Glass

Where's Toby?

I wake up slowly, yawning at the ceiling. That night was the first time I've gotten enough sleep in almost a week. I look over to see Lu, watching me worriedly.

"Morning bandages. How ya feeling?" He said quietly, reaching out and rubbing my arm.

"I'm good." I smile at him.

But then, the smile fades as I remember being held over a cruncher's mouth.

"Or... maybe not."

Lu nods and pushes off the rough blanket. "I finally found you after wandering around in that place for what felt like hours. I gave you a healing tablet, fixed you right up."

I frowned. "How long did it take to work?"

"What?"

"The tablet."

"Maybe 30 seconds, tops."

I nod, slowly. "Oh." I look back up at the ceiling. Maybe the one I tried was a fluke? I sit up slowly, rubbing my eyes. I look around the room and frown. "Where's Toby?"

Lu's face went cold. "I don't know." He looked away from me. "When I finally got you back, he was gone."

"Where?!"

"I don't know. I sent Mr. Smiley after..."

"You can't trust Mr. Smiley!" I slap my palms on the ground, leaning close to Lu. "He trapped me in there?"

Lu looks at me, confused. "What? He said you went in there and got lost."

"Well, I didn't! He made me go inside and then shut the door on me!" I'm shouting now. "You have to believe me, Lu!" Something wet drips down my cheek.

Lu looks taken aback. "Kanna, you don't have to cry..."

"I trust you, so why don't you trust me?"

"I do trust you! Calm down, okay? I believe you."

I sit back against the wall. My breathing is heavy. I rub my hands across my face and nod. "Okay."

"Okay." Lu takes both my hands. "Look at me."

I do.

"We're going to make it out of here, okay? We're getting that key."

I nod.

"But first, let's find Toby, okay? If we can't trust Mr. Smiley, then we'll have to do it ourselves."

"Okay."

Lu stands up, then gets some water. He hands it to me and sits back down across from me. "So, where do you think we should start first?" He asks.

I look at the cup for a moment, take a sip, then frown. "Um... I don't know. I don't know where he would've gone... " I trail off.

Lu nods. "Yeah, me either."

⧫            ⧫            ⧫

Whoosh.

Click.

Lu sighed as he walked down the hallway to the corn zone. He wasn't about to ask Kanna to go back in there, so he left her inside the room. He stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind him. "Hey!" He called.

It took maybe 10 seconds for multiple smilies to creep out of the corn.

"You three, I need to you 'hide' Toby's body in the forest zone. Make it obvious he's there. " Lu points at three of the smilies. His fingers make quotation mark signs as he says the word "hide." Then he walked over, grabbed some corn, and looked back behind him. "If you fail me, you'll end up like Mr. Smiley. Dead."

The smilies recoiled at the word dead. There was only one person who could kill a smiley.

Lu.

Lu smirked at them, then waved his hand. A door appeared. He stepped through and let it slam shut behind him.

Time to go "find" Toby.

Author's Note:

Alright, here is the ultimate question of the day: Are you team Vanessa or team Lu? If your answer ever changes please comment! I'd love to know how you feel!

Thanks for reading! Please vote and comment!