Part 18: Sweet Nightmares

The book was pretty slim for 104 pages as I figured.

She must have torn out the illustration which contained the hidden message. Why did UVOCA write their name into the book though? Or did someone else do it?

“I had nightmares seeing that illustration. There were some that lined up with what the book said inside,” mentioned Cherry who flipped to the page where it proved her point.

“Does this mean the book is supposed to predict the future?” I asked.

“Not always. Sometimes it lies from what I have found. In hindsight, I start to wonder how UVOCA found this book. It’s a mystery for sure. My theory lends towards them finding it inside one of the dark portals in that place.”

“Dark portals? Woah. I don’t know what to say to that. Sounds scary.”

“Star went into one of them and so did I. However, the portal must have separated where we went. I didn’t see her after that occurred. Instead, I ended up inside a long dark hallway which led me towards the Labyrinth Library.”

“What was it like traversing through the maze?”

Cherry took a deep breath while recollecting her experience of being in that position.

“It is more haunting than if you played the game. Everything looked more… Realistic. I don’t recall saying anything the entire time I was there because I didn’t see Star exit right after me. The tall, empty, red wooden bookshelves were enough to make me panic inside. The padding of the carpets didn’t make me feel any better. I had to remain quiet but that was not the scariest part. What they never showed you is that there are these crayons scattered around randomly across the floor.”

“Crayons?”

“Yes. I never used them. However, it seems someone else did. What they made consisted of either creepy words or disturbing cartoonish drawings done on the book shelves. Sometimes I thought I saw them moving around in my peripheral vision. Of course being that young, I was prone to imagine things that weren’t there.”

“Oh no...”

“I know. There was this one drawing that stood out to me. A tall white slinky figure of a man with long fingers, hands, arms, and legs. Had no mouth, no nose, no eyebrows, and no hair. Just two dark eyes with these red outlines surrounding them. Probably blood.”

“Weird. Did it have a name?”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t see one attached to it. That’s the case for most of them too actually.”

“Hmm. Well it’s a good thing you survived because you have the book with you.”

Suddenly, Cherry began to look at her phone. I started to wonder what was going on this time.

“Haniki-chan, it’s starting to get late. There is one last important question I have.”

My eyes started to open wider as she began to put everything back into her backpack.

“Are you available tomorrow?”