a rubber head and shrinking walls

A Chapter by Ari and Sylph

ari and alex are caught inside one heck of a booby trap.

Ari's Perspective

   Does EVERYTHING in this whole frickin' place has to have a big, red "DO NOT TOUCH" sign on it? Alex brought my attention to this ugly decoration on top of a mantle, a rubber replica of a shrunken head in the midst of candelabras and otherwise expensive and fancy decorations.

   "That's just nasty." Alex muttered, moving in closer toward the mantle. "I knew Cedric's cap wasn't on straight, but this..."
He stood up on the ends of his toes to get a better look at it.

   "Eew. It even gives off a smell." he said, looking as if he was going to puke. He tried to pick it up, and when he did, we were quickly scooped up and thrown into a dark, putrid smelling room -- by the wall. I looked at his face. It would have been comical if it weren't for the circumstances. His eyes were wide open, his face twisted into a confused frown, and then a look of panic.

   "HEY!! HEY!! ANYONE OUT THERE!! HEY!!" He started shouting and pounding on our side of the wall. He briefly looked at me, noticing that his sudden move startled me, and smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry you got stuck with the unlucky one, Ari."
Then, he continued pounding on the walls.

   "What's that noise??" Avryn asked, hearing our pounding.

   Alex and I glanced at each other, and then both joined in to a chorus of 'help'.

   "What's going on?!" Avryn said, confused and looking frantically for the destination of our voices.

   "WE'RE BEHIND THE FIREPLACE!!" Alex hollered.

   His bellowing caught Hanako's attention, and she ran toward a crack that we could hear better through. "Avryn, go get help. I'm going to see if I can't help right now."

   Obeying, Avryn started shouting out Tao's name. Judging by the fact that he got quieter a lot quicker, he had to have been running.

   "What happened??" Hanako shouted from her side of the fireplace.

   "I don't know!" I said. Before I could continue, Hanako replied, very loudly.

   "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW!?!?!" she shouted, slapping the wall. "You're the ones that got yourselves in there, so figure it out!"

   "As I was about to say," I growled, trying to remain calm. "We were looking at the stuff on the mantle, and the wall freaked out and flipped us inside! Are you happy now?"

   "Ah, Ari." Alex said, alarmed. "Don't look now, but that's not the only booby-trap on this thing."

   I turned around to see a yellowish gas leaking out of the back wall. The smell caught up just about as fast as the sight.

   "Ew," said Alex, covering his nose with his sleeve "It's the same smell the shrunken head thing had."

   "Wait," said Hanako, sounding more muffled, "Did you seriously just say 'shrunken head', or am I hearing things?"

   "Ah, yeah." Alex and I exchanged a glance. "The shrunken head!"

   "Hey, there's a model of a shrunken head on the mantle." Alex shouted, starting to look woozey.

   The world started to spin around me, throwing off my balance. I leaned against the front wall. There was a texture that felt like writing on it.

   "Alex!" I said. I had to pause to keep from tipping over. "There's writing on the wall! Can you read it?"

   He rushed forward -- well, more of stumbled -- and pressed both hands against the wall. He brought his face up close and said "I' kinda look's f'miliar." He said, his word slurred.

   "Well, wha' is it?" I slurred back , seeing lots of bright purples and greens instead of the normal dark blues.

   "It's...I think it's...Wait, this is Elven BRAILLE!" He shouted, sounding much clearer...and echoeyer. "Who does that?"

   I then realized I was on the ground, sort of tipped sideways.

   Alex shoved backwards from the wall in disgust and ran into the back wall. That shouldn't work...

   He slid to the floor, dizzily(he had a RIGHT to be dizzy! There was a cat on his head!) and said "H-hey...Hey guys! Th's pla's gettin' smaller..."

   "Did you know it's dar' i' here?" I heard myself ask. I didn't really look that dark, but the giant mushrooms were kind of getting shady.

   "How the heck are we supposed to get in there?" I heard Tao ask. Since when did he have two voices? The new one kind of sounded like a chipmunk.

   "I-I don't know." Emmitt said. He sounds like a birdy!

   "Didn't he say something about a shrunken head?" Kaydra asked. I didn't know she could speak WHALE!

   "I DON' WANNA PLAY ANYMORE." Alex yelled as the flowers started growing from his shoulders.

   "The game's kinda' broken right now!" Tao yelled back. "We're trying to fix it!"

   "Oh, hi Ale'." I said, as he pressed up against us(me and all my penguins). "I foun' yer arm."

   "Oh." he said, grabbing it near where the feathers were begining to sprout. "Than's. I thought I'd lost that."

   "STUPID HEAD!!!" Avryn yelled. I heard a squeak as the purple started attacking.

   But then, I could move again.

   "Ale'." I said, laying on my back with the chipmunks. "Di' you ge' eat'n by the purple too?"

   "N'." He said. "M' el'ph'nt saved me."

Tao's perspective
   I missed something.

   Sheesh, I've seen them do some pretty wacky things, but this... this is ridiculous. Drunk Ari attempted to sit up, but failed, and flopped her head on Drunk Alex's shoulder.

   "Ale'....Ale' di' y' s' my p'nguinz?" Ari pathetically asked Alex.

   Alex yawned, and said, " 'M tire'ded." as he flopped over dramatically. He made a weird sound like a drunken half giggle, and Ari started laughing uncontrollably.

   WELL then.

   "Ahm," I said, unsurely. "This may be a good time to take them to the nearest doctor. And possibly figure out what the heck just happened."

   Everyone(except Ari and Alex) sort of glanced at eachother in confusion and muttered that that may be a good idea.

   "Hey, buddy." I said softly, tapping Alex on the shoulder. "Alex, we're gonna take a little walk. Is that alright?"

   I have no idea what he tried to respond, but he let me help him up and sort of shuffled along while I walked. I put his arm around my neck and looked back to see Kaydra and Hanako doing the same with Ari.

   "Le's go." she muttered with a giggle, her head flopping forward. Kaydra and Hanako looked at me helplessly, and I looked back with a shrug.

   We sort of shuffled them along the hallways, much to the confusion of the student body who hang out there.

   "Yes Ari, your penguins are okay." I heard, looking back to see Ari had probably tried to turn around and go back.

   "Bu--Bu' ther'r Tigers in there!" She said, almost knocking the other two over in another attempt to turn around.

   "Don't you remember?" Hanako said, thinking quickly. "You gave them lazer guns last night."

   "Oh." she said, tunring back around slowly. "I f'rgoted..."

   "That's okay, just keep going."

   I shook my head and laughed.

   "Ta-o." Alex said -- the first actual, understandable word he'd said the whole time. "Ta-o, my eleph'nts in the way."

   "Well, is he moving?" I responded, still walking.

   "Oh, tha's a'right." he said, sounding relieved. "He shr'nkeded ag'in."

   "Okay." I responded. "Tell him thank you then."

   "Than' you, El'ph'nt..." He tipped dangerously to the side I wasn't on, and I almost dropped him.

prev chapter