-~Among Us: Two Traitors~-

Chapter 7 | A Literal Ghost in the Machine

-~Not Blue's POV~-

It was another morning aboard the Skeld. Nothing suggested that we were being hunted by alien parasites that had possessed two of our friends' bodies but anyway. 

I was at a table by myself, trying to oil Cogs's gears, which have rusted overnight. To achieve this without causing Cogs pain, I had to switch him off. Being switched off was a situation Cogs absolutely detested. Trying to wrestle to switch the Ro-Bot off, I barely heard Rosie basically dragging herself into Cafeteria and slumping on my table with her bowl of cereal. She had black bags under her eyes, indicating she didn't sleep well. I tried to make small talk after successfully switching Cogs off.

"Rough night I'm guessing?"

Rosie hardly looked up from her breakfast.

"Yes. I had nightmares all night. I couldn't sleep"

I closed the panel on Cogs's back after oiling his gears and switched the Ro-Bot back on. His eyes blinked to life. Cogs glared at me and flashed a message in Morse code:

You KNOW I hate it when you do that!

 I turned back to face Rosie, trying to ignoring his tirade of angry blinking.

"So, you want to talk about your nightmares?"

Rosie shuddered, "I... No they weren't worth mentioning anyway. And I'd rather not talk about them"

We ate the rest of our breakfast in awkward silence.

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I finally finished eating my pile of waffles and then turned to start doing my tasks. 

"Wait!"

I whirled around. Rosie was running up to me while carrying her JuniorCrew tablet.

"I was wondering if I could, um, follow you while you do tasks?"

I glanced down at Cogs. Cogs shrugged back at me.

I don't see why not he blinked in Morse.

"Uh sure" I replied.

We made our way down to Reactor where both our tasks where.

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"So I have to Start Reactor. A lot of people call it Simon Says,"  I explained to Rosie as we entered Reactor, "I haven't really done this task before" The power generator in the middle of the room pulsed gently with energy.

"Oh ok. I have to Unlock Manifolds. I think you basically count from 1 to 10 on my task." Rosie compared.

I go to my task. A blue square lit up in the middle. I presses the button in the middle.

I was about to walk away from the station when I realised the task wasn't complete. The screen then flashed middle, then top-right. I mimicked the same pattern. Oh and this task went on for five rounds. And basically all my friends know that I have the memory of a goldfish, which isn't much. Soon enough I pressed the wrong button. And to make things worse? I had to restart the whole damn thing. 

I think this is officially my new least favourite task. Forget about swiping the card. This is true struggle.

After that Task Completed sign popped up, I don't think I've ever been so relieved.

"That took you five minutes" Rosie informed me. "Are you feeling ok?" I stood up and stretched "I'm fine. Where's your next task?" Rosie peered down at her tablet, "MedBay. I have to clean a vent there."

"Well I have to Inspect Samples and I have to Submit Scan so lets go"

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Soon enough the steady beating of a heart rate monitor grew louder as we approached MedBay. Rosie set to work on cleaning the vent with a mop and bucket she had grabbed from Storage. I started my task up. The machine set to work filling up the glass breakers with liquid. I turned to face Rosie who had finished cleaning the vent. Set before her was a large assortment of tennis balls, some paperclips and a random slice of pizza (the pizza was pepperoni with extra cheese in case you were curious).

"Why would anyone just randomly litter pizza in the vents?" I asked, watching the samples.

Rosie shrugged "I dunno. But hey, that's the last task on my list. Are you done?"

"Nope. Just waiting for the samples to set. Might as well scan as I'm here."

I was about to walk up to the scanner but then the scanner started without me. "What in the-" I tried to step on the platform. The scanner sensed my presence and beeped angrily. A message flashed up Waiting for Angel

"'Waiting for Angel?!'" I paraphrased in shock and disbelief.

"Angel?!" Rosie cried "What are you taking about?"

I stepped aside and let Rosie see the message. Rosie leaped on the scanner, completely ignoring the Scan-Mo-Tron-2000's (that's the MedBay Scanner's official name by the way) constant shrieking. Rosie tried blindly to hug the empty air, in hope that Angel was there. I checked the scanner's wiring, gears and code. Nothing was broken. Everything seemed to be in working order. There was nothing that could have triggered this to happen. Nothing normal anyway.

Right then the lights went out, giving me a good distraction from all my wandering thoughts. Angel is a ghost? Ghosts exist? I sighed. Maybe I should've brought an Ouija board with me.

Me and Rosie walked down to Electrical in silence. Rosie was quietly crying as she followed me. Cogs tried to reassure her but Rosie pushed him away. I could tell she wanted a moment alone. 

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I flipped the last lever on the light generator. The lights flashed to life and so did my ability to see. I saw Rosie walking out the door. 

"Where are you going?"

"I want to be left alone. Please"

Rosie walked out, turned the corner and started sprinting to the dorms. I could hear faint sobbing and thudding as she left.

King and Teddybear was in Storage.

"What's up with Rosie?" Teddybear asked in concern.

"Yeah she looks like she's seen a ghost" added King, a bit too close to the actual situation for my comfort.

"Oh um, she misses her sister" I said. It wasn't technically a lie.

"Oh ok. Do you want us to check on her?" King offered.

"She clearly stated she wants to be left alone"

Teddybear looked around before saying "I really hope she's ok. This is way too much trauma than any child should experience."

I nodded "Ok sure. But can you follow me into MedBay? I want to scan in front of you."

They shrugged and made their way to MayBay. I looked around, wondering if Angel was around. I won't tell anyone about that incident. They probably wouldn't believe me in the first place. Thinking back, if someone told me they saw a ghost, I imagine that I'll have the same reaction. 

"Hey are you coming or should I leave you here?" Teddybear called.

"I am coming!" I yelled down the hallway.

Angel can wait. I have to make sure others don't suffer the same fate as her.