• I couldn’t hear anything. Just the wild thumping of my heart. This was just too much for me. I was being chased by things---it felt like a dream, but much my dismay, all of this isn’t. I ran into the nearest room, locked the door, and ran to the corner. Hugging my knees and rocking back and forth, I tried to calm myself down.
    “It’s okay Lynne...I mean, you should stay calm when paintings come alive and chase you! Yes, calm...” I took deep breaths and tried to keep myself from going into hysterics. My emerald eyes open wide and my mind scarred, I tried to lull myself into sleep. This is definitely not a normal occurrence for a fifteen year-old like me. After calming my breathing and trying to calm my pounding heart rate, I finally drifted off into sleep.
    A small noise woke me up. I turned my head slightly to the left. Then I inwardly panicked. ‘The door! It’s open! Oh no no no no no!’ I squeezed my eyes shut. Footsteps. They were coming closer. I lifted my head up the smallest bit to see legs. That’s when I outwardly panicked.
    “Please...please don’t hurt me! I don’t wanna--” My voice was cut off by my own sob. I didn’t realize I was crying until now.
    “I don’t wanna die! Please!” Tears were streaming down my face. This was it. Well, I guess I’ve had a good life. Somebody was holding onto my shoulders. I looked up, petrified. My eyes stared into another’s and held their place there.
    “Shh...calm down...It’s okay...” It was a male. Tears were still rolling down my face, but I was silent.
    “Are you perhaps one of the visitors to the gallery?” He asked me. I was mute, still too petrified to say anything. I meekly nodded. The man smiled.
    “Well that’s good. Because I am too.” He said. I swear I was never this happy in my life. I hugged the person in front of me tightly like he was my father returning home from war. He stumbled back a bit, but then lightly returned the hug. It took me a bit to finally let go of him.
    “Well, it’s good to have someone to travel with. We can stay together.” He told me. Oh, how much those words were comforting to me. I nodded again. A small silence overcame us until he spoke again.
    “Ah, I still haven’t asked your name. My, that was rude of me! Well, my name’s Garry. And you are?” He asked, motioning me to tell him my name.
    “L-Lynne.” It took some effort, but I finally got my voice back. Garry. I’m going to have to remember that name. Since we were silent again, I took the time to see what Garry looked like. He had light purple hair with darker purple streaks on the top, which struck me as interesting, and he was wearing a tattered blue coat with a green tank top under it. His pants were light brown and he had black shoes. I could tell Garry was observing me too. Me, with my long, raven black hair, white shirt with black trimmings, a black skirt that went to my upper hamstring; near my knee. I had flat black boots that reached a little bit below my knee, and otherwise, I looked like a schoolgirl. Maybe except for the red rose I had in my shirt pocket. Garry stood up, and gave me his hand. I gladly accepted it, and he helped me get up. My tears from earlier were staining my face, and I feel like they left scars and bandages on my confused heart. I probably look like a mess right now. As I rubbed at them, Garry started to talk once again.
    “Well, I was going here to rest, but considering you were probably resting then, we can go ahead if you want to.” He explained.
    “No, it’s okay, really. I didn’t really get much rest. You should really get some rest though.” I assured him it was okay to stay. Garry was about to turn, when he said something once again.
    “Ah, seeing that you have a red rose, you’re not the only one with a rose.” He smiled and pulled out a stunning blue rose out of his pocket. It was a beautiful shade of blue.
    “Wow, that’s an amazing color...” I said referring to his rose. He put it back into his tattered coat.
    “I think red is a beautiful color too.” Garry said and smiled once again. We both sat down at a wall, me hugging my knees again and Garry leaning against the wall.
    “I think we’ll get along well, ne, Lynne?” He said, looking straight ahead of him.
    “Yeah...” I replied in a quiet voice. I fell asleep thinking of Garry, and how we’ll make it out here alive.
    I awoke and immediately felt warm. I opened my tired eyes to see a tattered blue coat on my shoulders. It took me a moment to remember. ‘That’s...Garry’s!’ On remembering whose it was, I blushed a crimson red and lifted it off my shoulders. I looked up to see that Garry was walking towards me; he had probably heard me stir.
    “Ah, you’re awake Lynne. How did you sleep?” He asked me. I handed him his coat and answered him.
    “I slept well, thank you for asking.” I smiled and got up. Garry swiftly put on his coat.
    “Seeing that you’re awake, we can leave now, or we can wait for a bit. Your choice.” He told me.
    “I guess we can go now, we should try and get ourselves out of here.” A shiver trailed down my spine as I thought about what could happen next. We headed out the door, Garry leading the way, and came to a large area. We headed to a purple door, but it was locked.
    “Hey, wait a second.” I paused before we were going to leave the door. Garry looked at me.
    “There’s a peephole.” I pointed to the peephole in the door. I looked inside. Pitch black. I frowned.
    “I can’t see anything.” Garry nodded. We came across a roped off area. It had an entrance that we could go in and out of. I was about to head in, but Garry had stopped me.
    “I don’t like those statues. They look suspicious.” He told me. Now that I look at them, they do look like they could move any second. We decided to keep walking. Up ahead was an odd white painting. The title was ‘Milk Puzzle’
    “Lynne, have you heard of milk puzzles?” Garry asked me. I shook my head no.
    “Well, as the name implies, it’s a puzzle where all the pieces are white like milk. Since there’s no picture in them, they’re much harder than regular puzzles. Very smart people can finish them in no time at all, but...” He paused for a second. “To be honest, they’re not exciting. Since they don’t even make a picture in the end. It feels so much more worth it to do a puzzle of a picture you like.” He explained. I nodded.
    “That’s interesting..” I trailed off, not knowing what else to say about the milk puzzle. After the milk puzzle talk, we headed down the hallway to come across a mirror. Looking at the reflection, I realized that the top of my head reached Garry’s chin. Needless to say, he was tall. We kept going to find two doors; one of them were locked, so we went through the other one. Right in front of us was a statue blocking our way.
    “Ah, Lynne, step back.” Garry told me. I did as I was told, and Garry moved the statue.
    “Thanks!” I exclaimed. Garry smiled. There was a cord in the corner of the room. I was a little reluctant, but we decided to pull it. A clicking sound. I wonder where that came from. We walked to the exit of the room to find out that it was just the locked purple door now unlocked. Even though I was bummed, we headed down the hallway towards the milk puzzle. Garry stopped. I stood next to him to see what he was doing. There was writing on the wall!
    “Was...that there before?” I asked Garry. He shook his head no.
    ‘What is the title of the large floor painting in Guertena’s exhibition?’
    “Gah...could it be a password? The big fish painting, right? Did you see it, Lynne?” Garry concluded his thoughts and asked me.
    “But what was was it...I think it was...Something of the deep...” He was getting close to something, I could feel it. My mind was going in circles. ‘Something of the deep...something of the deep...Oh!’
    “Abyss of the deep!” I thought aloud. Garry stopped thinking and looked at me.
    “Yes, that was it, Lynne!” I smiled. We went back to the locked door, trying to figure out where a key would be.
    “What’s the story with the panel here..? Can we put something in? I’m not getting any ideas. I wonder what the Abyss of the Deep thing was for...” Right after Garry said ‘Abyss of the deep’, We both heard a clicking sound. ‘Was that the door?’ I asked myself. Curiosity getting the best of me, I twisted the knob, only to have the door open. The room consisted of a painting and a couple bookshelves. I went up and observed the painting titled ‘Separation’ Garry stepped next to me.
    “What an off putting painting...” I nodded at Garry’s statement. All of a sudden, the lights went out and I couldn’t see a thing.
    “W-what? The lights? It’s too dark to see!” I could feel him moving next me. I was frozen. Too scared to do anything.
    “Lynne? Are you there?” Garry asked me. I was shaking, afraid something will jump at us.
    “Y-yes. I’m h-here.” I couldn’t say anything without stuttering.
    “Phew. That’s good to hear...” Garry told me. Once I heard his voice, I tried to find where we was, only to bump into him. I quickly grabbed his arm. I couldn’t get separated from him. I just couldn’t.
    “Oh!” Garry exclaimed. “I forgot I had a lighter!” I would’ve been jumping for joy if I weren’t in the situation I was in right now. Once the lighter was on, I could tell the room was changed. There was writing. All over the walls.
    ‘HELP’ ‘NO’ ‘DON’T KILL ME’ ‘STOP’ ‘DON’T’
    I was petrified.
    “W..what is THIS?!” Garry said to nobody in particular. He stumbled back.
    “I don’t think this is good for my mental health...” He muttered. Still mute, I nodded. Realizing I was probably hurting his arm, I let go. We left the room, only to find that the wallway also had writing on it. A lot of writing.
    ‘Notice to all visitors. There is a strict ban on fire-starting implements in the gallery. We request that you please report the use of any matches, lighters, or the like. Should the use of such implements be reported to the staff.’ I turned to Garry to see him fumbling with his lighter. He looked frightened too. We walked pass the mirror, but something caught my eye. Garry and I walked back to the mirror to see that the word “eye” was written all over the mirror, and wherever our eyes are, they are not eyes, instead just a black hole. I shrieked and backed away from the mirror. Trying to rid myself of the creepy thoughts crawling into my brain, we kept walking down the hallway. Bloody footsteps. Since there was nowhere else to go, we followed them. I opened the door, only to see a blonde girl fall back.
    “Woah, are you okay?” Garry asked her. She jumped back as he tried to help her.
    “Wait!” Me and Garry said at the same time, my voice going unheard. The girl paused.
    “Hey are you...could you be one of the visitors to the gallery?” Garry asked the young girl.
    “Ah..!” The girl was surprised.
    “As I thought..” Garry smiled. I walked up next to Garry.
    “I’m Garry. And this is Lynne.” He introduced both of us. The girl was silent.
    “We’re both trying to get out of this place. Presumably you’re doing the same?” Garry asked her.
    “I..I was looking to see if there was anyone else too...I wanted to get out...” The girl said in a quiet voice.
    “Well, that’s great! Would you like to travel with us?” He asked the girl. She looked at us, surprised.
    “Yeah..! I’ll come!” She agreed.
    “Then it’s decided! Oh, what’s your name?” Garry asked her.
    “Mary...” She girl, now Mary, said.
    “Mary then! Nice to meet you!” Garry smiled.
    “...Yeah!” Mary exclaimed. She walked over to where I was standing.
    “Um, well, nice to meet you...Lynne, right?” She asked me. I nodded and said,
    “It’s a pleasure to meet you too!” I smiled. In my mind though, something wasn’t right. The way we followed bloody footsteps to find Mary...I just...we’ll have to see. All three of us left the room and continued. After a bit, Garry stopped.
    “Hey, me and Lynne have a rose...Mary, do you have a rose too?” He asked, mentioning to the rose in my pocket and the one under his coat. Mary nodded and pulled a yellow rose out of her dress.
    “Yeah! Mine is yellow! Wooow, Lynne’s rose is reeeed!” She exclaimed, looking intently at the rose in my pocket.
    “Umm..yeah.” I awkwardly stuttered. Mary continued.
    “I like yellow, but I also like pink! Oh, and blue!” She cheered. Garry was clearly not interested.
    “Learn to listen, will you?” He sighed. We continued up a hallway. All of us stopped, for we saw a note.
    ‘Which one could it be?’ Confusion was on all of our faces. ‘What does that mean?’ I wondered. Even though we were confused, we still continued. There were two doors. It was hard to decide which door to go through, so we just chose the left one.
    Bunnies. Bunnies everywhere. To make it more creepy, there was a large painting of a pink rabbit with red eyes. The title was ‘Red Eyes’.
    “Wow...this room is unsettling.” Garry stated. I nodded.
    “Huh? Really? I think it’s cute...” Mary explained.
    “WHA? What about this is CUTE?” Garry shrieked. Mary shrunk back.
    “Well I think it is...How about you, Lynne?” She asked me.
    “Sorry, but...it’s just the eyes...” I said, my voice full of forgiveness towards Mary.
    “There’s nothing wrong with these eyes! ...Well I still think it’s cute.” Mary protested. Garry shuddered lightly next to me.
    “We should get out of here. I feel like I’m being watched. Talk about unsettling...” He trailed off. When we were all leaving the room, a green rabbit ornament lept off the table.
    “Aie!” I yelped and jumped back. I hate whenever something creepy happens like that. Garry went over and inspected the fallen ornament. When he got back up from his crouching position, he was fingering a violet key.
    “Oh thank goodness...” I said to nobody in particular. Garry smiled and we continued our journey. As we walked back through the hallway, I heard a noise coming from a painting.
    “Guys...” I warned them. They stopped.
    “What is it, Lynne?” Garry asked. I pointed to the painting. When they came over, some vine-like substance came out of it!
    “What is...AIEE!” I shrieked as I was pushed back. I landed roughly on the ground. When I got up, I only saw Mary.
    “Garry?” I called for him.
    “Don’t worry, I’m just on the other side.” He assured me. I inwardly sighed a sigh of relief.
    “Are you guys hurt?” He asked us. Mary said no. I said no. I had lied. There was a large scratch on my right arm, causing my right arm to burn. I just didn’t want them to worry. Garry got up and tried to move the vines.
    “These vines...they’re made of stone!” He exclaimed. My eyes widened. Vines? Stone? How is that possible?
    “Hey..Lynne...” Mary interrupted me from my thoughts. I turned to her. “You got a key in that room, right?” She asked. I nodded.
    “Maybe that key..opens the door over there! We might find something to break the vines in the other room!” She offered.
    “That’s a good idea Mary, but will you guys be okay?” Garry asked. Making sure we were okay. Such a caring guy.
    “We’ll be fine! Right, Lynne?” Mary asked me enthusiastically. I looked at her.
    “I’m sorry, but...I’d rather not split up. It could be dan--” I was cut off by Mary.
    “Huhhh? Why not? We’ll back really quick!” She tried to persuade me. Garry spoke up.
    “If it’s the only thing...go ahead. But if you don’t find anything, come straight back, alright?” Me and Mary both agreed we would come back.
    “Okay, let’s go!” Wow. Mary really wanted to go. I guess I should go too. ‘I don’t want to leave you Garry, but I have to trust Mary for now. If she gets weird, please, hear my screams.’ I inwardly prayed that Mary wouldn’t try to kill me and everything will be fine.