as politely as I could. I don't want to make him angry. "Well, it has ME in it! Isn't it obvious? Now go, and find my happiness." It began crawling in circles. I went to the corridor to find a painting of an ant. But there was nothing. I think he's trying to trick me? Then again I saw another corridor and it seemed like there was a painting there. Oh, if only I could take the ant with me. I walked slowly to the corridor and I felt something on my foot, could it be the ant? But the ant's way too small to grab my foot. Wait, it grabbed my foot! It's a hand!! A hand is grabbing my foot! I tried screaming for help but nobody heard me, not even the ant, or maybe it did but it's only ignoring me until I get the painting. I kicked it and it stopped grabbing my hand. I ran as fast as I could, avoiding all the hands suddenly appearing and I see the painting! The painting of the ant, I grabbed it, I did see a door but it was locked, so I ran back to the ant, as quickly as I could as always, and the ant loved it. "That is so beautiful, thank you dear." The ant said, and continued crawling in circles. So the ant, didn't do much help. Maybe the key is in the other door in this hallway? I placed the painting between my armpit so it wouldn't fall. I opened the door and saw a huge hole. Huge enough for me to fall in it, of course, I'm just a little girl. I jumped over the hole and EEK!, I fell, but thankfully for the quick cat-like reflexes I got from my mom, I was able to grab on to the edge of the floor. This made me drop the painting of the ant. SORRY! I heard evil laughs and snickers from the hole. Then they started chanting my name. "...Ib.......Ib...." I got up as fast as I could, it was a little hard though but at least I'm alive! I tried opening the other door, fortunately it wasn't locked. The first thing that caught my eye was the key.. The KEY! I happily grabbed the key and heard a groan. I scanned the room to see what made that creepy sound. It was a statue! Similar to the statues I saw back at the gallery! It was wearing a red dress and it strongly removed its legs from the base, the arms began to move and started reaching for me. I ran outside the room and jumped over the hole, luckily I didn't fall but scraped my knee instead. The statue, feeling so confident, still tried to chase me but fell carelessly into the hole. I gasped, inhaled as much air as I could. My heart was pounding, I had a short mild headache. Still so very afraid, I had to keep going.

I went back to the corridor, sweaty and all. My heart was still pounding, I could hear the beat! "What happened to my painting?" The ant suddenly asked me. "Uhh, it's.. It's in a better place now." I grinned and continued walking.

I opened the door and the room looks like a cat. "Meow, feed me a fish." It said in a cute way for me. I decided to check the room on the left, there were 8 pillars with curtains on it. I opened one and it hit me! Suddenly the rose I have with me lost a petal. I had to be more careful with opening curtains. I opened another curtain and stayed quickly away from it. The head of a fish was sticked on the wall. I grabbed it, since I remember the cat wanted a fish. But where could the other half be?

I went to the other room and saw nothing but tons of mannequin figures, without any heads as usual and some old boxes. I searched for the key but I couldn't find anything. The lights dimmed and I heard something. It was like a very heavy rock or cement was being dragged on the floor. That was odd. I turned around to see and it was a very huge stone with the shape of a head and it began following me. I ran towards the door but I clumsily tripped over a rock. I crawled away from the moving head and it also tripped over the rock and it broke. There was something inside the head and it was the other half! I grabbed it and made a run for it 'cause who knows? What if the mannequins come to life as well?!

I combined the two pieces together and placed it on the fish-shaped hole or the cat's mouth. Or should I say, meowth? Bad time to make a small joke? Alright.. After placing it in the hole, the cat opened up a path leading to another room. Thank you cat..

Certainly, the cute cat has made me worry less, I suppose this place isn't that much bad at all.

The room was a bit creepy.. And now I'm scared again. There were several dolls hanging from the ceiling. One of them tried to scratch me, but I dodged. So I have to be more careful next time. Unfortunatelt this door was locked, so I ran to the other hallway to see if the door isn't unlocked. There was a silver plaque placed beside the door. "The Liar's room", it said. Inside the Liar's room, there were six paintings of different women wearing different colors of dresses. Green, red, yellow, blue, purple and white. All of them have small plaques underneath the painting.

The green one said "The one yellow speaks the truth!". The red one said "Stand in front of the statue, go east 4 steps then north 2 steps. That's the answer!". The yellow one said "Stand in front of the statue, go west 3 steps and north 1 step. That's the answer!". The blue one said "The one in white is telling the truth!". The one in purple said "The one in green is correct!". While the one in white said "Stand in front of the statue, go east 2 steps and south 1 step. That's the answer!".

After thinking for a very long time, I chose to follow what the red is saying! Luckily, I was correct and I found a key under the tile. Truth be told, I chose the red one because red's my favorite color! Maybe this key opens the other door!