A bead of sweat glides down Oliver's brow, dropping onto his hand. He ties the final bindle together and hands it over to Finley.
"Candy wrappers on lollipop sticks? Great idea, Oliver." Finley swings the bindle over his shoulder.
"You didn't have a better idea, fin." Oliver rolls his eyes.
"Whoa, I didn't mean it like that." Finley takes a few steps, struggling with the weight.
"Let me get that for you, fin." Trevor offers his hand to take it.
"I've got it." He scowls, turning away from him.
"I was just trying to help." Trevor shrugs and walks towards Danny. His eyes shift back to Finley every few seconds to check on him.
"Everyone has their… What was it again?" Oliver sets down his bindle to check what's inside it.
"Yeah, we have it all." Kaylah sets down her own bindle to check.
"Where's your watch?" Finley turns to Oliver.
"My watch? I never had a watch."
Finley stares at Oliver's wrist, unable to look away. He finally looks away when the group ventures to the bedroom door.
The bedroom door hadn't changed a bit. Finley pushes it open, ready to walk down the staircase. His eyes widen when he sees the change of scenery. The staircase was now replaced by a long candlelit hallway. Flames flicker softly with every breath they take. The walls are a sickly green and covered in stains from a fight long forgotten. They all crawl through the door and step out onto a squeaky hardwood floor.
The quiet space echoes every sound made, bouncing the sound further up the hallway. Mirrors appear on the walls, slowly covering every surface. They twist and contort their reflections, showing images of themselves they could never recognize. Finley glances into one as he passes and spots a mole on his cheek. He pokes the spot and feels the mole. His skin clears up, and he looks almost like Danny with his charming smile. As soon as he blinks, the mole is gone, and his skin is once again bumpy and dry. He curses softly under his breath.
The hallway gradually expands until all five of them are walking side by side. At the end of the hallway, they find five doors lined up in front of them. The wall seems to stretch upward into oblivion. The doors block the way, yet offer a way forward. Each has a symbol engraved in the wood of the door. A canary, a snake, a gorilla, a butterfly, and a spider.
"Do we go inside?" Kaylah glances over at the others.
"Do you see any other place to go?" Oliver sneers.
"You don't have to be rude, Oliver." Kaylah rolls her eyes.
Danny reaches for the snake door but stops. "You guys see the arrows too, right?"
"Yes, just go to your door." Oliver follows the arrows to his door.
"So, I'm a canary?" Danny laughs. "Trevor's a gorilla?"
"That's very accurate." Oliver smirks.
"Your door's accurate too, snake." Trevor grabs his door's handle.
"I'm a butterfly." Kaylah beams, grabbing the handle.
Finley silently grabbed the final door's handle. He looks up at the spider symbol, watching it crawl over the door. "Let's go."
Finley's door opens into a golden ballroom. The windows reach to the heavens, letting the sun shine through sheer white curtains. The marble flooring clacks under his feet as he wanders over to the throne in the center. He drops his bindle on the floor in disgust and takes a breath of fresh air.
"That's more like it." He sighs, taking a seat and leaning back on the throne. Sounds of birds and soft singing fill the air. A wave of belonging fills his body as he lifts his feet onto the ottoman in front of the throne. His eyes close idly. Minutes go by before he's brought out of his daze by the sounds of screeching rats. He glances around the space again with a lazy gaze. The white walls gray and wither. The curtains decay and fall to the floor. Glass shatters on the floor, falling from the high windows.
Finley springs up off of his throne and turns to look at it. The throne, once intricately designed, is now a simple chair made of rotting wood. Termites crawl in and out of it, taunting him for taking a seat. He scowls and kicks the chair over, breaking it and scattering the termites and nearby rats.
"Damn you!" He yells and storms over to the curtains. He tears them up further, taking his anger out on whatever was nearby. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a sign standing in the center of the room in place of the throne. He approaches it to read, stepping on the bindle and flattening the empty wrapper.
"Five go in, one comes out. Full of sin, full of doubt. Your eyes alone may mislead; do not trust what you've seen. Even though you may plead, only one can succeed." He reads and cringes. "What?"
Finley takes a few steps back and bumps into a door. He turns around and stops to stare at it. He remembers the camera and notices it in his hand.
"… hmm." He takes out the SD card, placing it in his pocket. He tosses the camera to the floor and stomps on it. The camera parts scatter and turn into large, black spiders. The spiders rush away in a panic. He kills as many spiders as he can, watching them die under his feet. Once he feels like it was enough, he goes through the door and ends up in the same hallway as before. He takes a few deep breaths and watches as the others leave their doors with pale expressions. They all nod to one another, a silent agreement not to ask about their rooms.
They trudge up the hallway and find themselves in a kitchen. The black and white tiles scatter across the floor. Every appliance and counter top was slightly too high or too low. The light was a bit too bright, the floor a bit too shiny. The entire room was trying to be normal and failing miserably.
Oliver sets down his bindle and folds up the candy wrapper. He puts it away in an empty cabinet. The cabinets were filled with food and water, though each item was discolored and nearly expired.
Finley keeps to himself and sits in a corner of the kitchen, still upset about his room. For a split second, his friends all stop and stare at him. Their expressions turn into sinister grins before turning away.
"What the hell?" He shifts away from them.
"What?" Trevor turns to look at him, the grin wiped clean off of his face.
"Why were you all looking at me?"
"We weren't." Kaylah looks over at him in confusion.
Finley leans more into the corner and glances away. In the corner of the room was a sign, the same sign as before. It stands innocently, mocking him. The others look over at Finley and wonder why he's staring at nothing.