BELLRAM V01 - Ambivalence of Light and Shadow I

BP001-P29 - Pralines 11

"I-I didn't see anything."

"There's no point in denying it anymore."

Rujell came to her the last few shirts.

Anxiously, Meia squinted her eyes. But what she had expected did not happen.

She felt a hand grab her forearm and pull her forward a bit, but then she was already let go, which is why she dared to look again.

"Please stay here and I warn you, do not leave this place. I just need to get something for a minute."

Before the end of this statement, she went to a door on the left, then into the room, locking it behind her.

The hallway turned silent.

She had left them alone.

Would it not be wise to just run away now? Although she had specifically said that Meia would regret it.

While Meia was struggling what to do, Lijeux came running out of her hiding.

"Time to run!" she called out to her and then grabbed her by the wrist to drag her along.

Meia ran with her.

They ran past the trolley and further down the hall.

Looking back, she saw no one. Despite the ruckus, the maid did not come back out of the room.

While running, Lijeux tried to open doors on the right. The first two she tried were locked. The first one that opened was the third.

Hastily she pulled Meia into the room and quickly closed the door.

The last spark of light went out and they stood in full darkness.

"I'll turn on the light."

Several times a click came from her direction, but nothing happened.

"Why doesn't this trash work? - We have to go somewhere else."

At the same moment, the door lock next to them clicked.

Meia knew what that meant.

They were locked in here.

"Huh?"

Lijeux could not believe it and rattled the door handle, but as expected, the door did not open. It was locked from outside.

Only seconds later, Meia heard a door open from the hallway to the next room.

"We're trapped."

"She's trying to trap us here. We have to keep moving."

Lijeux grabbed her by the hand and dragged her along again.

Through the darkness they stumbled off, along the wall and past furniture.

Her goal was probably to get to another door.

Wherever that was.

"This is all your fault. If you weren't so slow, I wouldn't have gone in here at all."

"If you had taken me up to my room right away like you were supposed to, we wouldn't be here either."

"If you didn't have your room up here, we wouldn't be here either."

"I didn't choose it, did I?"

"That doesn't make any sense at all."

Barely audible, a door in the same room slowly opened, but no light fell in.

Meia knew what that meant too.

They were no longer alone in the room.

A door lock clacked softly.

Meia, unfortunately, also knew what that meant.

They were locked in with her.

Meia tried her best to listen, but her footsteps were almost inaudible. She was as quiet as a cat. However she was undoubtedly getting closer. How could she find her way so well in the dark?

"Um... She's already in the-"

"Ah, a door!" Lijeux rattled a door handle loudly. "Crap closed too."

Meanwhile, Meia heard a third breath near them.

"Um, Lijeux?"

"What, we have to go on-"

Suddenly, a red orb flared next to and lit up a devilishly smiling face.

"Do you want me to open that door for you?"

Lijeux screamed in terror, stumbled backward, half hit his back on a cabinet, toppled over, and plopped on his butt.

Reams of oddments bounced clattering out of her bag. A pen, a key, marbles and many sunflower seeds slipped and rolled away from her across the parquet floor.

Even Meia herself had been a little startled, even though she had heard her coming. The red ball was just a bathroom lamp. It was one of those cheap ones that you could put in the bathtub and it would float in the water. It was a ball of glass with oil floating in it and there was a carrying handle on top. Rujell had kept it higher on purpose to look creepier.

"He-Hello Rujell. What are you doing here? You scared the hell out of me. Don't you have anything better to do? "

Rujell did not answer her, instead she thrust the lamp into Meia's hand, unlocked the door with her key, pushed it open, and turned back to Meia.

"Here you go."

"Thank you?"

Somewhat hesitantly, Meia ventured out of the room into the hallway.

Meanwhile, Lijeux had already picked herself up and was hastily stuffing her stuff back into her bag. She left some of the seeds to finish more quickly.

When she had somewhat everything, she hopped up and was about to follow Meia to freedom, but a hand grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Rujell?" she asked anxiously, glancing behind. "Can you let go? I have to go help her change, don't I? Rujell?"

Rujell just smiled as she simultaneously pulled her backwards back into the room.

"Rujell? Don't you have to take care of Butterbread? He's all alone, isn't he? Rujell? Do you really have time to fool around here?"

" I would love to feed Butterbun, but someone has stolen all his seeds."

"Who-who would do something like that? I'll help you find the thief if you let me go. Rujell?"

"Oh, I already know who did it."

"Is-is that so? I'm glad, then I can go now."

She tried to leave, but could not really get away. Rujell's grip was too tight and seemed to tighten even more.

"Rujell, you're hurting me. Will you please let go?"

"Miss Arvis, I would like to ask you to excuse us for a moment."

Rujell leaned forward and pulled the door shut with his free hand.

"Ru-Rujell?"

Lijeux slowly realized she was not going to let go. Desperatly she reached out to Meia in last hope.

"Help me!"

But Meia did nothing.

The door closed.

Meia remained alone in the hallway.

"Rujell, I know what you're thinking. These are not yours. They're different ones. You know, I grow sun plants on my balcony, that's why I got these. I wanted to grow something for your hamster. These are different seeds. They're not yours. Rujell? No, Rujell! No! Help! AAAaaaaaaaa...!!!"

~What is she doing to her?~ Meia could not really make out what was heppening behind the door. Besides her screaming, it sounded like she was going down on her knees. That was all that could be deciphered. But it sounded terrifying. ~This is not bullying anymore. This is workplace violence.~

.../ End Part