"TWO!" I desperately cried, looking over the sea of monsters as all those people trampled over one another, chasing after you and Mario. "TWO, TWENTY! COME BACK!" 

My voice was shaky and frantic. I couldn't see what was happening from the vent. I had no idea if you and Mario were dead or alive. I was half tempted to jump in after you. Actually, that's exactly what I would have done if it weren't for Ben.

But, I couldn't leave him alone, and I couldn't take him with me into danger. I had to stay behind.

All I could do was hope with all my might that you weren't dead.

You couldn't be dead, right? 

We had been through so much together. You couldn't just be taken away so quickly like that. It wasn't fair!

"H-He's okay," I whispered, my voice quaking. I wasn't sure if I was talking to myself or Ben. Either way, I had to believe my words. It was the only way I could move forward. 

I took a shaky breath, then felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I turned my head to see Ben. 

He offered me a smile.

He reminded me that I still wasn't alone.

I felt for my mask, grazing my fingers on it, reminding myself that I was never alone. 

I never had to be alone again.

"You're right," I told him, even though he didn't say anything. "Let's go. Nothing will be accomplished if we just sit here."

I crawled past him so I could lead the way. I debated keeping him in front so I could watch him, but I decided not to since I was afraid he'd get anxious if he was forced to lead. Besides, the vents seemed safe.

We soon fell out of the other end of the vent, into a small room that seemed to glow. Inside, about three boos were floating. The contained space seemed to reflect the soft glow they emitted. It almost looked eerie.

Things were awfully quiet.

I helped Ben down, then grabbed his hand and led him towards a small crack in the wall. He watched the boos with wide eyes as we walked past them.

He didn't look afraid of them, unlike you. He instead looked more fascinated, as if their existence was puzzling but interesting at the same time.

It was quite dark, so I used my spare hand to flick the lighter you gave me on. It took a few tries for me to get the flame to actually spark, but I eventually got it. At the same time, Ben turned his flashlight on. Our shadows danced against the walls, looking much taller and more distorted than we really were.

I always liked how my shadow followed me. Even before I met Six, I always felt like I could find a friend in my own shadow. When I was really little I would occasionally talk to it. Sometimes I could convince myself that it could understand me. Of course, I knew better now.

Sometimes I wish I didn't know better so I could still find comfort in stuff like that.

Once we slipped through the crack, Ben and I flicked our lights off. Yes, the room was dark, but there were skylights that allowed the glow of the moon to shine through. Plus, there were a few Boos floating around, which gave off their own glow.

We snuck our way into what looked to be a small living room. There was a fireplace in the middle, the flames seeming to have just been extinguished since there were still glowing embers resting at the bottom. There was a small rocking chair by the fireplace and a bookshelf. Everything was neatly organized. There was a rug in the middle of the room and the floorboards looked strong. They didn't creak as we walked on them. 

I nervously swallowed, wondering where we should go, when Ben tugged on my sleeve and pointed forward. I followed his hand and saw a boo, which seemed to stare at us. As soon as I made eye contact, it closed its eyes and hid behind its small arms.

Worried that I had scared it, I looked away. As soon as I did, it stopped hiding. Then, it turned around, starting down a hall.

Did it... want us to follow it?

Ben softly smiled, then started pulling me forward, following behind the boo. He briefly let go of my arm, then wrote something down in his notebook, showing it to me.

It's a friend. It'll lead us to the captain.

I nodded, then grabbed onto Ben's hand once again as he put his notebook in his pocket. As we followed Boo down the dark hall, we could see many portraits of that woman I saw earlier. The one with the pure white mask. In each and every photo, we never could see her face.

I wondered why.

We continued walking down that creepy hallway when the boo finally led us to a room. Nervously taking a breath, I shakily peeked my head through the doorway. 

Sure enough, there she was. She was standing in front of a small table that held a collection of porcelain dolls, gently cradling one in her arms as if it was a child. I couldn't help but tense up as soon as I saw her. She wasn't doing anything particularly scary, but there was something eery about her presence.

A music box quietly played a soft tune as if she was trying to put the small doll to sleep. However, it was clear none of the dolls were alive. They were all just toys. 

Whatever. I didn't have time to just sit and wonder why the room she was in looked like a nursery. I had to sneak past her and find a way to release the lifeboats. So, holding Ben's hand, I carefully tiptoed behind her and past the room. Lucky for me, she didn't seem to notice. I was so glad that the floor didn't creak with each and every step.

There was an open door on the other end of the room, but before I could sneak past her, I had to look at one last thing.

I had to find out what her number was. I wasn't sure why it mattered to me so much, but I just had to know.

I let go of Ben, then tip-toed slightly closer to her, trying to see if I could get a view of her wrist. However, she was turned away from me, so I couldn't quite see. 

Stepping a little closer, I stood up on my tip-toes. The way she was holding the doll made it difficult to spot the number, but I was determined. I was about to reach up for her when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder.

I turned my head to see Ben, looking at me with wide eyes and shaking his head, as if trying to discourage me. 

I furrowed my eyebrows, slightly confused as to why he was stopping me when he held up his notebook.

It's not worth it.

I paused, allowing a war to take place within me. One side, my curious side which was always looking for answers, desperately wanted me to push forward and find out what she was, no matter the cost. That side of me argued that if I knew her number, then I could get a better feel for what we were dealing with in case she attacked.

But the other side... the logical side, it told me that her number didn't matter. It told me that I couldn't risk getting caught simply because I wanted to know what number she was. That side told me that I couldn't risk getting caught and leaving Ben alone.

At the end of the day, the logical side won. I let out a small sigh, then turned away from her, heading out of the small room and into another much larger room.

There was a grand staircase with a large antique clock in the middle. It looked like a luxury suite. I could only assume this was the captain's room. HER room.

There were eyes carved into the walls all over. Every door handle was a wooden eye, every wall had paintings of that lady which seemed to stare me down. It was like she wanted to remind herself that there was always something watching.

There were even designs that looked like eyes on the rugs on the floor. I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as I walked over them.

The quiet sounds of the music box being played just a room over gave me chills. I could also hear the clicking of the grand clock as seconds ticked away. The time was 7:23. Though I wasn't sure if it was AM or PM. Not that it mattered. It was always dark anyway.

There were a variety of rooms connected to the main living room, but I didn't need to waste time exploring them all. All I had to do was find her control room and release the lifeboats. 

"Any ideas on where to look?" I quietly asked Ben. 

He seemed to squint his eyes slightly, then he walked to the left, putting his ear to each and every door on that side and listening before he finally pointed to the 5th door on the left.

I walked up to the door he was stationed at, then squinted at it. "How can you tell this is right?" I asked.

He just continued silently pointing at it. I shook my head, then pressed my ear to it like he just had, hoping that maybe listening would make me understand. Surely enough, when I listened quietly, I could hear a soft humming noise come from the other side. I wasn't sure if this was a good or bad sign, but it still was a sign. So, I opened the door and we carefully tip-toed in.

Once the door was open, we both froze in our tracks at the sight in front of us.

There was a circle of boos, all softly humming and circling around what looked like a statue of the lady. I couldn't help but get chills from their humming. What on earth were they doing?! 

It looked like they were worshipping her or something.

Ben let go of me and carefully walked up to the boo circle, waving his hands in front of them. However, they ignored him. They didn't even hide in fear as I looked at them. It was like they were completely focused on the statue.

After a moment, Ben finally gave up on trying to grab the boos' attention. I decided to grab his arm and move forward. We could figure out what they were doing later. For now, we had a mission. 

Moving forward, we passed by more boos who were also humming along, even if they weren't circling the statue. It took me a while to notice, but they were all humming the same tune that the music box was playing in that nursery room. 

I didn't really know what to think of it yet. There had to be a reason, right?

What even were the boos? I knew they were ghosts, but they weren't regular. I had so many questions about this place! It was hard to deal with the fact that I would probably escape before finding any of the answers.

There were always questions about the world that I had, yet there were never enough answers. Why was it so dark all the time? Why was everyone so afraid? What happened to make the world this way?

Why are people so cruel?

We carefully walked past all the humming boos, into a smaller room.

It was a large room, with full-body mirrors hanging from the walls. They were all over the place. However, they weren't normal. They were all shattered. It looked as if someone took a baseball bat and broke each and every one, leaving mirror shards all over the floor.

Did that lady do all this?

I knew that sometimes mirrors would shatter when I went through them to teleport, but I had never been in this room before. At least according to my memories. This had to have been someone else.

Even so... why did this lady have so many mirrors?

I could feel Ben's pulse accelerate, even though this had been the quietest room yet. I gave his hand a small squeeze, trying to offer comfort and hide the fear I myself was feeling. It wasn't enough, however. I think we both could tell that we were both terrified.

We had no idea what was happening.

Then, we heard a soft humming. However, this humming wasn't the same humming noise the boos made. This was smoother. Even though it was the same eerie tune, we could tell it was coming from a different source.

Taking deep breaths, Ben and I both looked around the corner, to see her. The same lady from the nursery. How she got there, we had no idea. Perhaps she had teleporting abilities. That wasn't what worried us, though.

No, what worried us was her reflection. She was looking into a large mirror, her mask set aside on a small nightstand.

And her face...

There were bloody scars all over as if she had been in some sort of accident. While she had the mask on, I assumed she was beautiful since her figure seemed so elegant. But below that mask, her eyes sagged, her skin looked like cut-up melted wax from some sort of horror movie, and her teeth were rotting. I couldn't help but wonder what happened to her.

Ben let out a short gasp in terror, then covered his mouth, his eyes wide.

As soon as the gasp left his mouth, that lady looked through her mirror at us. For a moment, there was terror in her eyes. She looked like a small animal that had just been caught.

But that moment was brief, and quickly shifted to anger. She let out a loud scream, which caused the lights to flicker, then go out. There was a loud shattering noise.

Everything was dark. There wasn't even a drop of moonlight shining over me anymore.

I quickly wrapped my arms around Ben as if trying to protect him, then flicked the lighter on.

Sure enough, the mirror was shattered and the lady was gone.

This wasn't good.