Chapter 22
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Hypothesis
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Third Person P.O.V.
Coiny pushed open the wooden door of the library, the hinge creaking from the sudden force. He detested returning here. Every time he walked the flight of stairs, he always walked out with a migraine. Which was a shame—he loved it. The bookcases were all lined with books, even if they were dusty–it enamored him; the feel.
He never was interested in reading after all.
Needle walked briskly past him, only saying, "Come on, Coiny. We're already late." A sigh left his mouth as he let his head hang in dread. He began hugging on the hem of his shirt, both hands pulling in opposite directions; the friction of the fabric against his hand burning his hand. There wasn't a word to describe the fear that ate him from within his chest.
"Coiny."
Needle was halfway across the vast room when he looked up.
"Uh, yeah! I'm going," Coiny stated, unconsciously letting go of his shirt. He bit down on his cheek as he took the first step.
There's no going back now.
She waited for him, his footsteps getting faster as he approached her. Despite being in a rush, she smiled at him. He was uneasy, even if it was a smile that lasted less than a second. As if she smiled at his anxious self.
What could he even say in his defense? With the cans out of his hands, he couldn't claim to return them and get off with a slap on the wrists.
The redhead sighed under his breath, shoving his hands in his pockets as they both took a turn. He'd have to make it up on the spot. And he wasn't keen on doing that. A fixed story would save him long-term; a mismatched one would get him caught.
Coiny left his thoughts, focusing on the reality before him, hoping to cover the made-up one in his head.
He could hear the voices from behind the doors, though not clear enough to make out all the words. He knew there were people in there, and that was enough to make him sweat.
Needle approached the door and opened them without hesitation. The blinding white light hit him, making him squint as they stepped into the meeting room.
Everyone was talking at once. Voices overlapped as they stuck to their usual group of friends. Freesmart sat together, waiting for the meeting to start. Gelatin sat with Fries and Yellowface, spouting jokes. Nickel sat with Rocky, the gray-haired boy, trying his best to calm Woody. Needle sat next to Bomby, turning to Coiny as she patted the empty seat next to her.
As much as he didn't want to, he sat down beside her.
He could feel his heart pound louder by the second, trying to keep his breath at a steady pace. Turning his head to the end of the table, he could see Golfball's seat empty, along with the old projection screen behind it.
Almost as if immediately, GB and TB walked in, clipboard in her hand, as the room fell silent with their presence. The only one making a sound was Gelatin, who was laughing, only to be smacked in the back of his head by Fries. Book giggled at the sight.
Golfball placed her clipboard down, the metal thudding against the wooden table. TB silently stood behind her, more files in his hands. She flipped through the papers stuck on her clipboard, pinching the bridge of her nose, and shaking her head.
"Book, can you monitor Firey? Coiny needs to stay here for Pin. Ice Cube can fill you in regarding the meeting," Golfball said, handing the clipboard to Tennisball.
Book nodded, almost as if eager to get out of the meeting. She jumped out of her seat, walking out the door with an eager smile on her face.
The gray-haired girl entwined her hands together, placing them in front of her with a stern frown on her face. You could see her trying to contain her frustration, the clenched hands gripping each other tighter. With a deep breath in, it started.
"First off, I want to thank you all for coming on short notice. It's informal on my behalf to arrange such a thing—"
Fries cut her off, flailing around his hand in annoyance. "Oh, just get to it. No need for the fancy shmancy talk."
Coiny could hear her growl in discontent, the roll of her eyes; clear she brushed it off, trying to continue her statement.
"Fine. Formalities aside, some took some cans from the pantry."
"Wait. How many?" asked Pencil, her head in her palm as she leaned it against the table. "Because if it's a few like last time, this meeting's a waste of time."
The sentence caught his ear. Like last time, Coiny thought, questioning if what he had heard was right. Though his memory replayed what Needle had told him, he couldn't actually remember the "last time".
Pencil continued speaking, bugged by the meeting. "Last time they got away with it. Then they'll get away with this one as well."
Golfball shook her head. "It's worse than last time. They stole 28 cans. That's 2 and half weeks worth of food for a single person."
Fries rolled his eyes. "Can't we just grow our own food? I don't see the entire issue with this."
Coiny sunk into his chair, watching it all play out between everyone, confused out of his mind, trying to piece everything together.
"Issue is, we can't. It's a complicated thing TB and I are currently trying to resolve, but until then, we can't say much."
It seemed to have caught everyone's attention as everyone began speaking. "What do you mean we can't grow?" "Isn't there yoyleberries everywhere?" "Why can't we just EAT the yoyleberries?"
"LISTEN! All we can say is that it's hard to grow in these parts for reasons we don't know. We spent a good chunk working on Pin's prosthetics, so we didn't really look into this."
TB butted in. "We're currently running some tests, so we'll be sampling soil from around the city." He spun his attention to Coiny, smiling at him. "Coiny," TB said, snapping Coiny out of his thoughts. "I'll actually need a sample from Pin's garden."
He nodded, unsure of what was even going on anymore.
GB continued speaking. "Regardless, someone stole some cans again."
Again..., Coiny thought. He was pretty sure it was the first time it happened. He raised his hand, quickly getting everyone's attention on him, unconsciously causing him to sink into his seat. "Coiny," the gray-haired girl spoke, waiting for him to speak.
He let out a weak laugh that sounded more confused than anything else before he began speaking. "Um, sorry to ask, but what do you mean someone ALREADY stole from the Pantry?" His hand fell on the table, trying his best to seem casual—or as casual as he could get. An array of puzzled expressions stared at him, their eyes telling him what they thought.
"What?" she asked, just as confused as everyone. Her nose scrunched up as if trying to decipher what he had said.
"I don't get what happened with the 'first time' someone stole from the pantry," he rephrased the question.
Suddenly Needle spoke. "I thought Nickel told you? He was the one who was supposed to tell you." She turned to face the boy, a concoction of surprise as if it jogged his memory.
"Ohhhhh. That's what I was supposed to do. I sorta forgot to tell him."
The redhead squirmed in his seat, the tension in the room making him feel uneasy. Pushing it aside, he spoke up again. "So what the mint is going on? Because I'm confused."
Golfball sighed, taking off her glasses as she pressed her hand against her forehead. Tennisball noted this, speaking for her instead. "It happened when we first got here, after we had rearranged all the food from the city into the pantry. We had a meeting about this, but since you were so busy helping Pin, we didn't want to bother either of you."
Nickel continued for him as he sheepishly looked down. "Golfball told me to tell you, but you know."
Bad things happen when we are together...
"Someone stole from the pantry then, and they've done it now. And I'm certain I know who did it," GB said, setting the glasses back on her face.
Pencil scoffed. "It's a hypothesis, at best," she stated with a groan.
"Hypothesis; yes, but it's plausible and you all know it could very well be true."
Fries rolled his eyes. "It's not her. No one's actually seen her in the city besides you."
Despite being assured it wasn't him, he still felt the clamminess in his hands. As if they had stepped closer to the truth, even if it wasn't a leap. His breath was heavy as what seemed like minutes passed before him as the engineer spoke.
"When you all find out Leafy stole it, you'll all be running to me. Watch!"
They had gotten a step closer.
Too close for his liking. He felt his heart heave with discomfort at the idea. He loathed it.
GB cleared her throat before continuing. "Still, Leafy can steal anything she wants but anything from the pantry. Since we can't grow any more food until further notice, we have a finite number of food left. Because of our limit in rations, I recommend this. If you ever see Leafy, capture her, dead or alive."
Bubble spoke up. "Ain't that a bit... excessive?"
Everyone mumbled in agreement.
With a roll of each eye, the gray-haired asked, "Well, what do you think we should do? Because either she steals from us more—especially now that she knows she can get away with it—or we kill her and end of story?"
"Can't we just give her a warning or add her to our ration list so she doesn't do this anymore?"
GB let out a deep breath. "We technically can, but finding her would be an issue. Considering Pencil no longer has her Leafy Detector, it would be an ordeal to find her."
Coiny could tell it was a lie even if others couldn't catch on. He had found Leafy in one night just based on the smoke of the campfire earlier that day. For Golfball, it would take a couple of hours at most to find her. And that was pushing it.
His breath was shaky as he tugged on the hem of his shirt. He didn't like where this was going. Even if his life wasn't at stake, Leafy's was—and that was more than enough to concern him.
"But how about this? I can modify the HPRC by adding a detector. I'll be notified if Leafy ever gets recovered or when she dies. That way we can talk about adding her to the rations list," she said with a defeated groan. "Not sure if it would work, since tampering with the HPRC is something I've never done," she stated swiftly. "But it is a possibility."
It didn't take much for everyone to agree that it was a good idea - even if it was on paper. Even Coiny couldn't deny that it was an ideal situation for him. Leafy would live without having someone to kill her, and they could hopefully talk to her at some point
He simply nodded in agreement as GB smiled at the progress the meeting had made.
Yet he didn't understand; why? Why it seemed as if it hadn't ended. As if there was still more GB had to say. He kept his sight towards the front of the room, trying to eye Tennisball, who was taking notes behind his partner.
"Well, since you all agreed, I should say I already made it. It should take me a day to install it to its hardware. I'll tell you all how it goes in our future meeting."
He'd jot a few notes before staring at everyone sitting down, only to return scribbling on the sheet of paper in his hand. It took Coiny a second for it to click for him. For it to all fall together.
Pencil laughed. "Of course you did."
All her words were off-putting to him the more he thought about it. But everyone had already fallen for it, agreeing with her—saying their opinions on what else to improve in the city.
He immediately knew what she was trying to do. The small tactics she displayed, trying to win everyone over. She was smart, he couldn't deny that, but it was just devious.
Yes, she'd be monitoring Leafy, but she'd be monitoring everyone else if they ever recovered her. It was a threat to the one who stole the cans.
She could start monitoring at any moment she wanted. And they wouldn't even know. Worst of all, she knew Leafy didn't do it. He didn't know what she was planning, but he knew that anything coming from her was a threat. Even if it was silent.
He sighed as she ended the meeting. Half of him was glad they didn't catch him—at least for now. The other was anxious about what this all meant. He could still see TB taking notes as everyone said their goodbyes.
Would she monitor everyone? Or would she use the city's camera system?
He grumbled to himself in his head as he got out of his seat, hoping his nonchalant facade worked. Those old things didn't work. TB himself had said so when they got the electricity up and running again. Something had fried the city's system.
Coiny turned to Golfball, playing it cool as best as he could. "Do I go back to my shift or...?"
She stopped for a second, locking eyes with him. "Yeah, she needs to hear the news," she said, picking up her clipboard.
He nodded, waving as he left the room. A heavy sigh parted from his lips as he exited the corridor and entered the open floor library.
Maybe I should tell Leafy? Or at least why I won't show up a bit, he thought. Even if GB was following him, he could warn her about the common enemy.
It was hurting his head just thinking of everything he had to do.
He left the library once more with a migraine.
A/N: So sorry for the delay! Work didn't really let me focus on writing and the holidays is the only time I get to see family nowadays. I won't like for a week, I completely forgot I had Wattpad. 😅 But I am back. Chapter 23 is ready for next week.