The nearest room is exactly not the one they were heading to right now, but the hint of that room is quite disturbing for them “Balance”, that is the word written on the back of the card, reading these words, Diane couldn't help but cursed,

  “Who the fu**ed chose these cards?!”

  “I do”, Jeremy admits, “I am very good at balance, so I choose it”, he said innocently, as if he didn't do anything wrong with his choice. Diane was so furious that you could see the veins popping out from her forehead, she suddenly came up to him and grabbed his collar, Kayla quickly tried to separate them, but Diane's strength was so great that she couldn't do anything,

  “Do you only think about yourself?! How about the rest of us??!”

  Kayla immediately interfered, “Enough! We can't fight just because of this. Diane! Calm down”, she looked directly into her eyes earnestly with a pleading look. Diane finally let go of her grips, Kayla silently let out the breath she had been holding her breath, she then turned to look at Jeremy, he didn't seem to get infuriated or offended, which was a relief. Kayla tap him on his shoulder, trying to comfort him, he turned to look at her with his puppy eyes that were going red,

  “I am sorry, I have never thought about that”

  “You are very short-sighted and self-conceited!!”, Diane added, Kayla turned to look at her helplessly, and Diane turned away from her stare. Kayla turned to look at Aaron and the others, their face also turned tense, just Steven who still looked unbothered and cool.

  “Diane, he might not be thinking like that. Have you ever thought that it is because this is his expertise, so he chose it to help us to get the key more easily?”, Kayla carefully approached Diane who still looked angry. Kayla thought that perhaps it was because of the atmosphere that made her become more sensitive, Clara also looked quite unhappy now, “I already told you that she is wild”

  Diane turned to look at her viciously, Kayla clicked her tongue in distress, telling Clara not to add fuel to the fire again, Clara became silent and pouted,

  “This is not the time for this. Please..”, Kayla grasp her hand in her own, looking lovingly with her big clear eyes. Diane turned away from her, but Kayla kept on persuading her with her pitiful look and Diane sighed, “Alright”

  Kayla's lips curled up into a smile when she heard that, “Alright, then we are done here alright? Jeremy also doesn't feel offended by Diane, so this thing ended here”, Kayla emphasizes and the both of them nodded. After the small fight that occurs ends, they decide to proceed to the room they chose with the hint “Paper” written in it.

  The moment they arrived, they were shocked to see what they saw, the whole room was filled with paper, and there were a lot of crafts that were made from paper of many sizes, from the smallest one like a star to the biggest one like the size of a wardrobe, ‘How much resources they have got to spend to make something like this?’

  Chandelier-like paper hanging high on above with many stars floating around with the help of a rope, very beautiful and magnificent. There are also many statues made of paper placed around the ground, and the wall was full of pictures made of paper. Kayla couldn't really believe what she was seeing, she has heard the paper museum filled with many marvelous art made of paper, but this was entirely on a whole different level!

  The moment they stepped inside the room, Kayla became pale, the floor she just stepped on was making a weird crunchy sound, she kneeled down to inspect it and was very surprised to learn that it was made of paper. Everybody also kneeled down to check it,

  “This must be a wallpaper, they really do go all out”, Diane said, she seemed to be in a better mood now.

  There is actually something that is bothering Kayla, but she decided to set it aside, she doesn't even know what it is, just that weird, uncomfortable feeling, ‘I must have been hallucinating, I keep on having this weird feeling ever since I come here’, they say that you will begin to feel odd and feel like there are people staring at you when you are stressed or being trapped in a close space, so Kayla thought that she must have been scared and stressed, that is why she kept on not feeling well. ‘Yeah.. that must be it’

  “But.. the statue seems a little bit scary”, Clara whined, there were indeed a lot of miniatures and statues scattered around the room, starting from animals, buildings, humans, and robots. It indeed could make someone feel a little uncomfortable, especially that it was made with colored paper that match the original color, which makes it as if it is alive.

  “I don't think we need to worry much, they are made of paper, it is not like it could wake up and attack us”, Aaron said to reassure them, but Clara got even more scared by that. Kayla also didn't know why, but her heart was also thumping loudly. They didn't say it, but they actually get kind of uneasy seeing so many figures made of paper, it feels like they are watching them.

  Jeremy let out an awkward laugh, “Yeah, we just need a safe place to rest, I think this place is not that bad”

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  They are actually too tired to go to another place, they have been going around without getting any proper rest for two days, so they need to get a good rest tonight to be able to think clearly with a fresh mind. Just like before, they all decided to hide in the deepest part of the room, every room in this place was so big, it was almost the size of a hall and even bigger, it felt safe yet scary at the same time.

  Kayla and Jeremy who had gotten some rest earlier decided to take turns to guard while letting the other rest. Steven seems to be unwilling and Kayla scolded him for that,

  “You are also a human, not a machine, how could withstand the exhaustion? You need to get enough rest so that you can confront whatever it is that we are going to face”

  Steven didn't say anything, but it seemed that he had taken her words to heart because he immediately lay down on the floor. Kayla and Jeremy sit there spacing out, they didn't know what to say to each other and they are also trying to save their energy. Kayla kept on stroking the floor that is made out of paper, it was kind of refreshing for her, you know when you open up a new book, there is a very unique smell coming out from it, some people might think that it is full of chemical smell, but for someone who likes books, they will find it to be a paradise.

  Out of curiosity, Kayla tries to scrap the paper using her fingernails, she found out that it was a very thin texture of real paper and there was another paper beneath it. Since she was doing it in the darkness, she wasn't really sure about it and had to bow her head down to get a very close look at the floor, ‘There seems to be another layer’, when she broke through the second layer again and touch the third layer, her face when paled, ‘What is this? Is the floor we step on right now made out of paper? How could this be possible?’, Kayla suddenly felt her hair stand up on all ends, there was a strange creepiness she felt creep up in her heart, “Can't be possible right? This whole place is made out of paper, does that even mean that the floor is also made out of paper?”, she whispers to herself.

  Kayla didn't quite believe it, she lit up the candle to look at it closely, it indeed is made of layer of paper, ‘It is not like I think it about right? It must be because they are afraid that the paper will be crumbled apart if it is just one layer’. Even after trying to calm herself down, there are still some uneasy feelings stuck in her heart, so she pulled out the coin from her pocket, put it on the floor vertically, and slowly let it go, the coin suddenly moved towards Aaron and the others that were sleeping, it seems that the floor tilted a little because they were all laying quite close with each other. Then another sound of the bell rang, the same crispy sound they heard before.

  ‘This is the fourth time the bell has rang’

  Suddenly out of nowhere, Kayla could hear a rustling sound in the darkness, it was very soft and you wouldn't be able to hear it if it was not this quiet,

  “Jeremy.. Jeremy!!”, she slowly called out to him, who seemed to have nodded off and startled awake, “What? What happens?”

  “Did you hear that? It is as if.. someone is.. turning a page”, Kayla said, Jeremy didn't quite understand what she was talking about, so he also focused on trying to hear the sound Kayla was talking about. The sound is very subtle, so they have to be very quiet. When another sound is made, the both of them clearly hear it, and it is from someplace below them,

  Jeremy quickly woke all of them up, Aaron, Diane and Steven immediately went into a defensive position, while Clara was still rubbing her eyes in drowsiness,

  “What happened?”, Clara asked sleepily.

  “There is something wrong with this floor”, Jeremy said, Clara's eyes immediately went wide, and the rest of them tried to inspect what was going on. Steven picked up the coin that was nearby him and looked at Kayla, Kayla wanted to say something, but didn't know how to utter it, cause it might seem really ridiculous. Steven silently give the coin back to Kayla and asked what happened, “The floor is tilted, and it is toward our side, I have.. poked at the floor, and it seems to be made from a stack of paper”

  They all fell silent, and Jeremy's jaw almost dropped to the floor, “No kidding, why would they do something like that? It is such a waste of paper and bad for the environment”, he frowned.

  “You could still think about that right now?!!”, Clara scolded him.

  “Let's hurry and search for the keys and get out of here”, Aaron said. Kayla looks at him with doubt in her eyes, “Aren’t you going to check it yourself? I might be wrong”, Kayla said worriedly.

  “It is better to be careful, no matter if what you said is right or wrong, since the doubt has arisen, we have to be careful no matter what”, Aaron stated, Steven also nodded in agreement. So without any delaying, they immediately got rid of the thought of resting and began searching for the keys. Kayla felt a little bad that she have woken them up from the rest they needed when she herself am not sure that what she speculates is right or wrong. Steven gives her a look and says, “Let’s go”

  They scatter around the room, trying to quickly find any weird place that could possibly hide a box, they search it up and down, behind the painting, the statue, and any place that is possible to be searched. Kayla found a very strange black square located at the southeast of the room, just when she was about to get closer, the ground she stepped on suddenly sank in and she immediately fell inside it. The hole was more than four meters deep, Kayla let out a small surprised squeak and vanished in it. Thankfully that it is not a deathly trap, and she falls down feet first before hitting her butt, the candle she is holding burned her hand a little, Kayla quickly put the candle out, scared that it will burn the paper around her.

  Clara who was standing much near her saw the whole thing and screamed panickly, “Kayla!!”. Everybody's attention is immediately directed at her, Clara immediately runs towards that hole and that is when everybody knows what is going on.

  “Kayla!!”, Aaron and Diane shout from above, Kayla looks up and tries to control her fast breathing, “I am alright”, she says and slowly gets up, Steven without saying anything jumps inside and stands beside her, the hole is not that big, so with Steven in it they are basically squeezed together. Kayla has never thought that he would jump inside to save her, which is quite touching considering his cold personality.

  He suddenly bent down and told her to step on his shoulder, Kayla hesitated for a moment, but it was also rude to have him keep on kneeling there, so she slowly step on him, trying not to step on too hard, “Hold on tightly”, Steven said and slowly stood up, Kayla is a little scared and embarrassed, no matter what, she is an adult now, so she must be pretty heavy, but he could still easily lifted her up. Aaron has been waiting up above to catch her hand, but it is also quite difficult to reach him. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw something, “Wait! There is a gap here”, she said while looking to her right, she noticed it because she could feel slightly that there was wind coming from there.

  “What should we do?”, Kayla asked them puzzled, they also became mute from her question.

  TO BE CONTINUED...