Familiar

After Lucius and Mary finished eating, she asked Lucius.

"Are you done? Can we go now?"

Lucius looked at her and nodded with a smile on his face.

Mary stood up from the chair and Lucius followed. She looked at her plate and utensils and glanced back at him. His back was facing her as he slowly slithered to the double door.

She looked down at the dead mouse on the floor and glanced back at him again. He was still facing her with his back.

This is my chance! She thought.

Mary took the chance and snatched a knife. She instantly put the knife into her pocket before he turned around. He hissed at Mary with a joyful tone.

"I'm coming! I'm coming! You don't have to hiss at me."Mary said as she quickly ran to join him.

They went out of the dining room. Lucius closed the double door behind Mary and they continued going down the corridor, aimlessly.

Mary spoke."How many floors are there in this house?"

He looked at Mary and thought for a while. Then, he raised his left hand to let Mary see and raised three fingers while the other two were not lifted.

"So, it's three?"She asked, uncertain.

He nodded.

"Okay!" She thought and said."I want to go to the second floor first."

He looked at her with a worried expression but still managed to nod.

"What? Have you not been to the second floor or the basement?"Mary asked, her eyes widened.

Lucius looked down, avoiding her eyes. He rubbed the back of his neck and nodded slowly.

"You got to be kidding me! How can you not go up there before?"Mary asked, disappointed.

Still looking at the floor, Lucius shook his head, silently.

Mary let out a sigh and said." It's alright. There's nothing to be sad about. But the only disadvantage is that we don't know what room it has."

Lucius was now looking at her, his ears down. He still looked sorry but he gave Mary a nod as his response.

Mary looked down the long corridor and thought of something.

"Lucius."She said."Do you still have my pen with you?"

He took out a pen that was hanging from his clothes neckline and nodded.

"Alright! So, are there any rooms filled with books here?"

Lucius shook his head.

"No? So, are there any papers or books on the floor or table?"

He looked at her with confusion. He glanced around the floor and turned to the wall. He wrote a word. Why?

"Well, it's because it will be easy for us to communicate."

He smiled at Mary and nodded with understanding.

Suddenly, he slithered away from Mary like he saw something.

Mary chased behind him and shouted."Wait! What did you see? Hey!"

But Lucius didn't stop. He continued speeding down the corridor as if he didn't hear her.

Suddenly, something caught Mary's eyes. She slowly reduced her speed and stopped. She stood there, looking at a familiar grandfather clock lying on the corridor's wall.

Mary reached out her hand and touched it.

This seems familiar. Where have I seen this before?

She looked at the grandfather clock, left and right. Then, an image struck her head.

The image was when she pulled a grandfather clock with all her strength to hit the experiment that was biting her shoulder.

She thought. How is it still perfectly fine? I remember its glasses shattered when the experiment hit it away with his hand. How does it look like nothing happened to it?

Wait! She remembered what she was doing just now.

She turned to her left, staring down the corridor.

Where did he go?... If he's gone then I don't have another thing to worry about.

As she turned her body to go in the opposite direction, she heard a hiss behind her. She turned around and saw Lucius, taking a whole stack of paper, smiling.