"Ivory, it worked!" Sadie exclaimed and ran over to Ivory who was sitting on the grass, rubbing her head. "Ugh...wh- oh, hey; it did work..!" She smiled and looked up at Sadie. "Hehe, what can I say? I'm a genius." Sadie grinned and put her hands on her hips. She looked around, studying her surroundings. Everywhere she looked, it had a kind of 'grainy' effect. Kind of like the last level, and how everything had a turquoise tint. There were bright blue skies, and healthy grass. Cartoony looking houses lined the dirt roads and white fencing. Sadie also noticed a tall water tower in the distance. "This place looks interesting." Ivory muttered and looked over to Sadie who seemed intrigued by the scenery. "THERE'S SO MUCH TO EXPLORE!" She exclaimed excitedly. Ivory giggled, "You sure are thrilled, aren't you?" She asked. "Of course, this place is so cool!" Sadie replied and looked down. She was on a tall hill and could practically see everything, "let's go down there! It looks like a town." She said and grabbed Ivory's arm, pulling her down the hill. "Sadie, be careful-! You might fa-" She got cut off by Sadie letting go of her arm and tumbling down the hill. "Exactly my point." She chuckled and began walking down to her clumsy girlfriend. Sadie was screeching as she rolled down the hill. Finally, she got to the bottom and stood up, almost falling back down since she was so dizzy, "you okay?" Ivory called out as she slowly walked down the hill. "THAT WAS AWESOME!" Sadie shouted up at her. She was exhilarated, "this place is great..!" She thought and grinned. There was a big town with houses lining the streets and a large fountain flowing with water in the middle of everything. "Woah..!" Her eyes lit up, admiring the town. Ivory walked up to her, standing by her after she got down from the hill. "You gotta be more careful next time." She said and looked down at Sadie. "Yeah, yeah; I will." She said sarcastically and ran over to the fountain. "Do you think this is water?" She asked. "I dunno... it doesn't smell like water." Ivory noted. "Yeah, it kinda smells- oh! It's almond water..!" Sadie said and looked over to Ivory, "oooh, okay. That makes sense." She nodded. "Hmmm.." Sadie hummed, wondering where the exit was. "There's no time to think about that now," she thought and walked over to one of the houses. "You think anyone lives here?" She asked Ivory, who was still at the fountain, sitting on the ledge of it. "I'm not sure, I don't see anyone here but us, though." She replied, swaying her legs. She thought the place she was in was calm. She liked it a lot better than some of the other levels she'd been in. Though, the cartoony, childish music blaring on the siren poles were aggravating. Tall poles were found on every corner of the streets, playing very cheerful, cartoony music. Very loudly. "I guess it's better than complete silence...that was driving me mad.." She thought and sighed.
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Meanwhile, Sadie was trying to open the door of one of the houses. "Ugh, it's jammed shut." She muttered, trying to pull it open with the little strength she had. "Iv, come help me open this!" She said, Ivory huffed and stood up. She walked over to Sadie and put both of her hands on the doorknob and began pulling it. "The doorknob won't turn. It's locked." She looked down at Sadie, who sighed and kicked the door angrily. "What are we supposed to do if none of these houses open?!" She trudged over to the next house and tried to pull it open as well. The houses weren't too spaced apart, which is something Ivory thought was weird. In her neighborhood, they were at least 200 feet apart. Her neighborhood was strange, and she hated most of the kids that lived there. Her neighbor was an annoying little eleven year old named Ayden. He'd always knock on her door at seven in the morning on a Saturday. Ivory loved sleep, and would sleep all day if school didn't exist. So when Ayden would wake her up, she'd be mad. And it didn't help that her parents actually liked him. "Oh, he's just a little kid, go play with him!" They'd always say. Ivory just sat on the swingset he had in his backyard and listened to him talk about stuff he did that never even happened. He told her that his parents were spies and they worked for the government. She just nodded and smiled because if she disagreed with anything he said, he'd tell her parents. Even the slightest mistake that Ivory would make, her parents would immediately ground her. Since she's such a good child, she hardly ever gets in trouble, her parents are constantly finding little things to yell at her about. It bothered her, but she couldn't say anything to them about it. She heard Sadie shout something from across the town. "SADIE, WHAT'S WRONG?" Ivory called out. "I GOT THE DOOR OPEN, COME HERE!" Sadie yelled. Ivory ran over to where she was, passing by about eleven houses. "You got it open?" She asked, "yeah, see?" Sadie motioned to the door, and sure enough; it was open. "I wonder what's in here.." Ivory muttered and stepped in through the doorway, looking around.
It looked just like an average house. Small kitchen that was connected to the living room with a light brown couch, coffee table and a small TV. There was an upstairs too, Ivory decided to explore that area later. "Hmmm, do you think there is food in here?" Sadie walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Ivory shrugged and opened one of the cabinets. There were some cans of corn and a loaf of bread. "Probably expired," Ivory thought. "IV, LOOK! SPAGHETTI-O'S!" Sadie exclaimed and whipped out a can of Spaghetti-O's. "Oh, nice!" Ivory grinned and took the can from her hands. "Do you know how to cook these?" She asked. "Well, duh." Sadie snatched back the can and turned on the microwave that was in front of her, "This actually works?" She muttered, surprised. "Hehe, guess we can eat Spaghetti-Os." Grinning, she climbed on the counter and began opening more cabinets, trying to find a bowl. "Don't fall, Sadie-" Ivory worried, watching her scurry all over the counters recklessly. "I'll be fine. I need to find a bowl, look through the cabinets on the floor." Sadie said, "not up here, I guess." She sighed and hopped off of the counter. "Hey, I found one!" Ivory said and stood up. "Awesome, good job!" Sadie exclaimed and grabbed the bowl from her and poured the Spaghetti-O's in it. She put the bowl in the microwave and set the timer for two minutes. "Finally, something that isn't Almond water or expired food found in barrels." She chuckled and looked over to Ivory who was sitting on the counter swinging her legs back and forth. "Yeah, that was getting old.." She sighed and looked over to the living room and up at the stairs that were next to the light brown couch. Wondering what was in there, she was about to get up and see for herself when all of a sudden; BEEP! "There goes the microwave.." She thought and hopped off of the counter, "finally, they're done! Go sit down, Iv!" Sadie exclaimed and motioned towards the dining table that was in the corner of the small kitchen. There were four chairs that, for some odd reason, slid very easily. It kind of bothered Ivory, but she just shrugged it off. She sat at the table, waiting for Sadie. "Bon appétit!" Sadie grinned and placed the bowl in the middle of the table, two spoons sitting in it. "I um...would have gotten two bowls but I couldn't find another one." She smiled sheepishly and sat in the seat in front of Ivory. "Oh, it's alright; I don't mind sharing." She chuckled and got a spoonful of Spaghetti-O's. "This is amazing..!" Sadie whispered in shock, her mouth full of food. "Mhm!" Ivory giggled softly.
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When they finished eating, they decided they were going to explore the upstairs of the house. Ivory got up out of her chair and made her way towards the living room, standing in front of the stairway. Sadie followed closely behind, "what do you think is up there?" She asked. "I dunno, it could be just a normal area, like the rest of the house." Ivory replied and began walking up the stairs, tracing her hand against the rundown rail. The stairs were creaky with every step she took. It felt like they were going on forever, like an endless loop. Finally, the two girls got up and looked around. Or..at least thought they did; it was very dark, and was just pitch black stretching for miles it seemed like. Sadie put her hand against the wall and felt around, trying to find a light switch. Ivory just stood there, frozen. She was afraid of the dark to the point where she occasionally sleeps with her light on. "Don't worry, Iv. I'll find the switch soon enough." Sadie assured in a soothing voice to try and calm Ivory down. She nodded slowly and continued just standing there in a frozen position. Sadie frantically searched the room for any source of light. Unfortunately, she couldn't get her flashlight because her backpack was downstairs, and she didn't know where the stairwell was since it was too dark to see anything within three feet of her. She cursed under her breath, growing impatient. After about five minutes of searching, she finally came across a switch. She flipped it on and bright lights filled every corner of the room. Sighing, Ivory opened her eyes and blinked; trying to adjust to the fluorescent lights. "T-thanks, Sadie.." She muttered, embarrassed. Sadie smiled and nodded as a way of saying 'you're welcome.' There were doors connecting to the room they were already in. Sadie looked down at the stairs.. they just seemed like they stretched on forever. "Hmmm.." Sadie hummed and made her way over to the door on the left. Placing her hand on the knob, she turned it slowly. "It's locked.." She muttered and turned around, "check the other door, Iv." She said, Ivory nodded and attempted to open the door on the right. Surprisingly, it worked. "Good job, c'mon!" Sadie exclaimed and ran into the room. "Sadie, you don't know what's in there-!" Ivory shouted as she ran close behind her.
It was just a normal bedroom. A small, twin-sized bed, random pictures of landscapes hanging up, a wooden desk with pencils and paper scattered on it and carpet floors. Sadie looked up to see a large ceiling fan on the roof, "Huh.. nothing unusual here.." She mumbled and turned over to Ivory, "yeah, this house is just a regular...house." Ivory shrugged, "well..that was fun, wanna go explore the outside?" She grinned sheepishly. Sadie sighed, "if this house gives you the creeps, just say so." She walked past her with a smirk, "w-well, just a little bit, y'know..." Ivory stammered and followed her down the stairs. Shockingly enough, the stairs seemed to get shorter in size. Either that, or Sadie was just walking fast. "So what's the plan?" She asked as she walked out of the doorway. "Plan?" Ivory asked, "well yeah, you're the smart one; you always have a plan." Sadie shrugged. "Oh, um.." Ivory paused, "just walk around outside until we find something interesting. That's what we always do." She suggested, "See? You really are smart." Sadie grinned and turned around to walk over to the fountain. She stood up on the edge and looked around, trying to find anything interesting to explore. "Hmmm- hey, what's that?!" She pointed to a huge castle sitting on top of a slightly invisible hill. "What is what?" Ivory asked as she stood on the edge of the fountain as well, "ohh, I'm not sure..!" She said, astonished by the sight.
Ivory was interested in castles and such. She always has been, since she was a little girl. Her and Sadie would play princesses together when they were young. Ivory would be the princess and Sadie would be the knight in shining armor, most of the time saving her from an imaginary fire-breathing dragon guarding a pillow fort castle. She sighed, wishing she could get those times back. Now they were teenagers, dealing with highschool and drama.
"You okay, Iv?" Sadie asked, waving a hand in front of her face. "Oh, yeah; I'm fine! Just zoned out for a minute." Ivory replied and hopped down from the fountain. Sadie did the same.
"Alright... c'mon, we gotta go see what this castle's all about!"
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