After seeing the enormous door—18 feet tall—Five lowered her head to look at the gnomes with a worried expression. She broke into a cold sweat, forcing an awkward smile.
Five: eh… What are we doing here???
Gnome 1: {points at the door handle}
The rest of the gnomes pointed at the door handle too, even Gnome 7, still hurt, but pointing anyway.
Five: You guys want me to open the door???????
All the gnomes nodded their heads. Five looked up at how massive the door was once again, and her legs gave out.
Five: But… how am I going to open the door!?
The gnomes, with no answers or gestures, started making a ladder out of themselves.
Five:You guys want me to climb y'all.
The gnomes nodded once again.
Five: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I can't do that. I don't want to hurt y'all.
The gnomes just waited for her to climb.
Five: I– I don't want to!
The gnomes didn't move, insisting she climb them. Reluctantly, she agreed.
Five: I really don't want to… but ok.
The gnomes happily smiled. So, in this cold attic, Five began to climb one by one, carefully stepping on the gnomes. While she climbed, she kept whispering, "I am sorry." The gnomes continued stacking together so she wouldn't fall, until a couple of minutes passed and she finally reached the door handle.
She slowly tried to twist it so the door could open.
Five: It's… opening.
Five managed to move the door, but the movement made the gnomes lose balance. They fell—leaving Five in trouble.
She clung to the door handle with what little strength she had so she wouldn't fall and get hurt worse than she already was.
Five:Help!
The gnomes tried to regroup, even the hurt one, so they could save Five from falling.
Five hung there with her life on the line, crying for help. The gnomes left her alone for a second while they regrouped, then came back dragging a bed pillow big enough to be a bed. With effort, they shoved it toward the door while Five's grip weakened.
Five: Help! Please!
Five started losing her grip even faster. The gnomes noticed and tried to pull the pillow into position so she could fall on it. Five held on with whatever strength she had left, and the gnomes moved as fast as they could to get the pillow in place.
(Five opens her eyes, in shock that her hands are about to give up.)
Five: HELP!
Five lost her grip and started falling. The gnomes saw it and launched a gnome with the pillow—he made it. He shoved the pillow into place, and Five fell onto it.
Five landed on the pillow. The gnomes rushed over with worried expressions. Five tried to get up but fell again, and the gnomes handed her the stick she had been using as a cane. Five used it for support, pulled herself up, clung to the edge of the pillow… then slipped and fell onto the floor.
The gnomes hurried to help her up, and she stood with difficulty.
Five: Thanks…
Thanks to the motion Five made while holding the door, it had opened. Beyond it was a dark room that looked empty, but with a bunch of boxes scattered around.
Now that the gnomes helped her get the door open, they waved their small hands and started leaving Five by herself, so she could go into the dark room.
Five watched them go while holding her improvised cane. She stayed very still, then turned toward the dark room and switched on her flashlight so she could see.
The boxes blocked the way she needed to take.
Five:These… are… big boxes.
Five began moving slowly through the dark room—20 feet high—using her flashlight. As she walked, her flashlight flickered out and she collided with a wall. The light came back on, and she realized it wasn't a wall at all—it was one of the huge boxes.
She continued through the darkness with her small flashlight and spotted a vent near the top of the wall. With the light, she saw more boxes leading upward, so she started climbing them—but it was hard because they were too tall.
Five: Now… how do I climb this?
She noticed another stick—smaller than the one she used as a cane. She thought for a moment, then decided to use both sticks to make holes in the boxes so she could climb by stepping into them.
Five:Here it goes or nothing.
Five started climbing, making holes in the box—first left, then right—again and again, until she reached the top.
Five:Huh? 3 more boxes!?
That's what Five saw at the top: more boxes, and the vent still far away. So she decided to continue climbing the remaining boxes.
After 2 hours of climbing…
Five rested on the third box before starting the last one. Her legs felt a little better—enough that she could walk without effort—but she still couldn't jump high without hurting herself.
After sitting for a while, she stood and moved close to the fourth box, then started climbing again.
While climbing, she heard a small crack. She looked at the two sticks—the big one was starting to break. She sped up. But in the last meter, the long stick snapped and fell, leaving her with only the small stick.
Hanging there, she tried to climb with the small stick, but she didn't have the strength, and she was scared it would break too. So even with her legs still in bad shape, she decided to do gymnastics. She started swinging left to right, building momentum, turning her body, then letting go at the peak. She spun into pirouettes… crashed onto box 4… and fainted from the impact.
After a while of being unconscious, Five got up with strange ease. She tried to jump, and her legs didn't hurt anymore.
Five (Thinking): It… doesn't hurt anymore.
She walked toward the vent. When she opened it and saw how huge it was—like a cave—Five climbed inside and found a long corridor.
So she started walking, one step at a time, into the big, dark corridor, with nothing but her flashlight.
In the distance, she saw a gnome that didn't look like it was moving.
Five (Thinking): What… is that?
She moved closer and closer until she realized what she was looking at.
From the shock, Five covered her mouth and a small tear of sorrow fell—for the little creature that looked like it died of starvation.
It was a dead gnome—only bones remaining—still wearing his big hat, with a small piece of paper beside him.
After Five gave her condolences to the dead gnome, she took the piece of paper and examined it thoroughly. She realized it was more than one page—18 pages exactly—and it looked like a map of each floor.
Five:18 Floor's!!! You got to be kidding me… how am I going to leave this place!