The couple tried to hold Lily back, an attempt at calming her down, they can already tell words may not be the best, but freaking out or staying silent won't help, "My child, I know this is difficult but we must try to find another way to open the door." says Eli.
"The goal was to separate you from your siblings… maybe we cand find a way to trigger the mechanism that did that…"
"Eli, if you have a plan please tell…"
"It separates children from whoever is taking care of them… this may not be the best idea but…"
"It's worth a try… But it's up to Lily is she wants to pretend to be our kid in the odd change that we manage trick this place into opening the doors."
Lily went silent before turning to face the couple. “I’ll do anything to get back to them,” she remarked seriously, worried about her siblings. She was even willing to try their plan…even if there was a chance it wouldn’t work.
"Well, now we just have to figure out a way to properly trick the room…" Aura pauses, clears her throath and takes Lily by the arm, "How were classes, darling? I know spring break just began but you never talk about it and your father and I are getting worried."
"If anything is happening you can tell us, we will do our best to help," adds Eli, following the act.
“They’re great! My roommate got pretty stressed right before break though. She’s in a lot of really tough classes,” Lily smiled, playing along. “I told her not to pick those but she didn’t listen to me,” she sighed, rolling her eyes.
"You should invite her over sometime," said Aura, her eyes were looking at the surroundings, hoping for something to happpen.
"We don't mind the company," added Eli, "We won't embarrass you in front of your friends if that's what worries you!" he also looks around, trying and failing to make it less obvious.
There's a creaking on the doors, nothing moves but it's easy to hear, a click, similar to the one from a lock, still, nothing seems to change, the lights stop flickering for a moment, the light makes everything seem slightly less dingy if compared to how the room looked seconds ago.
Lily nodded. “I will!” she smiled softly as she, too, looked around at the surroundings. ‘Is…Is it working?’ she thought to herself. “And I’m not worried about you guys embarrassing me,” she laughed.
"By the way, remember your cousin Hazel? the one from your father's side of the family, the irish one, she's coming to visit soon, you two used to get along as kids!" somehow the room looks cleaner, lived in, the doors keep creaking.
"Hazel won't be staying with us but they for sure will asks to visit."
“I remember Hazel! God, I wonder how she’s been doing…” Lily smiled, glad this plan was working. She nodded. “Oh, definitely.”
The room felt cleaner, newer, "Goodness, how long has it been, we're getting old! I still remember the two of you playing pirate's at your aun't backyard!" Eli kept looking around, hands on his pockets as if to try to look for something, thogh he wasn't sure he would find anything useful.
Aura's hand started to move, slowly raising them up as she tried to pretend she was doing anything else, like fixing her hair, tough the positioting of her fingers would look odd, she still had to try.
The sound of doorknobs opening, moving, doors creaking, slightly ajar.
“Oh, yeah! That was fun!” Lily giggled, fiddling with some strands of her hair. She looked around without turning her head. Remember what your mom said, Lily…stay patient and life will reward you, she told herself.
The doors open and slam against the wall, loud, noises of wood cracking as everything goes dark for a second, then lights start to flicker, fast, enough to make up the path before it goes dark again, "Run!" but nobody is sure who's voice said that.
“Let’s go!” Lily looked at the others, ready to rush off either with or without them. She needed to find her family and this was the best clue they had.
Something wasn't right and both could feel it, in the very little moments the lights were on they only looked at each other and hoped for the better, as soon as Lily started to run they decided to follow, Aura making a list of all the commands in latin the could remember in case she needed them and Eli clutching a set of keys between each finger, they could only pray none was necessary.
Lily tried not to focus on how creepy it was that a random voice told them to run. She was mainly focused on finally ending this cycle. She looked around wildly, breathing heavily. Please….Please let me find them! she cried internally, cursing herself for not being more aware when she first arrived.
Someone was crying out a name, "Lily, Lily!"
"It's a real person, I can feel it!" said Aura, "It's not a trick."
(This is where I ask if you want to decide how Lily finds her siblings or if I make something up)
(Make something up please. I like how you do it)
Lily stopped in her tracks. “Guys?!” she called out, praying she could find the speaker. She knew it was one of her siblings…she just couldn’t tell which one at the moment. She searched the area around her for the speaker.
"Lily!" the screams got louder, was that figure a person? it was dark enough that it would be difficult to see anything other than a shadow, footsteps, running, "There's something behind you!"
Before either Eli or Aura could even react the room became pitch black and there was the strong clang of metal falling to the floor, the smell of rust in the air, both woke up in the same room they were at the beggining with the comfortable couches and tables with coffee— Begginig? what beggining? There was only the two of them, what was Aura whispering? Why did Eli have his keys out? no, no, it doesn't make sense, something must have happened, it felt as if they just woke up.
Woke up, woke up… alone, someone is missing…
Lily!
All memories came back and it only took a look between the two of them for the couple to run from the room to the hallway in hopes the door was still open.
And it was, somehow, darker than usual with the smell of iron and a dampness in the air, silent except for the footsteps of the spouses, the door headed towards somewhere, and it was time to find out.
Lily stirred awake as she sat up, rubbing her head. “Ugh…” she groaned before looking around. “Where…?” she asked, standing up as she looked for her siblings. Maybe they were here…they had to be.
"Can you sense her?" Aura frantically asked while running through the hallway, Eli's hands kept touching the wall, maybe he could have a better idea of the floorplan yet his attempts were useless.
"No, any luck on your side?" just by shaking her head he knew she couldn't see where Lily was either.
Metal, metallic sounds, not violent, more like a windshime of some sorts, a giant one for that matter, others sounding like church bells, the couple could barely hear it but not see it, yet, however, for whoever was trapped on that room, those people would soon find out they are above air.
