I continue on my way, completely reluctant to leave Kai behind me. There’s a narrow corridor leading up a small flight of stairs. The walls are covered in some horrible putrid pink wallpaper, and I can't help but feel slightly more unnerved than before.

I find a small not on the wall, like the others in simple bold print.

GO WHERE ONLY ONE EYE IS OPEN

I follow the corridor along, wondering what in the world that note could possibly mean. But then I find them, painted to the wall.

Mouths, gaping mouths that take up a large portion of the wall, mouths open wide enough for someone with my slight frame to crawl through.  Above the mouths are lines, smudged in a mix of blue and black ink.

Eyes.

There are two mouths in total, however I cannot see a place where only one eye is open…

One set of eyes are completely closed, the other, open and staring.

Terrifying.

I realise quickly that I don’t know what to do. I know I will have to crawl through one of the holes in the wall, but I don’t want to.

The mouths are gaping open, and they look like they could swallow me up whole. Chew me and swallow me, spit me out in a sea of blood and vital organs all over the carpet.

I press the palm of my hand against the wall between the two mouths, running an exasperated hand through my hair. Which path do I take? Neither has one eye open…

I screech as I feel something strange warp before me, and I feel my hand slide down the wall into a narrow hole.

I look up, seeing that on the wall before me, somehow another mouth has opened up. Above this still, the eyes of the two other mouths in sight. One open, one closed.

“OK…” I tell myself, inhaling sharply. This must be it.

I heave a deep breath, crawling my way forward. I breathe a sigh of relief when the mouth doesn’t close around me, and I find a wide enough area to straighten myself out, coming to a standing position.

The pathway is badly lit, but I can see and feel the texture of my surroundings. The walls and the floor alike are cold and metallic, and I can see the glint of moonlight fall on them from a barred window above. Although far to high for me to possibly reach, the window had been barred by the wizard.

Just another way of keeping me in.

I follow the pathway forward, wincing as my shoes make loud clicking sounds against the metal grates that compose the floor. I feel my way forward, tracing the handle of a door.

The next room is a little lighter than the previous, however I must still strain my eyes in the darkness. I find another note on the floor, however this note is much more of a puzzle than the last.

MAKE SOUND IN FOUR ROOMS

“Yo.”

I jump, casting a worried glance across the room. My eyes soften when they come across a familiar bushy black tail. Kai steps towards me, his coat still soaked in my tears. I sink down to my knees, pulling him in for a hug.

“This floor’s pretty quiet,” he tells me. I nod, running a hand through his fur.

“Try that door,” he says. I nod, walking over to it.

“Kai,” I mumble to myself.

“Yes?” he asks.

“Take care of yourself.”

I turn the handle to the door before me, casting a worried glance back over my shoulder. Kai looks older and more tired than he did in the previous rooms, and I wonder just how old he is, just how long he’s been trapped in this place.

He must be so lonely.

I find myself in a new room, one lined with maroon red sofas covered in gold-lined pillows. There is an air of exuberance about this room that was not present in any of those that came before.

A small, ornate music box sits in the centre of the room, completely silent. I open it, finding a small figure of a ballerina within, dressed in a light pink, skin pale alabaster. I run my fingers over it, entranced.

I spy a small handle on the back of the box, and I turn it carefully between my fingers, smiling a fleeting smile as the ballerina begins to twirl, her leg pointing outwards.

I place the music box back on the floor, letting my head loll back and forth as I follow the music in my head. It’s soothing, though there’s darkness behind its simple melody.

Darkness…

I shake my head, snapping out of my trance. I suppose this is the music of one of the rooms, and my job in here is done. Time to move on.

There’s a door off this room, and I turn the handle.

It consists of a small, round table with a box on top of it, and to the right a desk similar to that in the study has found itself in the middle of the room, the familiar book spread open in front of it.

Wizard’s Diary

I ________ all the friends who came to my house after that.

They were all eaten by the house. But it wasn’t enough...

I walk over to the box on the centre table, a box that has a white outside with a small black button on the side. I press the button down and shriek in surprise as a small doll jumps out at me. I breathe rapidly, clutching my chest with my hand.

Jack in the Box. How could I have been so stupid?

I hug the wall, making my way back to the room with Kai. I head past the music box, noticing that there is a key missing. Perhaps I am to look for this key?

I walk back into the main room, but Kai is nowhere in sight. I shriek as I see a statue dressed as a toy soldier walking towards the door, pistol raised. There is a malicious laugh, and I watch in surprise as the toy solider the gun at me.

I duck, making a dive past the soldier as I cling to my clothes, running towards a new door I haven’t been in. This place is like some freakish maze, always something new and hauntingly terrifying around the corner.

The new room is plain white. The walls are tiled white, the floor white. A large, grand piano sits at the centre of the room, the white and black keys flashy and new. I notice there is no music sitting on the rest.

Am I supposed to play it?

I shake my head, spotting a small shelf in the corner of the room. Perhaps there is music here for me to play?

I walk over to it, shuffling through some of the titles. None seem musical enough to me. I find my fingers reaching out without my permission, pulling a book off the shelf in front of me.

“Study of Eyes,” I read.

“People have different eye colours. We know the following about women in this region in particular.”

I turn the page expectantly.

“A woman’s eye colour depends on her hair. The four hair colours are silver, black, gold and red. The four eye colours are brown, green, blue and red.”

I didn’t think people could have red eyes. I shrug, reading on.

“Silver-haired women have red eyes, and brown-eyed women can have either blonde or red hair.”

I place the book back on the shelf, cocking an eyebrow in confusion. What does hair and eye colour have to do with anything at all?

I return to the previous room, spotting that Kai has returned in the corner. I ignore him; he seems to be asleep anyway. I continue my journey, heading to the only room I haven’t been into as of yet.

This room is off. There’s a vase filled with white flowers to the side, right next to the door. I see two large lounge chairs on either side of a heavy-looking wooden table, its tabletop scattered with playing cards.

There are strange looking pumpkins sitting on the floor, like Halloween decorations. There seems to be life in them, and as I walk across the floorboards silently, I feel their eyes on me, like they’re watching, waiting.

I find one without a carving, and I tap it. Does this even count as music?

I hear a click and a door beyond opens. I glance up, finding myself right in front of a door that I’m sure wasn’t there mere seconds ago.

“I suppose this is the way…” I mumble to myself.

I pick myself up, walking towards it. Surrounding the door are four portraits, each with a different hair colour and eye colour, though each in itself a near perfect replication of the Mona Lisa. I shake my head, pushing through the door.

The next room is dark and tiled. There are two statues in the room, one of a woman holding her arms out, one a bust of a man. Both look extremely old and rare, like they must be from Ancient European worlds, like Greece or Rome. I read an inscription underneath the woman’s figure.

I CAN BE THE SUN. I CAN BE THE SAND.
AND I CAN BE A BIRD.

WHAT AM I?

I squint my eyes, taking in my surroundings.

There are four objects in the room, each spaced out in perfect symmetry. A mirror first, one with an intricate silver frame. Next, below the mirror, a simple pot plant, its leaves a lustrous green. A grandfather clock, and finally a chair.

“I don't know!” I complain to the room.

What could it be? The sun, the sand, a bird? How can you be all three at once?

Wait…

“I could choose the woman, or the man’s head, right?” I whisper into the nothingness.

I scan the objects, sifting through my brain for any clue.

Nothing.

I walk over to the plant, touching its leaves.

“Here goes nothing,” I grumble.

I watch as the leaves go a smoldering grey, and gasp as they begin to fall to the floor. A loud, deep laugh reverberates through the walls, and I gasp as I find myself in the room previous, lying on the floor. Something flutters down from the roof. A simple note, reading one word.

Incorrect.

I try again; using trial and error each time I walk across to an object. Seeing as nothing is hurting me in this room, I decide to take my time, running through them all in order.

I turn to the mirror as nod my head at it. It could be the mirror… right?

Wrong.

I scream as a giant handprint slams itself across the mirror inches from my face.

Back in the previous room, again. Again, another slip of paper falls from the ceiling.

Incorrect.

There’s only one object left in the room by now, and I walk across to it.

The old grandfather clock sits proudly on the left hand side of the room, its arms ticking around it slowly. The clock looks really old. The legs of it are worn, and I can imagine that whoever lives in the place must have been a frustrated interior decorator, constantly moving the piece of furniture to where they thought it seemed to fit.

I nod my head at the clock, and it strikes one. One in the morning or one in the afternoon, I can’t comprehend. I do realise, however, that there is a key hanging as one of the hands on the clock face. I watch as it clicks open, the glass screen creaking forward.

I take the key in my hand, and make a break for the door. I find myself in the previous room, but there’s something different about it.

I realise immediately it’s the paintings. They’re eyes seem to be watching me, more so than before. I let my eyes scan them, looking for one that has a proper mix of eye and hair colour. I spot one with silver hair and flashing red eyes.

This must be the one…

I feel my hand underneath it, gasping as my fingers come into contact with a thin book of some sort. I pull it out excitedly, noticing there is sheet music lining the pages.

This is for the piano!

I turn around to face the door, but I see something has come out of one of the paintings. A giant Mona Lisa!

Her eyes glint in the candlelight, and I know she’s coming for me. I run to the other side of the lounge, breathing heavily. She’s closing in, and I make it to the other side of the room, panting. There is an empty painting, the one she must have come out of. I rip the frame down off the wall and hold it before me.

There’s a scream that doesn’t belong to me, and the Mona Lisa comes running. I see the shine of something metallic in her hands and I realise she’s carrying a weapon of some sort.

A knife.

I throw the painting at her and she shrieks, running away. I pick it up, run towards her, and catch her back inside the canvas, placing it gingerly on the table with the cards.

Enough is enough.

I return back to the previous room, the room with Kai. I see the figure of the teen with dark hair and dark eyes once again, but Kai doesn’t seem to see it; or rather, he sees it, but doesn’t acknowledge it.

I let out a shrill scream as the figure runs towards me, but at the last minute, it fades. The light in this area is red now, the yellow of the candles has left, leaving only the red embers behind. They seem to dance ahead of me.

I return back to the room with the piano, hoping I’m doing this stupid place right.