The Outside

I lied down on the floor, at this point, I’ve got pretty used to sleeping on this wet, dirty floor now, so falling asleep wasn’t that hard.

I woke up to find a purple light right on top of my head. The light came from a lilac, similar to the one that Hanako sent me last time.

It seemed like Hanako sent me something again, I quickly got up to check it out.

There was another letter from her. The letter read as followed:

“Hey! Daisuke. I saw my mom talking to you earlier. She didn’t you anything to you, right? My bedroom got messed up quite a bit too, I guess you’re the one who did it, but mom fixed it instantly, so I’m okay. I’m so glad to know that you're still alive, and still doing fine, but it must be pretty boring down there, right? I got you some dry color pigments! Just add some oil into them and they will turn into oil paint! Hopefully, There's some oil down there, or this would be useless. Unfortunately, I can't send a canvas down there, because it’s too big, my mom will definitely know, if I try to send a canvas all the way down. You gonna have to find something to paint on yourself. Stay safe! - Hanako”

Attached with the letter was a bunch of small leather bags. I opened them to find dry powder in them. There are around ten bags in total, which wasn’t enough for me to paint properly, but it’s better than nothing.

I put all of the leather bags in my backpack and started descending the spiral stairs once again.

I wanted to get some food, talk to Dexter, and get some linseed oil as well.

As I was walking down the stairs, the oil monsters were coming back up. I quickly hide my lilac, and slowly crept through them without them noticing.

During that time, I’ve got a chance to take a closer look at the oil monsters.

It’s almost like they’re blind. I got up close to them, and they didn’t seem to see me at all. Maybe it was too dark for them?

Their bodies were almost transparent. When I got close to them, I could see the wall behind them quite easily. I wanted to use the lilac to shine light through them, but I was too scared that they would notice me.

I continued downward and arrived at the bottom floor. I headed to the dining room, and open the door to find the room empty.

This time, I decided to walk deeper into the dining room. I was determined to find Dexter.

I walked deeper and deeper, but I couldn’t find anything at all, and as I got further and further in, I started to doubt my decision.

But eventually, I was approaching the end of the dining room, and on the wall, I saw a familiar door.

It was the door of the bedroom from the top floor of the mansion, complete with the same sign that said: “Bedroom” next to it.

I walked up to the bedroom door and saw the light came through the door.

I pushed the door open.

The interior of this bedroom looked exactly the same as the bedroom from the mansion. The only difference is that this place looked old and filthy.

Wait?

Why is this room lit up?

I looked at the right side of the room and found a balcony in the middle of the wall.

I quickly rushed to the balcony, I haven’t seen the sun for too long now; it was beautiful…

I looked down and this is the first time I ever saw the exterior of the mansion.

It looked rather average. It looked like a typical European mansion.

But on the ground was an ocean that stretched out to the horizon. There was no land at all.

The outside of the mansion felt oddly… realistic? It felt like I was back in my world when compared to the Garden or the Pine Forest.

Near the railing of the balcony, there’s a bucket with a rope attached to it, similar to a well bucket.

All of a sudden, I heard a voice from behind me.

“Oh! We meet again!” Said the voice “So you survived that, huh?”

I turned around to find Dexter. This is the first time I ever saw his face clearly.

“What is this place?” I asked him.

“I was kinda hoping that you’d know this place,” He replied, “But never mind.”

“This is my bedroom.” He continued, “there is also a bedroom just like this up there at the mansion as well.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.” I told him, “I want to know about this balcony.”

“It’s just a sea of oil.” He responded, “ya’ know, to feed the monsters.”

“W… Why is it here?” I got more and more confused, “Who made this?”

“You’ve never seen the outside before?” He asked, “Well, this is how it looks like.”

“I’ve been to the bedroom up on the mansion before,” I told him, “But it didn’t have a balcony like this.”

“Hmm… Probably because it doesn’t need one, I guess.” He replied.

“Uhh… About the things that we talked about earlier.” I asked him, “What do you want me to do?”

“Oh yeah!” He replied, “You see, somewhere in this basement, there is a source of all the oil monster in here.”

“That’s what Victoria told me.” I said, “But she told me that the source is up on the mansion.”

“Well, I’ll be honest,” He said, “I’m not sure where it is either, but since we’re stuck here, we might as well check here first, right?”

“You don’t know where it is?” I asked, “Is this ‘source’ that you’re talking about actually exist?”

“I… I think so.” He responded. He seemed reluctant to give an answer.

“I’ll trust you for now, I guess.” I told him, “I’ve got nothing better to do anyway.”

“Now excuse me for a second.” He said as he walked closer to the balcony.

He grabbed the bucket and proceeded to throw it all the way down into the sea.

He picked up the rope and started to pull the bucket back up.

It took a while for him to do so, but eventually, the bucket made its way back to the balcony and it was full of oil.

He poured the oil into a bottle, then he repeated this process a few more times.

He put all the bottles on the floor next to the door and lied down on a bed.

“My work for today is all done!” He said, “I’ll go back to bed now.”

"What's about me?” I asked.

“You go find the source, of course.” He replied, “And be sure to report back to me if you find anything.”

“Can I stay in this bedroom tonight as well?” I continued asking. This place would be so much better than sleeping on the floor upstairs.

“What? No!” He responded, “This is my room, and my room only.”

“But I don’t want to sleep on the floor anymore.” I told him.

“That’s not my problem, is it?” He replied. “Now go!”

“Are you going to just lie on your bed all day?” I asked.

“Duh?” He replied, “In this dark, and disgusting place, what else are you gonna do?”

“Why not find the source of the oil monster yourself?” I asked.

“It’s impossible for me.” He said.

“Have you actually tried it?” I continued asking.

He swiftly got up.

“Of course, I have.” He replied, “I’ve tried for so long that I have to build another mansion on top of this one.”

“But nothing worked…”

He started to tear up, the atmosphere got pretty awkward, so I decided to leave for now.

“Uhh… I’m leaving then.” I said to him, but he didn’t respond to me, so I quietly shut the door behind him.

After the door closed, I was greeted with the dark and creepy atmosphere of the basement. It made me feel down a little.

I walked along the dining table and saw a bottle of linseed oil, with some leftover, so I grabbed it as I was leaving the dining room.

I ascended the basement’s stairs up to the top floor, and I saw the parrot again.

The canvas with the silver frame was still there, so at least I have something to do before I prepare myself to face the oil monsters.

The rest of the day was spent painting stuff on that canvas.

It was quite difficult since my surroundings were pitch black aside from the lilacs.

I then went to sleep. Tomorrow I’ll start exploring the other floors of this basement.