Isn't it beautiful? Not only was I the first Joyling to be in a human world, but I am further from misery. From a dark imagination behind all the rainbows and dazzling stars into a not-so-bad mansion with true colours. Life was better here than back then. But I couldn't forget the day my glory comforted me more than in this mansion, even if it meant I must suffer.
"Haha! Woo!"
"Keep it up, everyone! We don't have time for prep! The stage is on!"
Everything in Joylingers was extraordinary. What seemed to be a studio meant for set creation into life was more of a living town for them instead. With people whose faces were unlike outsiders, Joyling were a creature of privilege and fame. But beauty didn't last good for someone like me.
I couldn't live in a boring dorm—I deserves a better place. For a Joyling like me, a name of Pristine Pearl was above all Joylings. In that life, everything is as colourful as I am. But even in that life, you had a human ruining it for you.
"No, no, no, no!" I slammed my door shut. That was a terrible performance I did there with Dawn during our shooting, and Sebastian was watching us with contempt and disappointment. I remembered he was after Dawn first, and then he went after me.
"Sebastian. Dawn. He's after me."
"Who?"
"He's after me!!!"
Flaw didn't come free, especially through Sebastian's eyes. Hiding was the only thing keeping me alive from what I was about to face from him. But hiding only delays it enough for him to find me, for Sebastian was a keen man.
"Gee, Mr. Chrome could've given us a break once? It's not like we have all the time in this place for him..."
"I'm scared...Starglaze, he's going to put me in the dark room," I cried for my fate was sealed shut. Even Starglaze was shocked to hear what I'm about to be.
"W-what? No way! It was just a little failure! How can he?"
The dark room was a place Joyling didn't want to be. I've been there many times, and it wasn't just a dim space to occupy your mind. There was a machine going down there, and there was a contraption grinding within. As I grew older, I finally realized that he saw us as nothing but a replaceable display. Each time we were fractured, we were set anew.
"I...I don't know...What if Sebastian finds out?" Starglaze panicked.
"Mr. Sebastian can't find out! He's going to punish me! I don't want to be punished in the 'dark room'!!" She yelled in desperation.
I cried as loud as I could, but I was helpless in the end. One mistake changed everything, and I can only accept what was given to me. Not even Starglaze could stop what's coming for us.
Knock. Knock. Knock. It was inevitable. That is no Joyling or Frowling by the door. Only one person could have gone for me that night. And as I waited behind this wardrobe, it was a tall shadow like no one else.
"Pearl, can we talk? I need to see your face," Sebastian mumbled.
"Oh no...Oh no...no, no, no, no..." I nearly gave in him.
"No, no, no, no, no, no...!"
Everything is dark. Yet Pearl can feel an itch on her skin—everywhere—in every part of her skin. What happens after the door is opened becomes vague. It was all pain, misery and perhaps something beyond a word. But it is sure that something tall and creepy seeps life out of her.
"Please don't make me, my star."
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"Haah! Augh..."
I woke up again—still a mansion. Another daydream and another past clinging in me. I thought I was lost in that studio again, but I was here, lying on the lounge couch with the shadow who was waiting by the other side of the door. Makeup's ruined, too.
The day is still young. In fact, it is dusk right now. I'm still in the maze, watching the carefree humans outside without the fear I've had. Starglaze is echoing somewhere on the floor, looking for at least somewhere like this lounge. That poor star is not as lucky as I am.
"Pearl! Pearl! Where are you?"
"Did you really just leave me here?"
"Uhm, I'm in a lounge here! Try to look for that!" I yelled from the door.
"What? Are you serious, friend??"
"I can't go! I'll be lost again if I do. Just follow my voice!"
I could only wait. Lounge's good for a stay, but there's no tea and biscuits on the table. My mirror and kit were here accompanying me during my stay, but they couldn't do me enough favour to wait. There is a window behind me, with a clear view of my human parents outside. The only thing that was clear from this place was the sight of the dusklight and stars outside. Moon was about to lay high, but the beauty couldn't last with my growing doubts.
"Are you looking at me, Mr Sebastian? I hope you do..."
"I haven't seen you for months...I wonder if you're still there...watching for me..."
"Do you think I'm still beautiful...? Even in this...blue dress...?"
"I wonder...if you are..." She reaches for the light on the ceiling.
After everything, I feel the need to reach the light even more. Something has changed within me since I was in that studio, but the craving for light is somewhat of a comfort I couldn't reach fully. The shadow would only draw closer in the absence of a spotlight.
"That blue dress didn't suit you."
"I can't...no, you wouldn't like it! The looks of this dress is too ugly!" My hands are grasping for help. Pearls on my forehead were my only friends.
"I have to...I have to wear my ballet dress...I have to wear my dress!"
"I have to take this off! Take this off!" Tears flowed from my eyes as I was about to tear this dress for Sebastian.
But something changed. When I heard that voice again, I realized the sound was off—nothing like Sebastian. Once again, that voice didn't plea for me, only telling me things. It's dark and tall like a shadow, but the presence barely reached me. If it was Sebastian, it would've gripped my shoulder and uttered the sweet words.
"N-no...what am I doing?" I stopped
"I shouldn't think of that...I shouldn't think of this!"
"That isn't a good thing to think of. It's not good...it's not..."
"No, no, no, no!"
The lounge door slams, with Starglaze's desperate and disappointed face coming in as a guest. Wrinkled and tired, his gleam nearly left by the door. My surprised face when I see him coming to my rescue.
"No doubt I heard that wail from a distance!" Starglaze angered.
"Starglaze! You look—awful, friend..." Relief runs over my face as I see him coming urgently.
"I don't know, Pearl. I like this look on me! Speaking about how I am struggling to be here without my friend! What else do you want me to do? It's all so smelly here!"
"Oh...so you've found the stairway, dear friend?" My thumbs rubbed on one another, trying to erase that fear out of me.
Starglaze came too late, though I couldn't blame him for that. It's not like any of us are familiar with this room, either. We've been circling around here for too long, stared by the red wallpaper whose eyes are shady.
"Where are you going?" That voice appears again. I still cannot understand its intention.
"W-who say that?" Pearl tilted left and right with fear.
"Who say what?"
"T-THAT? You don't hear that! That's Sebastian's voice!"
"Pearl, you keep saying that when we're here! Don't you know how impossible that was? That sounded like your head telling you that!"
"I swear I heard him!"
"Don't wear the blue."
"Noo!!" I yelled.
It's getting night, and the humans aren't outside anymore. They must have been waiting for us, which means we must find them before something terrible happens. But Starglaze and I are still lost, with only a few inches out of the door, and we've had no idea where they came from.
"Mom? Mother? Mom?" I stand in suffering for these odours. My voice was calling her, but null.
"Try Father. Maybe he'll find us first beforehand..."
"Father! Dad! Father!"
"Old man! Where are you at? We're stuck here! Maybe some hands??"
The air was choking on me. The pungent smell is still as strong as before. It was everywhere, deluding our eyes with stingy air. No escape from these odours, for they are everywhere, and we keep walking into them. Not for long, I sense its presence stronger and discover the origin of this scent.
"Augh, it's too painful here! It's almost like it's coming from the..."
"The wall..."
The wall was putrid and smelled sweet but terribly strong, like a fragrance. The smell is similar to medicine, and I hate medicine enough to know how terrible it made me.
"The wall made this smell." I rub the wall with disdain. My thought was right.
"What?" Starglaze wonders.
"The wall...it was the stink..."
It begins from the wall. The wall bears this horrible scent that makes me and Starglaze's noses sick. I knew something was wrong with this hallway just for being too red. That's why the two of us are lost, and that's why we had to put an end to it.
"What are you doing...? You can't do that!" I was panicked when I saw Starglaze immediately scratching the walls violently.
"You want to live or not? This wall is killing me!"
"But this is my home! You would tear my home right before my eyes, Starglaze?"
"I would if I could resist this smell! But I can't be confined! Would you want to be confined here too with the poison?"
"I...umgh..." The air is getting fishy. But Starglaze had a point.
"Stop it.." The shadow keeps calling me.
"Eek! No!"
When we were finally screaming like a damsel, the humans found us under a chandelier, rubbing wallpaper off with fury and disgust. This red-painted well reeks so much poison in the air, and we were renovating it so we could breathe easily.
"Christine? What are you doing?" My mother yelled.
Of course, my mother wasn't happy about this. Her wall was torn and undone, and the smell of wood had replaced the weird, rotting flower smell. I was caught without a word, and as one who joined this madness, also became a victim before Starglaze. Such unfair treatment.
"M-mom! I can explain...I...it's too smelly here..." I plea. But the scent had me stuttered.
"Yeah! What's this house made of? Why is it so smells like iron?"
"Iron? I thought it smelled like a flower?" I nodded.
"You...smell something...?" My mother turned with concern and confusion at our words.
"Y-yeah! There's something in the wall that smells h-horrible...and it was around us..."
"Go check it out, lady! It smells like someone mixing one of Pearl's nail polishes with Dawn's ironwork." Starglaze stands firm.
For that reason, the human checked for the truth on the wall with a sniff. Sure enough, she feels that odour like I do—sharp like a needle, yet fragrant. But her look in horror was somewhat a surprise as her hair all risen, and her arms twitched back like a slingshot. Something makes her more terrified about it than I am.
"You two, get out of this place, now!" My mother stares at us with a cat-like eye.
"W-what?"
"Get out, now! This house isn't safe! Now!"
"Where? We can't find the way out of here!"
"Just keep going south! You'll find a way out!"
"But we've already gone south! We...ugh, just lead us out, lady!" Starglaze hovers away to the south, with me running behind him using him as an anchor.
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We were leaving the mansion. How we haven't reached the outside for so long makes us even more desperate to seek help from the two doctors. It was such a horrible day inside! But at least we get to breathe fresh, undampened air from the outside.
"Pearl? Pearl, are you alright? You look unwell!" Daniel rushes. I knew this doctor from that tag on his chest. They must've been here for me.
"Where have you been? We've been looking for you!"
"I don't know *cough* *cough* I was at home...so long...air so thick... can't breathe...*cough* *cough*" It was dizzy, I could sit only on the floor with that scent lingering in my head.
"We can't leave the home *cough* *cough* So many hallways on the house! It's like a maze!" Starglaze leans on my shoulder.
They were waiting for me for hours. Who knows how long they have been there? I was filled with too much doubt in my head that I couldn't go out without a thought. My head is still pushing left and right, drawn by the strong scent of mischief like a wave on the ocean that dragged me on the stage.
"Oh, thank goodness that you've warned me earlier about that acetone poisoning in the home! We really need to change that painting immediately!" Donna kneels for a hug. One is happy, but one is confused.
"A...what?" Starglaze surely knows what that means.
"P-poison? T-there's a poison there? You're poisoning the house...?"
"I'm so sorry... I didn't realise you were inhaling that stuff while we were outside. You must've been asleep for so long you couldn't tell us earlier!" The mother hugs me tighter.
"I don't get it. What are you talking about? Am I really getting poisoned?" I'm starting to learn something new.
But to my surprise, I was one step away from death with Starglaze. Something about the walls really played with our minds, turning reality into a game of suffering. I had never thought I would be fated to be ill by a wall.
"You see, Pearl. Acetone smells sweet and fruity—often flower-like. But it's dangerous because they make you see things that weren't there! The moment you smell a pinch, you'll start seeing and hearing things around that aren't there..." Daniel comes into a lecture. A sense finally snaps into my head with this explanation. Why didn't they teach me about this at the Institute?
"Y-you mean all those voices I heard were...the wall's doing?"
"Yep. I hope it didn't say something weird to you when you were around there...it could get worse..."
The walls are poisoned, tainted with something unimaginable. How could humans have such a weapon like this? I was putting her life in danger just for a sleep and a talk with a ghost. But that makes me relieved at last. For a moment, I thought I was haunted by the apparition of my 'saviour' on the stage. But it seems my mind plays wild in the room. Today was a wild day, and maybe tomorrow it will be as wild as this one!
"Wait, does that mean that maze wasn't real, too?" Starglaze questions with disappointment.
"What maze?"
"I knew it!! Ugh, so I've been circling around the house for so long! Terrible dreams, I hate you and your terrible game! Bring me close to the stars so I don't have to see this nonsense!"
Starglaze hovers above with disdain, leaving Pearl alone with the humans.
"What did you see there, Pearl? You look like you saw a ghost." My father jokes.
"K-kind of..." I chuckled. My smile was delightful, as my sight was now clear and doubtless. However, that memory serves as something of a reminder. Never trust a shadow.