Chapter 17

My name is Kendrick. 

I'm twenty years old and in my second year at university. I'm tall enough that I spend most days looking at the tops of people's heads. I’ve played sports and weight trained for most of my life. I love being outdoors and being active. I've even studied some martial arts! For my entire life, so far, I've just been coasting and not really  having to worry about much.

 I never really thought the world was a scary place before.

Even when I got trapped in this game, I was lucky. I never had to be alone. I was always surrounded by my brother and all of his friends. 

It's terrifying how everything can change in an instant. One second I was in the real world, the next I was trapped here. One second I was traveling with my brother, the next…

 I'm alone. 

I normally don't dwell on sad feelings. I normally try to brush it off and move on. These feelings aren't like me, this isn't who I am, but they're persistent. And…I don't want to be alone.

“Hey, what are you doing?" 

“What?" I was jostled from my thoughts by Leon. 

“You stopped walking, what are you doing? Did you find something?" Through the candlelight I could see his normal blank look.

“Oh, sorry. No, I was just caught up in my own thoughts." I started moving again down the narrow hallway. 

It had been about two hours since we lost track of Faust and Fenton. One second we were standing next to them and the next we were in the middle of this hallway. The lights never came back on, so we moved slowly by torch light, trying to make sure we didn't miss a turn or exit somewhere. 

“I'm not scolding you, I'm just wondering what's going through your head." 

"Oh, it's really nothing, you don't need to worry.” I tried flashing a big smile and making it look sincere, Leon just stared up at me with his usual straight expression. 

I couldn't really get a good feel for what he was thinking. When he first joined our group I felt like he genuinely wanted to help us. I'm sure it's just to get out of the game as quickly as possible.

We continued down the hall. It was clear there was something going on. There was no way this house was several miles long, and yet we continued walking straight down the hallway without a single door or turn in sight. 

"We are probably stuck in some type of loop,” Leon whispered. 

"Ah, should we try something different then?” I asked.

"Like what?”

"I'll let you pick. Up, down, left or right?” I kind of just wanted to see Leon with a different expression, so I was excited to surprise him.

"Some context would be nice…" 

“Either you pick or I do," I laughed.

“Ok…left?" 

“Sounds good," I handed Leon the torch and squared my shoulders. I took a few seconds to adjust my strength, and then took a deep breath. 

My fist slammed into the wall to our left. 

I could feel my whole arm push through the wall. The vibration from the punch shook the hallway. For a moment I thought  the whole mile long walk might fall over. A small dust cloud obstructed our view for a second, but the section of wall had clearly gone down in front of us.

"Oh…that's what you meant.” His voice sounded soft.

I looked over at Leon and saw that his mouth was hanging open a little, a look of shock on his face as he waved the dust and smoke away from his face. There we go. That was what I had hoped for. I liked seeing his expression change. 

We peered into the new space that I had created. Unfortunately, it was another hallway. For a moment, I felt overwhelmed. The thought  occurred to me that maybe I should just take a nap on the floor where we stood, and let the monster find me. I peered over at Leon, who didn't seem as overwhelmed. He seemed the same as usual. It was impressive how he kept his cool like that. 

I took a closer look at the hallways in front of us. I realized that this one looked different than the hallways we had come from. This one was more elaborately designed. It was a closed hallway. The only entrance appeared to be from where we had come. 

“Let's take a closer look…” Leon whispered.

As we stepped out of the hole I had made, we walked gently on a fancy rug that ran the length of the hall. There appeared to only be seven doors on either side. The space was lit by ceiling lamps that had colorful glass. Each door in the hall has a border that was carved with various designs. 

“We should probably look in all those rooms, right?" I asked.

Leon gulped, “yeah…probably." He didn't sound very convincing.

We approached the first doorway. The door itself didn't seem out of the ordinary, but all around the frame were figures carved in wood. They looked like people laying down and sleeping, or dead.

I grasped the handle and pushed the door open. As the door swung in, the room seemed to reach out and grab us. We were pulled inside the room and the door slammed shut behind us. 

The room was dark.

“Leon…? Leon, are you ok?”

“Yeah…I'll feel that tomorrow, but I'm fine. What was that about?” 

"I'm not sure. I'll light a torch." I quickly pulled a torch from my inventory and took a look around the room. 

It was a bedroom. A large extravagant looking bed with a canopy stood in the middle of the room. The walls were covered in paintings of people…sleeping. 

“Interesting decor choice," Leon whispered.

I walked back to the door and tried the handle. "It feels like the doors to the front door. I don't think I can break it down.”

Scattered around the room were a few candelabra. Leon took a moment and lit them using his magic. We circled the room, checking the paintings, looking for a hidden door, looking for anything.

“Nothing," Leon let out a large yawn, "what do we do now?” 

"I could try for one of the walls I guess,” I was suddenly feeling sluggish. I stifled a yawn as I went to the wall next to the door. 

"…Kendrick?” 

I looked back at Leon, he didn't look good. "Hey, what's wrong? Do you feel sick?” I walked over to him and put my hand on his forehead. It didn't feel like a fever, but his eyes seemed cloudy. 

“I just feel really tired all of a sudden,” he laid his head against my chest and I felt his legs start to give way. "Hey! Leon? LEON?" I scooped him up and carried him over to the bed. 

Looking at him carefully I didn't see anything wrong with him. He had just fallen asleep. I looked around the room. The paintings, the bed, the door frame outside the door…did something in this room make you fall asleep? 

I could feel it too, I was feeling tired. 

“Ok, that's probably not good to fall asleep in here.” 

I wasn't sure how much force I would need to break through the wall, but this wasn't the time to hold back. 

I could feel the adrenaline starting to kick in, I let the transformation start to take over me. The familiar popping sound reached my ears as my spine grew and elongated. My senses blared at me. Everything was suddenly sharper. 

I charged. I ran straight at the wall and put all my power into a single spot. 

Then, I was immediately thrown back. The force threw me to the other side of the room. I fell down with a crash, knocking down a few paintings in the process. 

“Well, that didn't work…” I rubbed the back of my head. 

"Are you alright?”

I jumped to my feet and looked where the voice came from only to find that It was Leon. He was sitting up on the bed.

"Wait…what? I thought you were going to be asleep until we got out or something?” I walked over to him but saw his eyes widen. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm fine. I know I look a little…rough around the edges, but I'm still me." I took a step back and started to decompress. 

“...No, you're fine. It's not that. I've seen it before…anyway.” He turned and looked at the door to the room. 

"Before? When?” Now that I was back to normal I was starting to feel the room's effect again. I stumbled over to the bed.

"Ca...careful!" Leon called as I fell against him. 

“I don't…think…I can stay awake…”

“It's ok, just fall asleep. Once you wake up we will be allowed to leave." Leon spoke softly. 

“Oh yeah, you must have dreamed that? But I thought you had to follow someone…" 

I don't remember what he said after that. I saw his lips moving, but the sound was far away. I could see his face, his cheeks looked like they were burning. He seemed embarrassed. I wonder why.