What Lies Underneath (An Inanimate Insanity Fanfic)

Chapter 23 - Taking a Risk

(Timothy's POV)

I quickly walk towards Michael 5 and Michelle 5C without startling them when they halt and take notice of me. "Michael 5, can I ask you something real quick? It'll only take a minute." 

He nods, and Michelle 5C takes the hint and goes ahead. "If you want to continue our discussion we can save it for later." 

"It's not that," I respond, trying to quickly sum up my question. "This question might sound strange to you, but do you know if there are any other past, sentient Meeples older than Michael 4? I'm only asking because I've never seen or heard them being acknowledged." 

Michael 5 stays quiet, thinking about what I just said. Then, he chortles for a moment before answering my question. "Do you truly not know why you haven't seen any Meeples older than Michael 4 still living around?" 

His tone in what he says next sends a chill down my back.

"It's because they've all been terminated at this point. They were simply much too outdated, and so they had to go to make room for us newer models. Michael 4's the only exception since he's managed to survive for this long." 

I pause for a minute before continuing. "...Yeah, I get that, but I don't understand how no one knows anything about them. I mean, they had to have been mentioned at some point, right?" 

"Well, people these days tend to forget about outdated things when there's...better options." Michael 5 concluded, a hint of dejection in his voice as he ended. "The best thing you should do is to forget about this. If you tried to find anything about older models, I doubt you'd make it far." 

"..Okay then, Thanks for helping me out anyways." I then give a short wave goodbye to Michael 5 and I go to head over to Package Jets. As I start walking away, I realize that Matt's probably wondering where I am by now. I hope he's not too worried about me. 

Sometime later, I make it to the store. I look around, and I see Matt on a bench with a flat, square package on his lap. I go over and sit next to Matt, catching him by surprise. I can't help but giggle at his reaction. 

"Are you ready to leave now?" Matt asks as we both stand up as quickly as we sat. 

I nod, and we both start walking in search of the entrance we came from. While we do so, I contemplate whether I should tell Matt about my conversation with Michael 5. I'm deciding against it since I already haven't told him about my previous encounters with Michael X. 

Michael X. I shiver at the thought of him finding out about Michael 5's conversation with me. I'm already imagining how this could go: Michael 5 chatting to Michael X about his conversation with me, him mentioning the part where I ask about older Meeples, then Michael X at school the next day ready to carry out his threat against me. 

However, considering how Michael X acts towards 5, I don't think this scenario would be possible. Despite reasoning with myself, many other possible situations course through my mind as I and Matt exit the mall. 

I don't come back to reality until Matt snaps me out of it. By then, we're walking on the sidewalk, a few minutes away from the Orange Hotel. 

"Are you alright? You've been in deep thought for quite some time now." Matt asked, clearly worried about my state walking out of the mall. 

"Yeah, I'm alright. I was just thinking about homework and all that. How long was I out?" I respond, somewhat impressed at how well I covered my thoughts. 

"Not long. We should be arriving back at the Orange Hotel in a few minutes," He states, slowly picking up his pace. I do the same, and soon we come face-to-face with the door leading to our apartment. 

As Matt opens the door for me, I realize something: "Matt, I don't mean to be insensitive or anything, but how come we didn't just teleport to the mall and back?" 

Matt pauses for a moment before replying. "The reason I didn't bring up the option before is that, well...I enjoy talking and spending time with you whenever I can. It's a pleasure to be with you and hear you talk about your interests." 

I'm breathless as he finishes. Who knew Matt thought so highly of me? "Well, uh...thanks for that." 

"You're quite welcome." 

The adverb Matt uses to return my response confuses me. Despite that, I manage to wave goodbye to him and head inside my room. Once I do, I pull out my notebook and start writing. 

2022/09/18

𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 5 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘔𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 4. 𝘏𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 "𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮" 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴. 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 "𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦" 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘦.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘣𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘐𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘣𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘰.

𝘐𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 "𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦" 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸, 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘟 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵.

Closing my notebook, I look out my window and notice how dark the sky is becoming. Remembering I have school tomorrow, I get up from my chair and begin my nighttime routine. 

Sometime later, I'm in my bed, pondering what could happen tomorrow if, or when, I set my plan in motion. I'm also thinking about what Michael X could do to me to make sure I'm forgotten like the "Outdated Failure" was. Considering how I'm known in Inanimate Insanity High, I don't think Michael X will have a hard time getting rid of me. 

Eventually, despite my thoughts, I drift off into a dreamless sleep. 

💤

Sincerely, Creative Stream