||OLD|| R E V I V A L (a Finger Paintings Sequel)

14 - Meeting the owner

Paintbrush stared intensely at the scrambled puzzle pieces infront of them, tracing their cracks and trying to figure out where they belonged. "Is this too hard? I could go get an easier one if you want!" Sy offered. Paintbrush shushed them with a finger, "I've got this." They said, working on the puzzle. There were a lot of pieces, but they were able to figure out the outside.

And then they were stumped.

"Where does— What the hell?!" They grumbled, grabbing their head in anger. Sparks of fire lit their head as their anger grew. "Paintbrush its alright—! You can figure it out!" Sy encouraged with a smile. "These pieces don't make sense!" They yelled, their head setting on fire as they screamed. Sy watched in shock, the room dimmed an orange color as Paintbrush's hair was on fire. It took a moment for it to realize that the room temperature was quickly increasing, if they stayed in there any longer without doing anything xey would surely burn up and die. Sy quickly got up and grabbed the fire extinguisher, then sprayed it at Paintbrush.

The fire dissapeared in seconds as Paintbrush was left dumbfounded, they stared at their hands, which were scorched. "Are you alright?" Sy asked through coughs. Paintbrush nodded. "I'm sorry. I got angry again." They said quietly, their eyes not moving an inch from their hands. Sy headed to see what happened, "Oh jeez.. Your hands.. Here, you stay here. I'll get some bandages for them." Sy said, getting up. "Wait no— Its fine! My hands have been scorched before, it doesn't hurt me anymore. It just.. Suprises me." They said. "Are you sure?" Sy asked. Paintbrush nodded. "I'll be fine." They smiled. "If you say so.." Sy mumbled. "Here, I'll help you with the puzzle." They said, then sat down next to Paintbrush and began to help them with the puzzle.

~~~~~

OJ hummed to himself as he swept the floor, a song played in the backgroud. Soap normally cleaned with him, but she was busy today, so he was doing most of the cleaning. He finished sweeping the floor and smiled to himself, proud of his work. Then, the phone rang.

He picked up the phone and answered it, "Good Morning! You have reached Hotel OJ, this is OJ speaking, how may I help you?" He asked. "U–Uhm, Hi! Do you by any chance know an object by the name of 'Paintbrush'?" The voice asked. OJ's heart sank. "I do.. Why do you ask?" He asked.

"Okay, my name is Sy! I am Paintbrush's nurse in the local mental hospital they are staying at. They asked me to call this number to see how everyone was doing, they miss you all a lot." Sy said. OJ sighed to himself, "Thats really sweet of you, the hotel is doing fine, how much longer do you think they'll be in there for?" he asked. "Well, their mental state is improving at a very fast rate, soon enough they'll be moved to a room with more people to see if they are able to control themself, if they are able to go for a week without harming anyone they should be back in a month or two." Sy told OJ. "Thats good, do you think we could talk in person maybe? I'd be great to get to know you, since your taking care of Paintbrush." OJ smiled.

"Oh! I'd love to! I should be able to come around later today, maybe around 5 or 6? Thats normally when Paintbrush falls asleep." Sy said. "Thats perfect. I'll see you later today Sy." OJ said. "Thank you! Goodbye!"

The phone hung up and OJ placed it down. "Alright. I've got time to work with. This should be a breeze." He said, then continued his cleaning.

~~~~~

"Done! And with an hour or two to spare!" OJ said proudly. It was around 4pm at this time. He put away his cleaning utensils and began to try and figure out what to make for dinner. He hummed to himself, there were lots of ingredients to use. But that was the problem, there was so many, he couldn't think of just one thing.

He decided to make some hamburgers, they were easy to make and didn't take up too much of his time. He grabbed the ingredients and started to make the food.

~~~~~

Sy closed the door to Paintbrush's room, holding their things. They took a deep breath, Paintbrush was asleep. There were people that Paintbrush hurt, and Sy would get to meet them. They headed to the exit of the mental hospital, not directly looking at anyone in the eyes. Sy's co-workers were never nice for some reason, its like they all hated eachother.

Sy headed to it's car and hopped inside, turning it on and searching up the way to Hotel OJ. It wasn't too far from their job, so it wouldn't take too long for them to get there. They put the car into drive and headed off to the hotel.

Around 14 minutes passed, and they made it to the hotel, turning off the car and stepping outside. "Woah.." Sy muttered, the Hotel was huge. It shook off the feeling of awe, and headed to the door.

Sy hesitated for a moment, then rang the doorbell.

~~~~~

OJ finished making the hamburgers after 30 minutes, there were a lot of people in the hotel, and they normally ate a lot. He called everyone to eat and mostly everyone came, some stayed to chat, while others went back to their rooms.

Then, there was a ring at the door.

OJ opened the door with a smile, "Hello! You must be Sy." OJ greeted. Sy nodded, "And you must be OJ? It's a pleasure to meet you!" They smiled. "Please, come in. There are a few people eating since I just finished dinner, but don't mind them." OJ laughed. Sy nodded again and tightly held their bag, carefully stepping inside of the hotel.

"This hotel is really big. Paintbrush used to live here?" Sy asked. OJ was about to speak when he was cut off, "You know Paintbrush?!" A voice asked. Test Tube pushed up her glasses and looked Sy up and down, she was holding Fan's hand so he didn't hurt himself again. "I–I do! I'm their nurse! My name is Sy." Sy greeted. Test Tube hummed. "My name is Test Tube, this is Fan. He can't hear right now so he won't be able to answer any questions." She said. "Oh! Paintbrush talked about you two a lot! There was another.. Lightbulb, I think that was her name?" Sy asked. "Yeah.. She's not here anymore.." Test Tube said sadly.

OJ cleared his throat, "Don't scare our guest off now, Test Tube. Sy is here to ask a few questions, right?" OJ asked. "O-Oh! Right! I'm sorry Test Tube, but I've got to cut this coversation short." Sy apologized. "Thats fine, I can talk to you another time." Test Tube smiled. She gently tugged at Fan's hand, bringing him back to reality, and then took him back to her room. "I'm sorry about going off topic there, OJ. I get carried away with conversations." Sy laughed slightly. "That's fine, we've got a while, how about you sit down, I can get you something to eat if you'd like." OJ offered. "Oh, no thank you. I'm not that hungry." Sy said, shaking their hands and sitting down.

OJ nodded, then sat down next to them, their conversation started with what happened with Paintbrush.

~~~~~

"Thank you for this OJ! I really appreciate it. If you have any questions about how Paintbrush is doing, here is my number. I'd love to chat again." Sy smiled. OJ nodded, "Goodbye!" Sy waved, then headed back to their car.

OJ closed the door and sighed to himself, "Lets hope they don't hurt Sy." He muttered.

~~~~~

WORD COUNT - 1321

wow look at that

a decently long chapter that actually makes sense to the plot and isnt confusing at all

*stares at chapter 12 and 13*