TAOM- The Surrealistic World 3

            When Kamui came to, the first thing he noticed was that the room was very, very blue. He lay on a staircase, feeling very confused and dizzy. He stood up slowly, tentatively. Where was he exactly? He didn’t remember the art gallery looking like this!

            Once the dizziness subsided he took a few cautious steps forward, entering into a hallway. Once he was in the middle of it however, he turned around, something was off. Wasn’t there a staircase there a minute ago?! He took a few steps back until he was up against the wall. Suddenly he noticed two paintings; they were similar. Both of them depicted floating land and a void but the left was red, almost like lava, and on the right it was blue, almost like an endless ocean. He shivered; wherever he was, it wasn’t the gallery that was for sure. Now which way should he go?

            After debating with himself for a few minutes, he decided to go left first. At the end of the hall there was a black and white fish painting hung on the wall, its frame silver. “The…” He blinked, trying to read the next word but unable to do so. “The…???...Fish…” He shrugged his shoulders, deciding to move on. And that’s when he noticed it; a sky-blue door! He tugged on its handle, but it wouldn’t budge...Must’ve been locked…

            He sighed, turning around and hurrying to the other side of the hallway, but as he did so more blue words started to appear...No, not multiple words, but one. “Come” the words read, over and over again. Kamui shivered, but followed them. These words, they kept calling him...why? With hesitant steps, he followed the path of the letters until he came upon a vase with a purple rose sticking out of it. “Huh…?” He felt strange, looking at the rose; he couldn’t quite put his finger on it but it was as if that rose was...calling him almost. Like he was somehow...connected to it. Was that even possible? But, as he stared at the flower he could feel himself being pulled towards it and it wasn’t long before he was pulled out of his daze and he was holding the rose, despite not remembering grasping onto its prickly stem. And somehow, as he stared at the plant that was in his small hands, he started to feel like the rose...completed him. The thing in his hand was so fragile, and yet he felt the need to protect it…  Carefully he placed the rose into the safety of his pocket, suddenly noticing the blue door behind the table the vase was sitting on. Quickly he pushed it aside, surprised that it was so light for a wooden table. After that he tugged on the door handle, opening the door to reveal a room with a blue key laying in the middle of it and a picture of a smiling woman’s head, blue hair leaking over the frame. Her eyes were closed, but the room made him uneasy. Why was there a key, just laying there in the middle of the room? Despite his uneasiness, though, he leaned down and took the key anyways, grasping it tightly. As he stood up he noticed the picture had changed, the woman’s eyes and mouth were now open. He gasped, stepping back slightly, and turning around, not bothering to read the caption that was under the frame. But once he stepped outside the room, the once blue and—did he dare say it?—friendly looking letters were now red and, instead of reading the word “come” over and over, it read “thief”.

            His eyes widened at the sudden change; he had to get out of here! But as he ran down the hall, he was startled by the word “thief” once more as it plastered itself against the ground, making him fall backwards. Was this place angry at him? Why? Didn’t it want him to take the key? Standing up he walked quickly across the words, anxious to get to the other side.

            Once he approached the door, he slowed down his pace until he came to a complete halt and unlocked the door with the key, slowly pushing it open. He was met with a narrow green room, a pedestal right in the middle of it. When he approached it and leaned down, though he could barely make out the words, read out loud, “Beware the edges,” he blinked. What did that even mean?

            Sighing, he started to walk along the hall but as he did so, a sudden black, shadowy hand shot out, hitting him and causing him to hiss in pain. “Oww!”

    He glared at the hand, angry that it hurt him. The memory of what the plaque had read popped up in his mind; maybe he should stay in the middle of the hallway? Deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry, he did just that. Finally he came to the end of the hall and where he happened upon another door. He entered the door, this time the room being mostly yellow. He blinked; was this huge place really a part of the gallery? He walked more into the hall, seeing it went to both sides and straight through. The painting on his left though, it seemed to be a face and....it looked like its tongue was moving, but it actually looked a little silly in comparison to everything else, so Kamui walked up to it, actually giving a small smile, but he quickly frowned again when it spit on him, oddly stinging a bit. Kamui quickly backed up and looked on the other side of the hall. The first thing he saw was yellow text, once again painted on the wall and he approached it warily. “Beware....of lips? That’s odd.....”

    Kamui continued walking down the hall though, and did see what looked like a pair of lips and chose to avoid them, at least for now....the painted texts hadn’t exactly been proven to lie yet.....so that left going up the other hall....he didn’t know if he could trust the sides of the walls and therefore chose to walk down the middle lest one hit him again. At the other end of the hallway, there was another split, the left looking shorter and more normal, the right....Kamui’s eyes widened. He really hoped those were dolls hanging....but he really didn’t want to find out. Left again it was.

            All that was on the left was a single door with more yellow paint on the side of it reading ‘The Liars’ Room’. That was an interesting name....but what choice did he have? It was either that or the...hanging dolls. Kamui sighed and walked in and saw six portraits, three on each side of another door, each of a person wearing a different color and with more text underneath. Kamui approached the first one; a man wearing green, his text read ‘Stand in front of the statue, go west 3 steps, then south one step. That’s the answer!’ The next was a woman in brown saying ‘Stand in front of the statue, go east 4 steps, then north 2 steps. That’s the answer!’ Following the woman was another man, this time in yellow claiming ‘The one in white speaks the truth!’ On the other side of the door, the blue man said ‘The only truth-speaker wears green!’ The woman in white next to him though said ‘Stand in front of the statue, go east 2 steps, then south two steps. That’s the answer!’ The last painting was of another woman, this time in red, saying ‘I agree with the one in yellow!’

            Kamui thought for a minute, so clearly the next room had a statue and something he had to get...and this was The Liars’ Room, so five of them had to be lying, right? The yellow man had said white spoke truth, so that was a lie, so white and yellow were wrong. The blue man was also lying since he said the truth was the green man, who now also had to be lying. And the woman in red agreed with yellow and was also lying. Right? So....that left the brown lady. Kamui bit his lip and reread the brown woman’s to make sure he’d follow it correctly before stepping into the next room.

            All there was was a weird guy’s statue and the tiled floor....what was he supposed to find? Kamui went up to the statue and followed what the brown lady said, four east, two north....nothing. So....maybe he had to pull the tile up?

    “Oh. It’s loose....Four?” Upon pulling the tile up and flipping it over, Kamui had found a purple four. He heard a series of noises that sounded like glass breaking and tearing and startled, he fell backwards. That sounded like it came from just the previous room....what happened?? Kamui carefully got up and hesitantly left the room, and upon looking at the paintings again, saw that all of them now had red paint on them, but the brown woman’s seemed to be covered in it. Kamui shuddered a little, it looked a bit too much like blood....He quickly scanned the texts of the other paintings though, seeing as they all looked shorter, and in fact, they all said ‘Liar!’ now, and Kamui quickly left the room, not wanting to linger around the paintings any longer.

            Kamui guessed he would have to go to the other side now....he had a number he didn’t know what to do with, and there was probably something on the other end of the hall. He cautiously started walking down the hall, staring a little wide-eyed at some of the dolls. When he walked by another though, it fell, and Kamui gave a slight yelp. That had surprised him, and without it hanging, it looked more like a doll but also more like a person.... Kamui carefully walked over to it, just to check if they were actually dolls, and saw that at least this one was, and that it had a green eighteen on it. That was a second number now, maybe they were part of a code? Kamui finished walking down the hall to another door and tried to open it, but it was locked, and upon paying more attention and look more closely, Kamui saw that it did need a code of sort....he needed a red number now? He bit his lip again. Maybe....maybe the lips or the white painting somehow? Kamui went back down the hall and went over to the white picture, making sure to stay as far from the spitting face picture as possible and saw that there actually was a small, tiny, red nine on it. Okay, so he had a four, an eighteen, and a four. He went back to the locked door, still a little creeped out by the dolls. So the code wanted him to do 9 x 18 + 4 since the colors matched up that way....9 x 18....well 9 x 9 was 81….multiple that by 2…162? That plus 4....166. Was that the code? Kamui entered it and heard the door unlock. He reached out and opened it, the door swinging inwards to reveal a very small room packed full of trees, all of them about his height. The tree in the very center had an apple perched at the tippy-top. He blinked; why was there a room packed full of trees? Moreover; were these trees even real, or just sculptures? Well, at least it wasn’t scary, unlike the other rooms of this godforsaken place.

            But still, he was cautious as he approached the central tree; this one was taller than the rest, since, despite leaning upwards until he was standing on his toes, the top of his head was barely level with the bushy top of the vegetation. He stretched his arms outwards, trying to grab the apple, but found he still wasn’t tall enough. The young, raven-haired boy leaned forwards a bit more, so that he was only standing on the end of his right foot, his other raised high in the air. He felt himself losing his balance, but as he fell face-first, he managed to grab the apple, which felt much different than anticipated; almost...wooden. “Oof,” his tiny body hit the ground, knocking the wind out of him slightly. Slowly he sat up, groaning, but a triumphant grin was on his face; he did it! With a new burst of energy, he stood up and exited the room, racing past the hanging, creepy dolls and the black hands that reached out to him from the wall like tendrils.

    Once he reached the split in the hall, he took the right and slowly approached the lips, but when he did so, this time they spoke, “Hungry...Give food…” It seemed to pause in its slow, agonizing drawl. “That food...Give to me…”

    Kamui blinked; what food? Oh...The wooden apple? It wasn’t even real! Though it did look like it was… “Um...okay, here.” He put the apple in the lips’ open mouth, pulling back quickly as it took a huge bite and ate the apple whole.

            “That tasty...I let you pass now...Go through my mouth…”

    Kamui’s eyes widened; through its mouth?! How did he know it wouldn’t just eat him like it did the apple?! But, as the mouth opened up, wide enough for him to step through, he knew he had to trust it. What other option did he have? He couldn’t go back; there was nothing back there but more creepy rooms and a dead end. Sighing, he stepped through the mouth, but instead of ending up just a giant snack, he found himself in a hallway and staring straight at him was a picture of a guillotine, its blade already slicing the ground.

            Kamui stared at it wide-eyed before starting to walk across the hallway. He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, the blade of the guillotine was starting to go up with each new picture, but he thought nothing of it. However, once he reached the end of the hall he heard something above him…

            There was a blinding gleam and a hiss as Kamui jumped out of the way, the blade of the guillotine he had seen in the pictures slicing the ground behind him. He was...alive? How did he…? His breaths were coming in short gasps as he stared at the glistening, bloodthirsty blade, his left hand clutching at his neck. How did he not lose his head to that?

            It took him a few minutes before he calmed down and his breathing and heart rate slowed; despite all the creepy, messed up things he had seen so far he hadn’t actually thought the place had been trying to kill him! So why now? Why did it let him get this far? Was it just playing with him? What did it want from him anyhow? He was only nine! What could he possibly do to entertain this place besides run around without any sense of where he was supposed to go and almost getting himself killed with every turn he took? It was almost like this place was acting like a little kid, except...sadistic instead of just playful or even mischievous.

            He shook away the thoughts from his mind; he needed to keep going. Maybe his mother was around here. Or maybe that teenager, Fuuma...He hoped both of them were okay…

            Tentatively he stood up and grabbed his rose from off the ground. But wait...why did the rose look like it was missing petals? It was completely healthy a few minutes ago! Now it appeared to be almost dead...He better be careful with it; he had a feeling he didn’t want it to die. Gently he put the rose back in his pocket and turned away. He couldn’t stand being near that blade any longer.

            Kamui exited the room and started walking down the stairs, but with every step he could feel a dull ache in his lower calves, and, despite having calmed down, could feel his chest tightening as he walked, his breathing coming out as a low whistle. He felt so tired, exhausted even, and his mind was hazy, but he knew he couldn’t stop walking; he had to keep going. Not unless he wanted to be stuck here forever.

            Slowly the colors of the stairs morphed from white to red, and when he got the bottom, he found himself at an opening leading to a giant room red room. Two statues, one blue and one red, were roped off, almost guarding the entrance. They looked like they could be made from marble, but what kind of marble was colored like that? He started to walk around the red statue, studying it with interest and confusion. What was it supposed to be anyways? A person? It kind of looked like goo when he thought of it…

            “Hey. You might want to come and sit down for a bit...you don’t look so good.” A smooth female voice called out.

            Kamui was startled out of his daze as the voice reached his ears. Where was it coming from? “Hello…?”

            “Over here. To your right. Honestly, sending a child here....”

            He blinked looked over to his right, noticing a large painting with a long black-haired, red eyed woman. She wore a red kimono, the sleeves slipping over her pale, slender shoulders. The collar was low, revealing her collarbone and the tip of the black lace of her bra. A large butterfly earring hung from her right ear, purple in the middle and the tips of the wings blending into pink, then red. Her hair spilled over the frame, and she seemed to be frowning, though when she noticed him a smile seemed to replace the concerned look she had on a few seconds ago, as if it had been merely an illusion she had been frowning in the first place. He wasn’t sure if he could trust this painting, this woman, but he cautiously stepped forwards. If she wanted to hurt him, she wouldn’t have expressed concern for him earlier, right? “U-um...Hello. You won’t hurt me, right?”

            The woman’s smile grew a little sad, but only just enough to be noticeable. “No I won’t hurt you. You look worn out though, come sit over here. How did you get here little one?”

    He nodded, coming closer until he was a mere few feet away, and sat down against the wall. It was a relief, to be able to sit and not worry about getting hurt or something creepy popping out. He was, after all, completely exhausted, and he ached all over. Not to mention the fact that this place was mentally exhausting as well… “Well...I was exploring the gallery with a man called Fuuma-san; he was really nice and would read the words I didn’t understand. He said it was time to leave, so I left to find Mother, but then the lights went dark and everything got all creepy. There were words on the walls telling me to ‘come here’ and told me that they would show me ‘someplace secret’. Then I found a painting and stepped on it and then I woke up here!” Despite being utterly exhausted, his voice came out evenly, albeit a little soft and breathy.

            The woman frowned, though Kamui couldn’t see since he was thankfully sitting and not facing her. She swore....if she ever got a chance to, she’d wring the man’s neck. A nine-year-old, however terrified, should not be this out of breath. It was probably the rose..... “Did you happen to pick up a rose? And, Fuuma-san? What did he look like? I saw a teenager a while ago...” The sooner she knew if Kamui had his rose or not, the better. And if she could get him to Fuuma, then at least he’d have another human to help him. “Also, you never told me your name child,” she said, leaning to rest her head on her arms, even more of her hair slipping out of the frame.

            “My name is Kamui…” He hesitated, thinking for a second, “Yeah, I found a rose when I first got here. It was really pretty…” Kamui trailed off, remembering the rose and how mesmerizing it had been. He could feel its subtle weight in his right front pocket of his overall shorts; he felt so closely tied to it, as if it were...a part of him, even. Or, at least, a part of his life was tied to this rose. Though he was being ridiculous though, right? His life, tied to a violet rose? One that was already dying? It wasn’t possible...right?

            “Kamui. Focus. You can’t dwell on the rose. What did Fuuma-san look like?” She was concerned. If someone just thought about their rose for a while, they had a tendency of entirely forgetting why and where they were running. Then, that let him win, made him that much more real.

            The child was startled out of his daze by the woman’s concerned tone. “W-well...He was really tall, and he looked strong...His hair was black and spiky...And his eyes were...I think brown? They were kinda like honey…He wore this white jacket too...I don’t remember his shirt...I think it was green?”

            Yuuko nodded. That was the man....though he was honestly just a teenager, not a man quite yet, that she’d seen earlier. “You still have your rose, correct?”

            Kamui nodded slightly, “Yeah, it’s in my pocket.”

            “Good. Keep it safe. Fuuma-san went that way,” she said, pointing to the left. “Find him, and both of you, keep your roses safe, okay? If you find a vase with water, use that for them as well.”

            Kamui took note of the advice for later, and stood up slowly. He was glad she had seen Fuuma earlier. “Thank you for your help...What is your name ma’am?” The young male hesitated for a second, “Also...Is Fuuma-san okay? He’s not hurt, right?”

            “My name as a painting is The Lady in Red, but my real name when I was a person is Yuuko. As for Fuuma-san, I’m not sure Kamui. When I saw him, he was not. He appeared frightened, but that is part of what this place does. That’s all I know though, the sooner you find him, the less danger either of you are in.”

            “Well thank you Yuuko-san for all your help. I gotta go help Fuuma-san now!” He turned to look at her one last time, smiling softly and waving goodbye, before sprinting off in the general direction she had pointed towards.

            Yuuko gave a soft smile and wave in return, though Kamui had already turned his back. Out of the very few other people she had talked to while stuck as a living painting, Kamui was the only one to ask her her name. She hoped that he would find Fuuma and that both of them could hold out long enough for their help to arrive....But both seemed strong, of course they’d be fine.