Having slowed her walk down to a snail's crawl, Delphina kept her eyes peeled for even the vaguest clock-like shape. Slowly pushing doors open and scanning like a predator observing the horizon, she had yet to see anything hopeful.
Whilst there were only a handful of doors left for her to check, having to work her way back up the corridor she had just snuck down left a sour taste in her mouth. Inefficiency was a pet hate of hers.
The chimes were also grating on her nerves by this point, and adding irritation to someone who was exhausted usually didn't end up well. Delphina felt like she could even fight a Demogorgon or two if they had the audacity to turn up now.
Mentally psyching herself up, Delphina reached for the handle of the door she had just arrived in front of. However, intuition flaring, she paused just before touching it.
The door was already open a crack.
A mirthless smirk spread across her previously expressionless face at that moment. She'd been keeping an eye on the doors as she had made her way up the corridor in the first place. So, not noticing this one being cracked open? Whilst it was difficult to see from this angle, earlier it wouldn't have been likely missed.
"What fun."
Firmly grasping the round knob in front of her previously stilled hand, she opened the door confidently. Gone was the earlier slow caution as she strode into the darkened room.
Leisurely noting the paintings on the wood-panelling, an unlit iron fireplace, and some cosy-looking chairs placed just in front. Delphina's eyes finally stopped on a large, tall grandfather clock in the back corner of the room.
Another door was placed adjacent to the clock, confirming her suspicions that this was likely an antechamber to the bedroom corridor. So, of course, that damned thing would be in here.
Letting out a cold laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation, her arms now set behind her back, hands clasped together as she meandered towards the moving face of the clock. The chimes had softened to practically become a lullaby at this point.
"Wow, what a pretty old clock! Are those gold filigree stars? How beautiful…"
It was stunning, in all fairness. Delphina nodded her head to herself as the stars danced around the clock's face in a circle, which itself had a transparent glass panel where the gears could be seen to be powering their alluring movement.
"Oh my, I wonder what will happen if I touch it. It's just so hypnotic!"
Extending a hand forward, she simply pushed it up against the glass panel rather than the face. The stars and chimes seemed to stutter in confusion at this action, and then began to dance erratically as Delphina started to push her fingers actually through the glass.
The chimes now sounded like a warning alarm, matching the erratic stars as her fingers inched closer to the largest gear. Looking akin to a warrior pulling a still beating heart from someone's live chest, Delphina firmly grasped the gear and ripped it out.
Triumphantly lifting it aloft, the left behind glass slid from her hand and shattered as it hit the floorboards. However, Delphina didn't notice its shards gently glimmer out of existence as she sleep-drunkenly crowed her victory.
"Yeah, take that, you noisy asshole!"
Spinning on the spot and giggling, she felt much better. Whilst the chimes were nice, anyone would be bothered by that same tone repeating for so long.
"Hmm, did I close that door behind me?"
Fatalistically, Delphina's actions didn't change the fact that she had still entered the room. Nor that she had 'killed' the grandfather clock so spectacularly, didn't change that she had gone close to it.
Glancing down at the gear in her hand, she belatedly noticed it was, in fact, made of black gold.
"Oh shit. Was this a safety feature for the Heirs Wing?"
The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up as she realised she had put her back to the other door. Like a tense survivor in the middle of a horror film, Delphina knew the killer was behind her, wasn't it?
Slowly turning just in case whatever it was became startled, as if it would even make a difference. She faced the other door. Which was now open.
Nothing but pitch blackness lay beyond it.
"Aha, yup. That is not a good sign, and of course, I have to go in that direction as well."
Timidity wasn't really in her nature, but anyone with two brain cells to rub together would know to approach this situation with a large tablespoonful of caution. Even if sleepiness was creeping its way back in after that adrenaline dump, Delphina knew better.
And so she still went towards the open door anyway. Creeping forward till she was almost a foot away from the door's threshold, Delphina was like a cat approaching a deadly banana. Ready to swing at any time.
Her eyes couldn't make anything out in the blackness, prompting this battle-readiness.
"Ugh, I have to go forward, but is that the best idea?"
As Delphina raised a hand to cover her mouth, she tried to get her brain to squeeze out a semblance of a plan in this odd situation. But the floorboards she was staring at were hardly providing her with an answer.
Whilst she pondered, two vague forms began to materialise in the darkness beyond. Freshly formed, they slowly became larger as if walking towards the doorway.
Delphina lifted her eyes at seemingly a terrible moment, or perhaps at the best time.
For two sets of eyes now hovered uncomfortably close to the threshold, and she'd just made direct contact with them. One pair sat higher than the other, making it difficult to see them both at the same time. But fortunately, Delphina was just far enough away.
"Hmm, it's giving, some type of crying angel."
As she tried to make out their forms and shapes, she could vaguely see that both were taller than her, the largest one having eyes like black pearls; round and a kind of shiny grey-black. The shorter one had a more vibrant grey-green and angular set of eyes.
Knowing she couldn't blink lest they enter the room, Delphina took a large step back to appraise the situation better. Having forgotten there were chairs not far from her, she had somehow put a foot behind the leg of one of them.
Not noticing this, as she brought the other leg back, the chair was slightly dragged forward and hit her right in the back of the knees.
"Oh, bollocks."
Like a slow-motion film scene, Delphina buckled over backwards, arms flailing as she slammed her butt into the seat sideways. The inset arm of the chair was preventing her legs from coming back down, and so she was unceremoniously thrown back by the momentum.
As the entire chair tipped over sideways with her weight shift, she was dropped onto her back. Eyes blinking in shock at what just happened, Delphina could only watch on as the ceiling became covered with darkness.