Bit by Bit [II AU]

Body

What is a hotel to you?

A comfortable place to relax during a vacation?

A quick pit stop to rest before a long flight or drive?

A job opportunity?

Very nice answers indeed.

To me... I am a hotel.

"How can one be a hotel?" You may ask.

Simple. My body acts as one.

Each room a section of my mind- a memory, a place for one to rest. Some rooms are more comfortable than others, some much more violent and closed off. Some are hard to open, some are in the far back waiting to be found. Some are still empty and have yet to be filled.

All of them are part of me. A part of us.

The guests- no- the occupants will roam as freely as they want, carrying these memories- OUR memories.

Some of them have their own individual rooms, keeping the memories to themselves as a form of protection, or maybe even a form of resentment. Some will fight amongst the thin walls. Some will try to communicate and make peace.

What matters is we are one.

And sometimes... someone wants to break in. A virus. A virus who wants to know all of these memories. Someone to use them against me- against us.

And do you know what happens when a virus gets into a body?

There are two options.

It either crumbles at the mercy of the virus...

Or...

It fights back.

—

OJ woke up in the same void from the nightmare he had not too long ago. The flashing of the emptiness was disorienting as he tried looking around again for answers.

Was he asleep? Unconscious? Dead?

...Hopefully not the last one.

He took a few steps forward, his head dizzy from the flashing colors of the blank space surrounding him. That's when a mirror—the same mirror from his nightmare—appeared in front of him. The size of it intimidating him, terrifying him. In the reflection was the same disfigured reflection, only this time it was more clear.

Shards. Unsee-through, black glass shards twisted and bent into the shape of an upside down, stretched out trapezoid. The shards danced around in odd, puppet like ways in an attempt to stay in one place. One of its eyes was one large white circle, the other a constantly shifting polygon.

If it wasn't for its current state, it would most likely look just like OJ.

"What are you?" OJ finally asked after gaining his composure.

"What am I?" The figure asked back. "What a rude question."

The figure's voice echoed amongst the void, blasting into OJ's ears, causing him to fall onto his knees. The voice was piercingly loud, but also somehow so gentle...

"Sorry, I just-"

"You don't remember, do you?"

OJ stumbled back in confusion. "What?! What am- what am I not remembering here?! Who-"

The figure's shards began to move and morph into a more circular shape, two leaf like strings pointing out of the top of its head.

OJ panicked more, recognizing the figure now.