If you are a first time reader though, I'd recommend starting off with part one. You..., well you know why.
[ST] - The Bamboo Labyrinth - Part 1: Introduction
[ST] - The Bamboo Labyrinth - Part 2: Delving Deeper
[ST] - The Bamboo Labyrinth - Part 3: A Memory's Embrace
[ST] - The Bamboo Labyrinth - Part 4: Treacherous Darkness
Well, then... enjoy!
*~*
The gloom of the night only crept by agonizingly slowly, I can still remember that much. Minutes turned into hours and hours into days as sleep was a rare treat I apparently wasn’t worthy of. And even now it feels nothing short but the same, although I can easily skip through the pictures of my mind within mere seconds after they appear.
I’m not entirely sure anymore but I can only assume that my ears still tried to catch a glimpse of the mysterious sound at that time. My thoughts running haywire and my heartbeat uneasy, as I had no real other option left than to just continue watching the nothingness of the night revolve around me.
Luckily for me, it would all clear up rather soon.
Daybreak follows. It brings along all the pleasant noises of the forest outside, replacing the humming of insects and remote rustlings of all kind with the light headed songs of the birds in the treetops. A welcome change in the scenery my brother would never come to enjoy in either way.
The usual pleasantries were exchanged at breakfast as most of both families met yet again. Remarkable and utmost strange how happy my mother was to see these faceless individuals. But yet again my real attention was taken by an unoccupied chair. Inconspicuous at first, it’s true, somewhat insidious nature managed to escape me for a good while. I kept asking myself who this seating could have belonged to, especially as everybody we had met as soon as we had arrived were already here together with us, glaring at us from their strange distorted faces, the demented voices of this past echo even now still ringing in the far back of what is my mind.
Afterwards we were set free to explore whatever the grounds would hold in store for us at our own ends. Finally, nobody holding me back anymore, I surely said to myself. The faint prayer of thankfulness directed to the heavens despite being as close to an atheist as you could probably be at that age.
Just as quickly as my brother ventured back to our room, begging for this nightmare to end, I picked up back on the trail of what might have rested hidden directly under my sight.
The bowels of this manor slowly start contracting as my past self keeps on venturing straight through his dull surroundings, not paying any attention to such a pointless abnormality.
It was on this day, that I first stumbled upon this very special room.
The sight of it now unfolding right in front of me again, it’s interior somewhat resembling old eastern architecture. Using the term loosely as surely images of my past life intruded even into this utmost sacred of territories.
Along the outside of this room a wooden way seems to be keeping its shape, holding it together, preventing the contractions from outside doing any damage to this sanctuary. But what lies of more importance was the floor in the middle. It was crafted from only the finest and sturdiest bamboo, ensuring it would last at least a lifetime. It all had a rather simple appeal to it..., at least at first glance but as I stepped beyond this wooden walkway I soon discovered a detail I had overlooked before. Fine straps of cut bamboo were arranged along the surface of my new found footing. But as I was still thinking of them as something simple like decoration or even worse, a means to an end, a very different feeling crept up upon me, tearing apart the feeling of security that rested within.
I quickly realized though... I was not alone anymore.
*~*
*click here to keep on reading with part 6*
What is the meaning behind the mysterious room? And more so, who or what is there with our protagonist? Find out next week on the 23rd!
As always, thanks to everybody for stopping by, reading and all that good jazz. I'm sorry, I can't concentrate to save my life today... so it'll be better if I'll just leave it at that.
Have a great weekend.
Marc, mentally unfocused
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