"The boy sprang off his lap.
Ran through the maze without a map.
But roundabout was things all.
So eventually,
He rounded back towards the hall."

It was raining outside. He could hear it now; the gentle patter of water on the roof. A thread weaving through the manor's silence. Would they live to see the beauty of another storm?

His thoughts were the only thing that could soothe him. Coryn couldn't bring himself to breathe with it playfully drawing on his throat. Though, he knew he was feeding it more fear.

Alice sat on the floor, hunched over the plush rabbit as if it was her lifeline. Her shoulders shook with sobs, but not a sound escaped her mouth.

The presence behind Coryn was emanating dark waves - a wicked type of aura. It was toying with him, but how long did he have before it became bored of that?

If only. There was so many if only's running through his head. It was his fault and he knew it. His own fault for thinking that he could take on whatever was haunting the manor.

All of a sudden, the white rabbit sprang off his lap. The spindly touch faded away from his neck.

He immediately shut his eye, glimpsing the rabbit scuttling across the linoleum floor. His robotic one went hazy on his command.

Looking away?
You hurt my feelings.
Don't you wanna see me up close...?

Appendages sank into his arms, both of them. The pain was so sharp that he glanced at one, just for a fraction of a second. He saw a gloved hand and ghostly claws arcing into his flesh.

Coryn squeezed his eye shut and fought against his instinct to scream. Ten points, each piercing though various parts of his wrists and causing the expected amount of pain.

"Mmmmk!"

Does it hurt when I do this?

White-hot flashes of hurt tore through both of his arms as it twisted its claws around. An awful rip of his skin. Would such actions cause permanent scarring? Absolutely.

Can you see the blood?
It's trickling.
Dripping off the edge.
It's very pretty.

"It- It doesn't hurt me as much as you'd think... T- These bonds are..." His voice was strained.

What do you mean by that?

Coryn spoke through the stinging tears that were spilling from his eye. He raised his chin, drawing on the sounds of rain to keep himself together.

"T-They're w-worse... S-s-so much worse... Y-y-you can't c-c-compare... I- I can barely f-f-feel an-anything..."

A part of him was screaming inside. Screaming for him to just give up, to beg for it to stop hurting him. That it wasn't worth trying to be smart and trick it, wasn't worth it at all...

Hmmm...
I did make them tight.
That's no fun if you can't feel anything.

It was working. He couldn't believe it, and he didn't want to either. If it sensed that he was lying... Well, there were some forms of torture that were incomprehensible...

Coryn felt the momentary silver of heat over his wrist. The restraints slid away and the blood rushed back to his hands. He flexed his numb fingers, spread them out over the recliner's arm.

It didn't put its claws back into his arm. It seized him by the jaw. His ordeal wasn't over yet, oh no. In fact, it had barley just begun.

You're never going to escape from me.
Open your eyes.

"W-What are you ta-talking about? I only ha-have one."

Coryn dared only to show his defiance by raising his chin. Of course, that's what it thought. But the cunning mage had something else in mind.

This is going to hurt a lot...

But it's worth it, if I can fix my mistake by getting Alice to safety!

He sucked in a deep breath through his teeth. Held his head a little higher, tipped it back a little more.

And then Coryn thrust his head forward, head-butting it in the general area of where he assumed its forehead to be.

Blue stars flew across his closed eye. Glitches in his robotic one. He was dazed. So was it. The weight tumbled off his stomach.

Coryn was lucky not to have knocked himself out. He worked through his disorientation and slipped off the recliner, staggering on his weakened legs.

He held a hand to his head out of habit. There wasn't much he could do about the thumping headache - and certainly not enough time.

Alice uncurled from the floor as he reached down to pick her up. Coryn hugged her tightly as he span around. "Don't worry; I'm here now..." He said quietly, stroking her head comfortingly.

As he did so, his robotic eye closed in on the door. It was hidden, disguised as one of the paintings. The precise one? Well, I leave that to your imagination.

The little girl reached up to wrap an arm around his neck when he broke into a run. With her other hand, she clung onto the stitchy rabbit plush and used it to hide her face from him.

YOU INSOLENT BRATS!
YOU'RE BOTH GOING TO DIE!

Coryn refused to let the monster's words become his undoing. He steeled his heart and pressed onwards, reaching for the door in front of him.

The wind began whipping around, worse than anything of Mother Nature's doing. His hair was swept by the aerial riptide, the room became distorted, Alice held onto him for dear life, it was pandemonium at its finest...

Breathlessly, Coryn burst into another hallway, darting back to throw the door shut behind him with force. He saw flashes of sickly white before the gap closed.

As the bell struck seven times in a lonely song, it transformed into something much more sinister.

[My battery is almost gone, but I think I did good! Thank you so much for staying with my story - it means more than I can ever say! With love, from Phantom.]