Why Won't They Tell Me?

You Should've Locked The Door

Five walked through the hallway, wondering where everybody was.

"At least one block?"

Then she heard it.

Yelling.

Three's yelling.

Turning the corner, she saw Thirteen cowering back.

"I asked for peace and quiet and you can't even do that! What is wrong with you? Do you know how much that plate meant to me?"

"Uh, whoops?"

"Whoops?! WHOOPS?! THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY?"

Three stamped her foot down so hard Five was sure something cracked.

"YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THIS WAS TO ME! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE! SO IF YOU WANT TO REALLY MAKE IT UP TO ME, THEN I'D PREFER IF YOU JUST LEFT!"

She gathered the broken plate shards and ran to one of the other rooms.

Thirteen simply looked away.

"I just wanted to hold it. It was so pretty, but I didn't mean to drop it."

"It's okay, I'm sure she didn't mean it, you know how Three is. She'll calm down later." Twenty-one tried, "C'mon, we can help Twenty-three cook. He won't mind."

"No, you go on without me, I'll just mess it up anyway. Maybe I could keep a look out for the darkness.."

With that, Thirteen dragged himself to the outside.

"What's going on here?" Five asked, confused.

"Oh! Five! What a relief, I thought you'd never wake up."

"Thank you, but that still didn't answer my question.."

"Oh," She said again, "Well, uh, Ten and Three saw this plate that apparently belonged to Three, it looked really nice, so he picked it up to get a closer look, but then.. erm.. he.. well.. I think you can figure that out."

"Continue."

Twenty-one sighed in defeat and mumbled the rest.

"HedroppeditandThreegotreallymadandyelledathimforawhilewhileItriedtobreakupthefightforanentirehourortwo."

"English please?"

"He dropped it and Three got really mad and yelled at him for a while while I tried to break up the fight for an entire hour or two."

Five startled backwards, "Okay.. Maybe I can talk to her? You go help Twenty-three cook."

"Are you sure? She was kind of upset."

"I'm sure."

Five walked in the direction that she saw Three take earlier.

Opening the door, she saw the number sitting in the corner.

"Three?"

She looked up only to look back down again.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Three only scooted further into her corner.

"What's going on?"

She sat next to the other number, who looked up and tried to maneuver away.

"What is bothering you, Three? You're never like this.."

Three turned away.

"Everything.."

"Everything?"

"Mhm," She forced, "This whole situation, its just stupid. We shouldn't be stuck down here!"

"There's more than that? Isn't there?"

Three looked back down at the plate.

"Maybe.." She tried to put the pieces together and watched as they fell apart again, "Argh, come on.. Stick. I can't do this now.."

Five watched Three continuously attempt to fix the plate, her attempts eventually becoming more and more desperate.

"Where'd you get that? It's a nice plate."

"Why do you need to know?" In her annoyance she accidentally pushed two shards together too hard and shattered it even more.

"No! No, no! This can't happen- I gotta fix it!- It's the only thing I have left, It's the only thing I have left from them- please don't take that too.."

"Three," Five waved a hand in front, "You can't fix it like that."

"I know what I'm doing! Stop talking. Stop talking, stop talking.."

"Three."

"I said stop talking! I can't focus!"

"Three, you need to calm down."

"I can't be calm! I can't! Okay!? Do you know what just happened?"

Five shook her head.

"This plate.. this precious plate.. it was a gift.. from One and Two.."

"Oh.."

"They gave me a plate and- and I always took care of it-.." Three hiccuped, "Now its broken and they're both gone.."

"That's okay, when we get them back they can make another? If you ask them I'm sure they won't mind.."

"..you don't understand.. they're gone.. that makes me the smallest.. The smallest out of all you big numbers... small and not important.."

"Of course you're important, why would you ever think that?"

"No I'm not.." Three looked to the plate, "Not anymore.." She whispered.

Five thought about it, she can't remember the last time they did something just for her. It made sense why she thought nobody cared.

"I just feel so.. so small.. I tried really hard.." A sniffle, "To be entertaining.. so I'd be good for something..and since Thirty's here now, and she's way better at it than me..and nicer too....now I'm just nothing...there's nothing special about three.. compared to everybody else here.. I'm so small.. so so small..."

Five turned Three to look at her.

"Three. Thirty may be bigger and probably nicer, but you are special. You know why? Because you're Three, nothing and no one can change that you're special, there's no other three here but you, and if you think that I'm just saying that to make you feel better. Then think about this: If I don't care and I'm just saying that, then why would I be trying to make you feel better? I wouldn't have you change in any way, because I like you the way you are."

Three burst into tears and clung onto Five like her life depended on it.

Five pet her soothingly.

"It's okay.."

The moment was interrupted by Sixteen slamming open the door.

"Uh, wrong time?"

"Yes."

"Oh, okay." Sixteen walked in anyways, "Uh, Eighteen and Twelve are here.. both of them are looking pretty tired.."

"Okay?..."

"Yeah,... Whaddya want on your hot dog?" She asked suddenly.

"Can that wait?"

"Sure!" She closed the door.

Three chuckled, "I dunno how you get that result from a game person and a rocket."

"Me neither."

The door was slammed open yet again, "You guys ready now?"

"No, Sixteen."

"Oh, just checking." She winked and shut it once more.

"Okay... That was-"

"Done yet?"

Five simply laughed, "Yes, we'll be right over."

"Finally."