Flaw in My Code (Portal 2)[REWRITE IN PROGRESS]

[Chapter 11: It's Been Weeks]

It was nothing but another day; Caroline walked into the office, down the hall, into the break room, and she saw exactly what she expected to see: an empty room.  In fact, for weeks now, the break room had been just that. Empty. 

Usually, she would catch Susan in the fridge, or Henry reading a newspaper on the chair in the corner, or if she was lucky, she would catch Pendleton brewing himself some coffee. She hadn't seen any of them lately. Susan was expecting a baby, so she had taken paternity leave; that was to be expected. Henry was a revered engineer, so he had been hard at work for the past few weeks. He was still around, but he couldn't catch a break. Caroline could understand that, too.

Pendleton, though? She wasn't sure where she could find him. She wasn't sure if he had been fired, quit, moved, or was just really busy, but the last interaction she'd had with him had been a few weeks prior, and he spoke to her as if he knew he were never going to see her again. It made her wonder, and quite frankly, it made her worry. 

So everyday, she would peek into the break room, and just hope that he would still be there. But he never was. The only person she ever saw in the break room anymore was Doug, who was usually there to take his medication and cool down. Everyone knew Doug could be a little odd, but no one ever seemed to take a moment to try to understand him. Whenever he would go on his rambling man sprees, the only thing that was said to him, was "Doug, go take your meds."

Caroline felt bad that no one ever took the time to interact with him, so when she was in the break room with him, she always sat down with her coffee or lunch and gave him a polite wave, or a hello. He usually never  said much back, but he would grunt in her direction while he doodled wildly on the papers he carried with him. If nothing else, Caroline knew that Doug was an amazing artist. 

This time, not even Doug was in the break room. It was just Caroline, alone with herself. She sat down and sighed, sipping her coffee and biting back the worried expression that was threatening to show. She tried to think about anything else, but her mind was plagued with thoughts about where Penn could have gone. 

As she stared down, she heard a shrieking noise of metal and glanced up to the ceiling, where a Personality Sphere rolled in on a newly installed rail on the ceiling. 

"They put rails in?" Caroline thought out loud. "I know!" The sphere replied happily, his white eye scanning the room. "It's so thoughtful that the employees wanted us to be able to move around and perform our own jobs around the office!"

Caroline tilted her head. "So you're working here?" 

"Of course, miss Caroline." He replied, his gruff voice reminding her of a pirate. "How many of you are there right now?" She asked him. She hadn't actually talked to the Spheres, but Johnson was right about being able to hold a conversation with them. They were almost like... People. Of course, it made sense, because that was just what they used to be.  People. 

"Oh, I'm not sure." He replied, before reaching down with a mechanical arm that had been fixed to him and taking a cup of coffee. "Have to get this to the printing room! Goodbye now!" He called. Caroline watched as the robot slid out of the room and sighed. 'These are my friends now, I suppose,' She thought. 

The office was busy, for once, and the halls were booming with the traffic of associates dashing with papers. Caroline had managed to slip past them and into the break room, where she pressed herself to the wall to take refuge. She sighed deeply before being met with a, "Boo."

She jumped back, then looked up to see the smiling face of Pendleton. He had his signature goofy look, but something was off about it. "'Ello, miss Caroline." He waved. Caroline brushed herself off and looked calm and composed. "Hello, Penn. How is your morning?"

"Busy." He responded, to which Caroline nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is, isn't it?" Pendleton stretched and went to plop down at the table in the corner, and Caroline sat across from him on the lounge couch. Pendleton crossed his hands together on the table and cleared his throat as if he had something to say. 

Caroline leaned forward, tuned in, but he simply shook his head and smiled at her. "You aren't technically on break, are you?" He asked. Caroline's eyes widened. "Uhm... No." He grinned. "Me neither. I won't tell if you don't." Caroline chuckled. "I just wanted to stay out of the way until the hallway was clear."

Pendleton reached up to smooth his har back, and he seemed to be sweating. "Caroline?" She looked up at him with her head tilted slightly. "Yeah?"

"I, uh, I wanted you to know something." He began. She nodded, frowning slightly. "Sounds serious." He chuckled awkwardly. "No, not really. I mean- It might be. I don't-"

"Just spill it, Penn." He took a deep breath. "I just wanted you to know, that uhm... Even if we don't see each other outside of this place very often... You know, I really uh-" He paused. "You're one of my... Dearest friends." He looked down, as if he were struggling with words. Caroline smiled lightly. "Oh, Penn, that's sweet of you..."

Even after she spoke, he kept his gaze on the floor, frowning. "Penn?" She reached over with her hand. "Was there something else?" He looked up, putting up a quick smile, and shaking his head. "That was... That was it. I'd love to hang out a little more, but... Well, it's probably out of the question."

Caroline smiled warmly as he stood up. "Pendleton," She said to him as he went to leave the room. He turned to look at her, and she had only just registered how sad and tired his eyes looked. She paused for a moment to study them, before finally speaking up. "We can hang out a little more." She smiled. He smiled back to her, but it looked empty. Then, he turned around and left the room. 

That was the last time she saw him. It had been weeks.

Where did he go?

____________________________

I accidentally started listening to sad music and uhhhh,,

oops,

:')