Glitched

Chapter 26

((Laila's POV))

It was the middle of day three of my stay, and we were eating lunch in a crowded, yet unsanitary, room filled with tables and people.  It reminded me a lot of the food court back in the New World.  There were so many people inside one room, all waiting to eat a meal.  Everyone was Happily chatting amongst themselves, and I couldn't help but wonder what it would've been like if I ate my lunch in the New World.  Sadly, I had to miss out on any meal in the food court, I had to start my job before I could have a meal. 

I figured that whatever lunch was like in the New World was a lot like lunch in the Old World.  At least, from what I could gather.  I learned that meals in the New World were very social and Care-free.  Everyone had the basic food groups and enough to eat.  Meals in the New World took around 30 minutes, nothing less nothing more.  We had to eat at a certain pace so we wouldn't become too full too early or not finish on time. 

But lunch in the Old World was different.  We had as much time to eat as we wanted.  If we wanted to eat lunch for three hours, we could.  It wouldn't disrupt anything.  The Old World had little to no system or objective to follow, therefor, the time you took to eat a meal affected nothing. 

"Laila, Earth to Laila,"

Someone's fingers snapped close to my face, causing me to stop focusing on my thoughts and start focusing on them.  I looked up to find Timberland snapping softly.  I took my seat next to 256, who was eating her food rather quickly and messily.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I asked you where 381 is, I haven't seen him all day."

I recalled everything I did that day, who I saw, but it was difficult to remember it all perfectly clear.

"I don't think I've seen 381 all day," I said, finding it odd that neither of us had seen him all day.

256 perked her head up from her food, placing her fork down. She chewed and swallowed, turning to us.

"He needed some time alone to draw and reflect and stuff. I don't know why he'd want to do that, he always wanted to get out of the lab and explore the world, and now he's got the chance to do that. But then again, he always was a grumpy loner who preferred to be by himself all the time, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised." she shrugged.

My eyes widened and a small smile formed on my face. We had some artists in the New World, they designed buildings, clothes, landscaping, designs, and anything that had to do with what something looked like basically. But it was hard to make sense of 381 sitting in a lab and designing a building, for there really was no purpose of him doing so.

"What does he make?" I asked her, placing my fork down to focus on 256.

She shrugged. "I don't really know. He draws anything he wants to, I guess. Sometimes it's people, sometimes it's objects, and sometimes... he just draws some strange things." she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

I nearly stumbled out of my seat at that sight. Paper didn't exist in the New World. It had no meaning, no purpose. For one thing, it was an environmental disruption, for another, anything we needed to see and refer to we could get with our chips. All we had to do was think about it and we could see it clearly, wether it was a blue-print, a design, instructions, etc. Paper was just wasteful and unnecessary to the New World, so we didn't make or use it. The only reason I knew what paper was was when I learned about the Old World back as a Youth. Back in the Old World, people lived on paper, cutting down millions of trees to acquire it. They put everything important on paper, and always needed more of it.

She unfolded the paper, and laid it out on the table. My eyes scanned over it, taking in the image that was on the paper. It was an eye, that much I could tell. It seemed to be made out of multiple black lines etched into the paper. I reached out and ran my fingers over it, Amazed by how beautiful and almost realistic it was. The feel of paper was... Strange. It was rugged yet smooth and for something so thin, it felt so sturdy.

"What is this?" I asked quietly.

"381 drew it, just before we were taken by Mr. Big Idiot," she shot a narrow-eyed look at Timberland.

Timberland chuckled, shaking his head. "Sorry for that... again."

"What do you mean by 'drew?' How could he have made something so..." I faltered in my words, unsure how to describe what was in front of me. It was beautiful, stunning, but so much more. It seemed unnatural that someone without a chip had the skill to make something so perfect without any help. How could he make such a thing anyways? How did he somehow print such a detailed eye onto a piece of paper? I learned in my research that people from the Old World had things that they used to write with on paper, but there couldn't be such things in the New World... could there?

"Where did you get that?" a voice distracted me from my thoughts, Startling me, causing me to flinch.

I spun around to face them, finding 381 behind me, with Grace directly by his side. Her eyes flickered from 381 down to the paper, and she raised an eyebrow slightly.

"I showed it to her," 256 explained, "I've had it on my for a while now. It's been in my pocket." she patted her left pant pocket.

381 made a small grunting noise and swiftly leaned over my shoulder and tugged the paper out of my hands gently. He folded it back up and stuck it in his pocket. He then sat down next to 256 and plopped his tray down. Grace walked around and took a seat next to her brother.

"I didn't peg you for an artist type. I didn't know you were that creative." Timberland said before taking a bite of his food.

"What type of person did you 'peg' me as, then?" 381 asked, crossing his arms.

Timberland shrugged and didn't provide an answer as he continued eating. I leaned in and looked past 256 to meet gazes with 381.

"How did you make that?" I asked.

Before 381 could answer, a loud scream was heard from the floor above us, and the room fell silent as everyone froze in place.

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((I am so so so so sorry for the long wait for an update! Once again, writers block had struck me and I was running low on motivation. But I figured I really needed to update and so I forced myself to write, and after about 20-30 minutes of just staring at a blank screen, it started coming to me naturally until I finished.

Anyways, onto the question!

Question #27: What do you think the source of the scream was? Who's screaming and why?

Wait, I have a better question!

Question #27.5: Why do all my pictures and questions suck???

No seriously... why do they? I can't seem to figure it out...))