Heartbeat - Seek x Figure

Chapter 17

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Seek POV

I woke up in the main room beside Figure. Remembering the events of last night, I assumed the other entities must have wanted to leave us together. The room was still dark and none of them were awake. It must have been very late at night. Realizing I had woken up to early, I closed my eye and tried to fall back to sleep.

"Are you awake too?" The tall entity beside me asked. I lifted my hand and grabbed his, conveying my answer.

He laughed, "I figured you were."

Blinking my eye open again, I glanced up at his face. "I didn't know you were one to make puns."

"It was just something I came up with," Figure quietly explained. Wrapping both of his arms around me, he suggested, "We should get some sleep."

"Okay," I replied. Closing my eye, I thought about how strange it was that we had both woken up in the middle of the night. It doesn't matter. Relaxing myself, I let Figure's warmth lull me back to sleep.

Feeling as if I had barely closed my eyes, I was woken up once again. This time, however, I felt energized, and the room was much brighter. But none of the other entities were around, meaning it was rather early in the morning.

Now, though, I felt too full of energy to simply fall back to sleep. Looking at Figure, I wondered if it would be right to wake him up. It would be rude, but I don't want to wander around here alone.

Wander alone? Since when was I afraid of the dark?

I stood up, leaving Figure behind as I headed towards the library. I knew he would wake up wondering where I was, and I didn't want to worry the tall entity. So, I made sure to travel through the tunnel quickly, deciding I would only go to grab the book I had begun reading to him.

Entering the library, I blinked and adjusted to the darkness. It was dark, but I could still see around the room. Spotting the desk Figure normally sat at, I neared it, finding the fantasy book we had read the first chapter of.

He'll be excited to wake up to some reading. I began crossing the library, growing happier just thinking about Figure's reaction to me reading him a book. But then, I got an even better idea. What if I find him a new book that he hasn't read before? I knew some of the rooms in the hotel had bookshelves, and I was sure at least some books were written in braille. Looking around the room, I saw it was still dark. I have time before he wakes up.

I decided to go through door 51, removing the lock and entering the next room. However, as I did so, I heard footsteps beyond the next door. A human?

With no time to hesitate, I charged, barreling through the next door. I was barely able to stop when I was greeted by the sight of Molly.

Slowing down, I started, "Molly, what the heck are you doing out here?"

Molly paused, clearly thinking. Then, she reluctantly confessed, "I was going to turn on the elevator."

My eye widened in shock. "How do you even know about the elevator?" I asked. "And don't you know that would destroy the hotel and all of us?"

Now, Molly looked just as surprised as I was. "Shadow told me it would help you!"

"Shadow was talking to you?"

"Wait, you're not friends with him?"

Both me and the human were equally confused, blankly staring at each other as we tried to process the information. "I'll go first," I offered, recalling what we already knew, "the hotel is barely balanced. If something as powerful as the elevator were to be activated, it could kill all of us and destroy our home. Shadow has been trying to stop us from doing our jobs for whatever reason."

Molly nodded. "I get why you kill humans now. But here's what I have to say. Shadow talked to me yesterday and told me that if I turned on the elevator, it would be like a nice gift to you all. He said it would 'set you free'."

"Think about that!" I demanded, slightly angry that Molly hadn't told us what she knew about Shadow. "Does that even make sense?"

"No..." Molly's voice trailed off. "I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking! I know better now."

Sighing in annoyance, I apologized, "I'm sorry too, I guess. Now what were you saying about Shadow?"

"He said that powering the elevator would bring you guys to a better home. He read a book that told him so," the human clarified.

"Well," I decided, "you should come with me. As long as you're out here you may as well help me."

Tilting her head, Molly asked, "What do you want?"

"I'm trying to find a new book for Figure," I explained, "one that he hasn't read before."

Molly agreed to help me find the book, and we both set out. The next few rooms didn't have any bookshelves, but then we stumbled across one.

"Look for braille books," I instructed, scanning the shelf in front of me. I looked at the ones that were higher up, while Molly examined the books below me. After a minute of searching, I asked, "Did you find anything?"

"No," Molly replied sadly. "Let's go to the next room."

As the brown-haired human and I walked, I found myself questioning, "What did Shadow want from you anyways?"

"Simple," she replied, "he wanted me to power the elevator and use it."

Turning to face her, I realized, "That must be why he's interfering with our jobs! So that a human can get past us and power the elevator!"

"Why won't he just do it himself then?" Molly asked.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "Maybe the supposed book he read didn't mention what happened to the person actually in the elevator. I guess he's just not willing to take the risk."

Before Molly could reply, a creaking noise came from the next room. Stepping back, I realized something was opening the door ahead of us. One moment, I heard a loud screech. The next, everything went black.

Word Count: 1061