Ya, ok. Sorry I've been gone…again. Let me just address all those who are not yet in college; Listen to people when they say get stuff done early! You'll be like, 'Yeah, whatever' now, but they're telling the truth. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Eve's POV

'This is really not good…' The corridor that I was walking down held an eerie resemblance to the one in my dream. Red carpet, red walls, with paintings hanging on the walls. But the paintings seemed to vary in artist; Monte, Cahn, and others. Checking the inside of my sweater, I made sure my Red Rose was still there. I was not going to lose it again this time.

I figured that, if Mary was back and I was once again in the Twisted World, then Garry had to be here too. Finding him was my top priority now. Then we could look for the exit together again. And this time, we would both make it out.

"Eve…Are you having fun?" Looking frantically up and down both ends of the corridor, I couldn't see anything. But that voice…it was undoubtedly Mary's.

"Eve, Eve, Eve. You have a pretty name! And a pretty Red Rose! I love the color red!"

Reaching for my Rose, I ran. I ran blindly down the hall until I made it to the first door I saw and prayed that it was unlocked.

'Unlocked, thank God!' I twisted the knob and collapsed in the room. Catching my breath, I looked around the room I had blindly entered.

It was a familiar room that I remembered from my time in the Twisted World. A simple square room with blank walls. There were book cases lining the back wall and also dividing the space in half. And, at the end of one of the book cases, was a small table with a vase.

Trying to be cautious, I went over to the vase and peered inside. I couldn't stop my sigh of relief at the sight of water in the blue vase. Placing my Red Rose in, I turned back to the rest of the room.

No, there was no doubt about it now; I was most defiantly back in the Twisted World. But there were so many strange new things here…had something happened?

'It doesn't matter, all I have to do is try and find Garry and get both us out of here.' I thought as I glanced at the book cases.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to look through a few. I might be able to find something." Besides, Garry had found out about Mary's true identity from one of the books he had read. There may be something, anything, that might help them make it out of here. Picking up my Rose, I felt refreshed and set onto one of the book cases.

"Nothing there…" Skimming the shelves, I was glad I could now read all the words on the covers. "What about here?"

This book case had a mixture of books that were different from the others. Pulling out one of the books, I read the title:

'The Life and Works of Van Gough'

"Van Gough? But…before there were only books about Guertena…" Something was defiantly off. Never had any of the books in the Twisted World mentioned other artists. Quickly shelving the book, I reached for another. This one read:

'The Greatest works of the Anonymous Artists. Volume IV'

Flipping through the pages, I saw painting after painting and sculpture after sculpture of art that neither belonged to Guertena or had anything to do with him. They were all in different styles and had different themes. I could even recognize some from my search in the basement.

"Hmm? What's this?" In the book, there was a jump in the page numbers. It went from page 12 straight to page 15.

'Is the page missing?' Opening the book wider, I could barely see the jagged tear of paper that was still in the spine of the book. 'What happened to the page? Why would someone just rip it out like that?'

My head began to spin as I tried to figure out just the 'why'.

"What painting was there in the first place?" I asked myself aloud. There had to be an index in the book that had a list of the paintings. "Found it!"

At the very end of the book, there was a list of all the paintings along with their page number. Placing my finger on the page, I traced it down to where it had the page numbers 13-14 and it landed on…

"Haven of the Scholar…" That was the painting I had dropped! Why was that one torn out of the book? Did that mean I ruined it for good?

'Eve…What are you doing Eve? Are you having fun yet? I know I am. Hehehehe.'

I froze where I was. She sounded so close now, like she was standing right next to me.

'Eve, what do you want to play? Oh, I know! Let's play tag! I love tag. I'll be 'It'! Are you ready Eve"

Footsteps sounded from outside the room and then stopped. Then, I heard them coming from nearly every corner of the room. My breath was coming fast and the book in my hand dropped to the floor. Mary's voice was singing my name over and over first coming from right next to me then from behind the book cases.

"Eve..." My back stiffened as I heard her voice right next to my ear. "Run."

I didn't think, I only moved. Out the door I had come and down the hall. It seemed shorter now and there was a large purple door that was slightly opened. Against my better reasoning, I slowed and stopped right before entering the door. I knew I should run farther away from Mary but…I really didn't want to go into whatever room was behind this door. It felt…wrong.

'Eve…' That voice wasn't Mary's. It was strong but gentle and came with the image of someone tall patting her head.

"Garry!" I half whispered and took that finally step and walked into the room. It was dark, but slowly shapes began to take form. Rabbits…or were they blue dolls?

*BAM*

I flinched at the loud noise and turned to see the door had shut behind me. Giggles echoed in the large room. Shivering, I looked back to the front of the room.

A large painting was propped against the wall. It had several straight red vertical lines going through it. Taking small steps at a time, I leaned in and read the plate.

'Abyss'

"I see," I murmured to myself. "The lines make it look like a drop off."

"Eve, you're so smart!"

Goosebumps raced all along my body and the hairs on the back on my neck stood up. Turning slowly around, I came face to face with the one person, the one thing, that I had never wanted to see again.

"Mary…" I blinked. And then blinked again. Looking at Mary…hurt.

"Hehehehe. Eve, I'm really glad you're back! And look, you're so much taller than me now." She skipped up to my side and smiled up at me and I felt my limbs freeze in place. "You're like a big sister now."

'What should I do? What can I say? Why was she alive? How was she alive? I had burned her painting…I-' Again I found myself blinking while looking at Mary. She seemed off somehow…well, more so than usual.

'It's her eyes.' I realized. They were a miss-matched pair of blue. One was a light blue while the other was a darker shade of sapphire. 'Had she been like that before? No, I remember her exactly. But then what?' I pulled my gaze away from her eyes to stare at her as a whole and felt my stomach churn. This was not the Mary I remembered.

Along with the fake girl's eyes, everything else seemed slightly different from the last time I had seen her. Her hair wasn't golden but a strange mustard color, like she had mixed multiple yellows to get that shade. Not only that, but her hair seemed rigid, it didn't flow like normal hair. And her dress was different too. Instead of the nice, dark green dress she had worn before, now she wore a dress in the same style, still green, but the green was too dark and seemed almost plush. Then I noticed a tear on the bottom hem of the dress and, what was even stranger, was that it looked like a piece of paper someone had punched through.

"Eve, you know it's not nice to stare." Mary's voice was cold as she glared at me in return.

"Mary," I couldn't stop myself for trying to ask. "What…what happened to-"

"SHUT UP!" She screamed at me. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT! YOU AND THAT STUPID MAN! I HOPE YOU BOTH ROT HERE! I JUST WANTED TO PLAY!"

Before I could even register half of what she said, her small hands were flat on my stomach and pushed. She was strong for being so small and the force caught me off guard, I could feel myself start to fall backwards. I turned my head just in time to see the painting coming up to meet me. I opened my mouth to scream, but it along with my body was soon completely engulfed in the darkness of the painting I fell into.

Garry POV

'I hate those things. I hate those things.' I thought as I panted at yet another fork in the hallway.

Since leaving the last strange room through the hole, I had been chased by those terrifying blue dolls and their creepy chants up and down the twisting hallways that never seemed to end. I'd honestly lost track of how many times I had turned either left or right and was now ever more lost that I had been in the beginning. Not only that, but my Blue Rose was getting considerably dryer looking.

'Don't think about that. Think about Eve…' Taking a deep breath, I veered off to the left hallway scanning the walls for another door. I had to find a way out of this maze and locate Eve before anything happens to her.

The thought pushed me into a light jog. Quicker that I thought, I was at another fork in the hallway. Panting harder, I tried to peer down each hallway.

"What is Eve isn't even here? You're exhausting yourself for no reason."

My head flew up as chills went up and down my spine. I knew that voice. That voice would haunt me for the rest of my life…along with the blue dolls. Looking again, there was a painting right in front of me. It was of a woman in a blue dress laying on the floor on her stomach with her arms reaching out to something. Her face was hidden but the brush strokes had added tension to her body. The painting was clearly named and labeled "Despair".

Just looking at it made me swallow nervously. Looking back and forth, the woman in blue seemed to be pointing to the right.

'That's great…leave it up to this place to make everything a tough choice like this…' I mumbled. Right leads to despair, left leads to who knows. Steeling myself, I took a quick step to the left and then switch and found myself walking down the right hallway.

'Eve, you better be down here.'

I didn't know what to expect, but a hallway identical to the dozens of others I had walked wasn't on the list. Everything looked the same. Had I chosen the right way?

"Garry, you're too much. You should have stayed asleep." Hearing that voice again sent me running down the rest of the hallway. Even when I hadn't heard her voice again, I kept going and all I could hear was the pounding heart. Finally, I had to stop or risk having my rose dry completely up.

Looking around, it seemed that things had changed a bit; it was darker and at some point the carpet had turned to black marble. I didn't know if that was important or if it was just this places weird design. Shrugging, I continued on in a more leisurely pace out of simple necessity. Surprisingly, I didn't have far to go.

In front of me was a large opening where a door should have been. It was completely black and I could hardly see a thing. Red lines going up and down the walls were the only visible things.

"If only I still had my lighter…" I sighed and looked down the hallway to make sure nothing was creeping up on me. Clear, it seemed. I was about to turn around and walk back, when I heard something thud in the dark room.

It took all my will power just to turn my head to look in the room. There, in the middle of the floor, lay a motionless form. Sweat beaded on my forehead, but I couldn't just stand where I was. Taking another deep breath, I put on foot into the dark room, waited a few seconds, and then continued when nothing happened.

The large, cave-like room echoed with my footsteps that quickened until I reached the lump on the floor. Kneeling down, I prayed nothing out jump at me as I got a better look. My eye widened when I saw what it really was; a girl!

"What are you doing here?!" I turned her over and rested her head on my knees. Her soft brown hair fell against my dark jeans and I could see her eyes tighten at being moved. She had to at least be in her late teens, but…

"There's something about her that I familiar."

Her hair, the curve of her jaw, the way her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks…

"It's crazy, but she looks like…Eve…"

Just then, the girl's eyes snap open and I'm face to face with very deep and familiar rose colored eyes.

Ok, I get why people say I write cliffhangers…Anyway, that was fun for me, hope ya'll enjoyed as well. Leave a review, favorite, critic, etc. Thank you all!