Test and Sacrifices

Left or Right

A voice echoed “This is a place where not everything is how it seems. To escape you must use your mind and decipher what is dangerous and what is safe.” “ I’ve heard that voice before. It’s the same voice I heard when I first came here.” Owen said quietly “ I have too, it’s the same voice that told me the rules of my room. It must be the sick monster that put us here.” Said Julia in a cold emotionless voice. She then fearlessly skipped further into the room.

“ What are you doing?” Owen questioned “ Why are you all of a sudden acting reckless?” She stopped and turned to him and Calmly said . “ It’s because shuffling around in fear is what is expected from us. Why give the sick that put us here what it wants.” She then continued down the hall and found a note with red stains on it. “ The note read turn right.” Owen quickly caught up to her and looked at the note. “There’s blood on it, we should probably do the opposite.” Suggested Owen. “No we shouldn’t cause that is fake blood, you can tell by the color. It was most likely put there to create fear of what it says to do, but really it’s just deception.” Julia said.

Crying was then heard from the left tunnel. It was the crying of a young child. “ There’s a child this way, shouldn’t we be safer having to fight off a kid?” Questioned Owen. “No you i***t. Children are often used for deception. Athis place is called the cave of illusionfir a reason. Don't trust it.” Then from the right tunnel horrid screams could be heard, followed by what sounded like chains hitting the floor. Owen turned and quickly made his way down the left tunnel as Julia went after while cursing his decision.

They reached a small clearing that was lit up with a gentle glow coming from a beautiful lantern in the corner. The room was the color of a buttercup flower and in the center was a wooden cream colored crib. Inside was a small petite child who looked to be around three years old. A note on the wall of the crib read “Right choice". “You see.” Owen said “ This was the right choice after all.” He bent down to pick up the child and it giggled as he bounced it in his arms. It had wispy hair the color of wet sand and a skin tone that was in between light and dark. Innocent hazel eyes looked up at Owen as he looked at the child in his arms. The child had a necklace with the name Dahlia written on it in red letters. “ Aww what a pretty name.” Owen exclaimed “ Don’t Dahlia flowers symbolize inner strength.” “ Yes they do but they also symbolize betrayal.” Julia said in an annoyed voice.

“ Stop being so negative.” Owen said back at her. She rolled her eyes and they continued down the hall with the child. This hall was pleasant and bright. The note did have blood and did say to go to the opposite tunnel. Also what danger is a child. Owen was sure he picked the right tunnel, no matter what Julia said, but with each step Julia felt more and more weary. They soon reached a door that read. “ Exit". It was a warm yellow colored door with tiny pink flowers on it. “Don’t touch that door!” Julia snapped. Owen ignored her and opened it. On the other there was what looked to be a hall leading back to the main hallway. On the floor the words “Congratulations you made quite a choice" were written in bright letters.

Then the room went dark and Owen felt something bite him. Then he felt the feeling of warm fresh blood. He also felt a different liquidity substance as he realized his arms were empty. The light flickered on and there was a tall woman with sharp yellow needle like teeth and long claws. In her arms there was Dahlia’s lifeless body. The weird thing was that Dahlia’s blood was an oily black substance. Was Dahlia actually not a real child? Was she a monster in disguise last? Was she just part of the illusions? Julia and Owen ran down the halls as fast as they could. When they reached the clearing where they found Dahlia, it looked exactly the same, including the fact that there was a child in the crib.

The child looked exactly like Dahlia. That's when they realized a dreadful fact. Dahlia was an illusion used to lure them to the nightmare of a lady that they had just encountered. They heard the hard loud footsteps of the monstrous woman getting closer. They both bolted down the hall in absolute terror. What was this place? That question didn’t matter, because all that mattered at the moment was escaping that monster. They turned to see that she was close. So close that they could see the whites of her sickly yellow eyes. Her breath could be smelt and it reeked of the scent of old blood. Her hair was a long tangled flowing mess. Her skin looked like an old piece of paper. It looked stained and was wrinkly like how paper is when you crumble it.

They found a door on the side of the wall that they hadn’t seen before and quickly opened it and locked it behind them. Were they safe though. After all they are in a place of deception. “You i***t!” Julia yelled “ I told you that this was the wrong path but you wouldn’t listen! Now look what happened!” Owen said nothing because he knew she was right and that he messed up. She had every right to be angry at him cause they just almost died because of him. Her voice was full of frustration but that wasn’t the only emotion present. It was clear that deep down inside Julia was human and felt fear just like everyone else. Inside she was a little girl with a life that was made of fear. Past her violence and anger, there was a soul that only yearned for freedom and peace. Maybe just maybe the same could be said about some of the others trapped within this hell.

They could hear the monster walking around outside and knew eventually they would have to face it. Owen turned to see Julia sitting on the floor, with tears streaming down her small rounded face. She looked so hopeless and small now that it almost made Owen forget that she was capable of killing. Still emotions aside they still had to find a way to defeat the creature lurking just outside of where they were. Despite knowing that fact the question they both had in their minds was how just how were they going to get out alive? Owen looked around and found a table with a red rose and a poem on it. The poem said:

“ Come to see that a rose is a rose no matter what name it is called

Open your mind to its true nature a flower that is always petals mixed with thorns

Understand that every type may vary but they are still made from the same things

Rage may wage stories be told but through deception and demons a rose is a rose

A line between facing fear and acts of stupidity the line separating is one of honor

Gentle yet with sharp swords of protection built into it

Every rose is different but all are able to be soft yet strong”

“Hey Julia, come look at this.” Owen called. Julia slowly lifted up her head to look at him. Her eyes looked so tired as she mumbled “ What?”. “I found something over here.” Owen gently replied. He then went over and helped the young up and led her to the table. “ Read this" he said while gesturing to the poem. Julia’s eyes widened as she read it. “ It wants us to show courage and face the monster. That start of every sentence combined spells out courage and it takes courage to tell the truth and face your reality. That’s why it uses the ‘rose is a rose quote’.” Owen looked at her with wonder.

How did she figure it out so fast? “ We have to go out and face our fate. It did say something about stupidity though so there has to be a method to this. It's all one big puzzle.” Owen said. They pondered for a while as they tried to figure out their next move. There seemed to be nothing to use to escape, but the answer was right in front of them.