The fastest way of getting out of this freaky house is probably to retrace your steps. At least nothing else strange should happen to you that way, since you've already been through that part of the house. With one last worried look at your reflection, your tail beginning to twitch again, you turn away and head back for the stairs. Reaching the top step without incident, you nervously gaze down upon the winding staircase, the angle of the stairs appearing much steeper from your lowered perspective. You really don't want to try going down the stairs head-first, since you feel like it would give you the sensation of pitching yourself down the stairs, especially if you lose your balance. Your nervousness doesn't help, and is only made more intense as your ears turn every which-way searching for strange sounds. While you have not seen a soul since entering the mansion, you are still worried that someone might suddenly appear. Even if you could still speak, you are not certain how you would explain what happened to you.
You debate trying to turn around and slide down backwards on your belly, but that seems like it would be very uncomfortable, since the stairway is rather long. Finally, you decide to try to descend at an angle, reaching down for each step with one front paw, then moving a back paw, while keeping the other two paws firmly on the step above. With many stops and starts and hesitations, you finally make it to the foot of the stairs, and are tempted to collapse in exhaustion. However, the front atrium is now in sight, and you just want to reach the door. Losing some of your cautiousness with your goal in sight, you manage a brisk trot on all four paws to the front door.
The door is shut, and since it opened by itself when you first entered, you didn't really pay attention to it at the time. However, now that you have to assess how to get it open, you note that the wooden door seems rather large and thick, giving it a heavy appearance. Since it opens inward, you will have to pull rather than push, so you will not be able to use your body weight very effectively. Thanksfully, this door also has a handle and not a knob, so you will have some leverage. Repeating the maneuver you used to get out of the pool room, you rear up on your hind paws, place your right front paw on the handle, and use your left front paw on the doorframe for support. As you push down on the handle and pull with all the strength you can muster,...