Chapter 23: Choice
Choice
In horror movies, there's often a scene where someone enters an empty department store late at night. One of the elements that heightens the sense of fear in these scenes is the presence of mannequins. When you're left alone in the dark, passing through them can create an uneasy feeling. But the scene in front of me now was much more intense than that.
The first reason was that the dolls lined up here looked far more human than any mannequins could. The second reason was that many of them were wearing scarves or masks on their faces. This added a layer of eeriness. At first, I could only marvel at the beautiful appearance of the dolls, thinking "That's impressive," but once I stepped into the middle of them, a sense of unease crept up on me.
"Turn on the lights! This is actually kind of scary."
The ceiling lights turned on immediately.
"That's better."
[I didn’t notice, sorry about that.] Chloro apologized.
"It's fine. I was just a little startled. It's a different kind of discomfort than running away from infected creatures in the dark."
I had goosebumps on my arms, but soon I was back to admiring the dazzling appearance of the dolls in front of me.