Part 43: Chased Down

Every staff member of the cafe, including quite a few Bibbly Bubbles were standing in the hallway while Wata directed them on what to do once we would start walking past the boarded doors.

Meanwhile, my brain was getting foggy after staring at the badge in my hand. I felt deeply uncomfortable with everything that had occurred. Being here, I really didn’t want the badge. After seeing Candiere and all that this world offered, my perspective on life changed.

All I wanted was to see my parents happy again, but I had avoided them for quite a long time like I did with this game. Maybe that was why honing in on my eventual failures became the real problem. I was against being unable to do things that I really loved doing. Knowing I couldn’t alter how I was born meant I had to find ways around achieving it. However, by focusing so hard on that aspect of my dreams, I ended up ignoring those that helped me get there.

And I mean a lot.

Basking in these memories that I cherished, a loud scream interrupted that. Everyone in the hallway was wonder where it came from. Most suspected it to be the Labyrinth Library.

I didn’t hesitate to alert Peppie and Wata about making sure no one was left behind after what Imagi went through. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. No one else did either.

Upon entering the library, we stuck together while negotiating where to go as the cries got louder. Using Peppie’s ears, we made our way towards the center of the maze to see if anyone was there. Unfortunately, all that we saw was one brown hardcover book laying on the table with a dim desk lamp shining on top of it.

I picked it up and dusted it off. The title of this book was written in red letters with a gold outline surrounding each one.

The Oddzones.

When I flipped through it, I noticed how strange the pages felt. They had a certain texture to them that I couldn’t necessarily recognize. The writing on the other hand was written in this polished print style along with highly detailed illustrations which sent chills up my spine. I didn’t understand what this book meant by its title until going back to the very first page. Wata began to read it to us to ensure we were all on board with what this book was saying:

Welcome, Outsider. You are in The Oddzones, a space filled with series of infinite locations that have become paradoxes of their universe and thus threaten the wellbeing of life as we know it. You yourself tampered with your reality in a way that has broken its rules. By doing so, you have slipped through the cracks and discovered a certain number that has been haunting how you perceive everything. At any given moment, this number will be tied to why you are here.

If you are the one to find this book, you are lucky because this is the only one that exists of its kind. It is a guide that will detail everything you need to know about The Oddzones. There are many classified code names with more soon to be discovered by our organization. As of right now, you are in OZ1, also known as The Labyrinth Library. Don’t attempt to follow the screams you hear in that place by the way. It is a trap.

With all of that on the table, here is “part one” of our studies.

Organization? This had to be UVOCA’s book. I was actually even surprised that they were warning us about this library. I had no choice but to believe the book in this instance since The Traveller turned the library into what it was now.

Reading further on, we began to see a table of contents for specific information on The Oddzones. Flipping through the pages, we found out where both The Funhouse Room and The Candy Room were mentioned. Here is what the descriptions stated:

(OZ2025) The Candy Room

The Candy Room is an abandoned small candy cafe shop from the 80s full of delectables such as baked goods, candies, ice cream, and caffeinated beverages. It has no windows and one pink door to the left of the room that leads into a dark hallway with more doors. The wallpaper in this room is made up of pink-colored stripes with this magenta silhouette pattern covering over the background. It consists of gifts, lollipops, and the cafe’s cartoon mascot (Princess Candiere). There are also cardboard cutouts of the cafe’s characters that are scattered throughout. Supposedly for navigational purposes only.

This specific room is known for having abnormally low temperatures which are theorized to come from the door. If a visitor happens to eat one of delectables out of starvation, they will experience hallucinatory events faster than someone who doesn’t eat them.

Hallucinations typically play out many false experiences about being in the room itself. This includes reports of test subjects claiming that they were dragged through the door into a giant gumball machine filled with toy capsules where they and other people are trapped inside of. Additional claims mention seeing a candy-themed amusement park and the words “Funhouse Industries” being labelled on the outside of these capsules.

It should also be noted that there are documented reports of a mysterious voice mentioning the words Candy Room to its victims when they are dreaming. It seems to trigger uncontrollable repeated lucid episodes of appearing in different versions of The Candy Room.

(OZ45) The Funhouse Room

The Funhouse Room is an indoor carnival park consisting of empty attractions designed to trick its visitors into thinking they will win a way out of The Oddzones. There are mannequins of disfigured clowns (Shrouds) which have gathered reports of hallucinations from our test subjects. Most accounts from our inside sources warn that the environment has many traps across its obstacle course that can lead to instant death. There is also a business attached to its creation known as Funhouse Industries. Currently, there isn’t any information available on what this corporation’s goals are, or if it is even real.

Wata stopped reading and started to stare at me with a worried expression on his face.

“Ararima, please tell me you have an idea of how we get out of here. We’re all depending on you.”

I nodded in agreement while looking back at the map section which showed that these two Oddzones were tied into the overall structure of this cafe. From my understanding, The Funhouse Room didn’t sound as bad as The Candy Room. There was something interesting about that.

On the other hand, it was disturbing to know that The Traveller was turning Candiere’s Cafe into a soul vacuum. Admittedly, I didn’t really mind being here if it meant I could be sure that venturing between Animearth and Tartropolatté was possible. I still liked Candiere’s Cafe, but I wished that there wasn’t a dark side to all of it either.

Knowing the number was as important as the book said, this in-between segment of information gave me enough time to formulate a more coherent strategy to our escape.

Once we arrived back at the boarded door, Peppie used her magical abilities to make it vanish and reveal the opening. I was amazed at how large the encompassing dim hallway was. Even though I wanted us to start heading in, I had reasons to believe that a few things needed to happen first.

I looked back at the crowd behind me and took a deep breath.

“Everyone… I know you’re pretty confused about why we are trying to escape this cafe. Let’s just say that I feel you all deserve a second chance. You didn’t get to choose how everything would end when you died. Tonight, I hope that all changes.”

As expected, there was a lot of murmuring going on after I said this.

I think it is safe to say that when I was little, I remember my curiosity peaking after I saw Suyashi’s death on the news. At that moment, I came over to the couch every night to watch the television with my father as each month I would discover about the pattern of murders playing out at Dream Academy High. Six years went by and I suddenly stopped watching. I had seen enough and wanted to enter that school for the reason I was here now. That moment I chose to join… Maybe it was the reason my parents were so silent for about two months.

Fortunately, this very moment was what I needed to put plan A into effect.