Five Mice, One Answer

Running out of time

(AN: Several weeks, several rewrites and edits, and equally as many naps, later. This chapter is finally done. Now that I no longer have the weights of school and such on my shoulders, I might finally reach a much more steady workflow. I don't wanna lie and say I took my time on this, cause I didn't, I procrastinated a lot. But I also won't lie and say that this chapter was rushed, I did the best I could to make this chapter at least decent, please point out any mistakes in the comments. Thank you to the few people that still read this little story of mine. I will try my best to update more frequently, and that's a promise!)

For a really long time, I was laying in my bed in our dormitory, snoring blissfully. It was so much more comfortable than my bed back in New Mouse City.

Unfortunatley, all good things come to an end, and Thea shook me awake. "Wake up! We have to interview Paulina and Violet!" She yelled.

I groaned and tumbled out of bed. Thankfully I fell asleep in my clothes so I didn't have to worry about changing.

Thea and I walked out the door and down the hallway, it was surprisingly dark for supposedly the afternernoon, but I didn't question it. Perhaps my eyes were still getting adjusted to the light.

The further we walked, the longer the hallway seemed. The walls seemed much more plain and undecorated. The lights flickered and buzzed above our heads

"Um, Th-Thea..." I began "H-How long does this hallway go on for?"

"We're almost to the exit, why?" She answered, turning around for a moment so she could look at me.

I gulped "Don't you think things look a little too... c-creepy?"

Thea snorted "Oh, when will you ever stop being such a fraidy mouse!?" She said as she flipped back around and flicked her wrist.

I was about to reply, when the room went completley DARK! I screamed and ran around in circles like a hamster on a sideways wheel. When the lights came back on...

Thea was nowhere in sight.

"Thea? THEA?!" I called, there was no answer.

My teeth were chattering, sweat ran down my fur, was it safe to continue walking? What if whatever happened to Thea happened to... ME?!

Then, I remembered why we came here, to solve a mystery! And once we solved said mystery, we would get to beat Sally Ratmousen to a scoop! I knew I had to persist in the name of journalism... okay, yeah and being petty, but mainly journalism!!

I confidently continued walking forward... the hallway didn't really seem to get any shorter... not to mention everything around me was slowly being absorbed by the shadows...

My confidence began to fade gradually as the room got darker... and darker...

Eventually I reached a wall. But there was no door or anything so I couldn't tell if it was the exit. I turned around to walk back but I ran into ANOTHER WALL!

Now I was trapped in a small, dark room, completley ALONE!

I screamed and banged on the walls "LET ME OUT OF HERE!!"

No matter what I did, nothing happened... I sat there for a while, my knees tucked to my chest as I rocked back and forth, oh why oh why was this happening?!

"Stiiilltoooon.... Geronimo Stiillltooonnn.."

I heard a voice call from somewhere in the room, when I looked around, no one was in sight...

"Wh-who said that?" I asked.

I wasn't really expecting a reply, but I got one anyway.

"I did..."

A figure emerged from the darkness, a healthy female mouse with long orange hair. She was wearing a dark purple blazer and a skirt of the same color, and most notabley, she wore a pair of black french heels!

"SALLY RATMOUSEN?!" I squeaked in surprise. What was she doing in this strange room? I briefly wondered if I accidentally wandered into Sally's bedroom somehow.

Her voice cut through my thoughts "I've noticed you're getting closer and closer to solving this little mystery I set up for you..."

I puffed out my chest, trying to seem as brave as possible. "Why, y-yes I am!"

Her smile grew wider "Do you know how long you're spending here?"

"No, not really... there's no clock in this myserious black void"

Her smile grew even wider! Her face was 70% mouth at this rate!

"Time is running out, Stilton... every second you're spending here is one piece of information left unknown..."

I heard a clock ticking somewhere in the room, but I couldn't tell from where...

Tick... tick... tick...

I felt a paw brush against my face, it's nails felt sharp, almost like the claw of a cat!

"You're wasting your time here..."

I stammered and adjusted my suit. "R-right... I should probably get going..."

But when I turned around I walked right into a wall! "What?!" I squeaked "I don't remember the wall being that close!"

That's when I realised the walls were closing in! The room was getting smaller and I was getting closer to Sally! (And not in a good way)

Sally laughed, "You're wasting your time here, Stilton!"

"Yeah, I got that, thank you!"

Her paws grabbed onto my shoulders, her eyes were so wide I was worried they might pop out of their sockets. She kept laughing and laughing and laughing and...

I awoke with a start, like in my dream Thea was shaking me

"GERRYKINS!! WAKE UP!! YOU OVERSLEPT!!"