The light from the Timeline is too bright for me to keep my eyes closed. It has an incredible, sharp, cold sort of shine, making me wonder why I never noticed it that its glass case is tinted. It must be awfully powerful to generate such a bright aura... I am so completely fixated by it that I don't realize that someone else has entered the Hall.
"Lex? Are you asleep?" It's Keeda. "I'm worried about you. You seem just... disconcerted. If you're awake, just tell me. You can talk to me."
I lay there, trying to breath as evenly as possible. I don't want to talk to her. I don't want to talk to anyone, honestly. My idol is wearing cuffs that murdered someone. I am on the brink of execution. And the Professor is coming back in a few days. We can't hide anything after that.
I listen in silence as Keeda's footsteps fade. I close my eyes. Attempt to block out the light.
I fail.
Sighing, I reach for the stack of books I had brought from my room. Flipping on the flashlight on my phone, I scan the titles.
Astronomy for Dummies
How to Keep a Hot-Head Cool
Othello
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
James Herriot: All Creatures Great and Small
I reach for the one on the bottom, All Creatures Great and Small. It's been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember, even though I've been told it's not exactly a history book. It's the history of British vet in the early 1900's, so I believe that counts. He, James Herriot, tells the stories of his practice in several volumes. It was a strange thing, I thought, that someone recounting their experiences help birth pigs could be so fascinating.
Shining the light from my phone onto the worn page, I read the words I know by heart once more. As I do, I twist the ring on my middle finger. The soft gold, oddly cold against my skin, presses comfortably against my finger. Round, twist, round, twist... the faded words smile up from the pale pages, flashing in the pale illumination from my phone.
"What the-" I drop my phone, book tumbling to the floor. The ring had shocked me. Odd... I stare at it through the curtain of darkness, biting my lip through the shock of sudden pain. I twisted it again, yet nothing happened. Must've been static electricity... I sit in the quiet, slightly smothering darkness for a moment longer, then lay back down, only moving to power my phone off.
The Timeline dances its strange pattern out in the glass container while I lay, dancing with my own thoughts, All Creatures Great and Small returned to the top of my stack of books.
The heavy humming peace was suddenly disturbed by a long bang. I froze, trying to even my breathing. Don't be Keeda again... don't... just leave...
"Hello? Is anyone in here?" A soft voice.
In, out, in, out...
"Ok, this is apparently the only place here that you can get some good sleep." I kept my breathing perfectly normal, squinting my eyes shut.
The dark figure moved to the center of the room, near the Timeline. Their back was towards me, and of this I was grateful: they would not know I was here. The person laid down, stuffing a pillow they had apparently brought with them under their head and curling up. The Timeline ticked off the infinite seconds while I lay tense. Eventually the person's breathing slowed, and I relaxed.
I woke the beautiful, serenading sound of screaming from the corridor.
"We lost him! We lost Kim Taehyung!"
Rubbing my eyes, I pulled myself upright, blinking in the shockingly bright sunlight shattering in patches on the cracked tile floor.
"Please don't tell her..." A voice muttered from somewhere next to my ear. I whipped around, instantaneously regretting it as I cracked my head against someone else's.
"The fu-" Stars burst violently across my vision, spinning in dizzying patterns.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Taehyung said as I shook my head, attempting to clear the spots from my vision.
"What, by Satan's bloody tail, are you doing there?" I spat, staring at him, all off my respect flying out the window. He was wedged between my bed and the wall, peering up through the 6-inch space.
Taehyung blinked, looking away as well as he could while pressed against the wall, "Hiding, I suppose."
Embarrassment. That's all I could glean from his expression, and I titled my head in confusion, "From who? And... why under my makeshift-bed?"
"That woman, Hyun, or whatever her name was, clearly doesn't have the same basic needs as everyone else, she didn't sleep at all!"
Snorting, I nodded, remembering how many long nights had dragged by before I had managed to learn to sleep through the continual flow of cacophonous noise, "Yeah. But that doesn't explain-"
"-why I'm here. I couldn't sleep in that blue room, too loud. I thought it was empty in here, so... I slept on the floor next to the giant glowly-thing."
My eyes shot open in surprise, "What do you mean?"
"I couldn't sleep so I came-"
"I know what you said, but why here?"
"It was quiet. And I thought she wouldn't find me here."
"She?"
Taehyung shivered, I assumed, involuntarily. "Keedin? Keesha?"
"Keeda," I suppressed a smile, "She can be... eccentric."
"Lex!" A voice cut through our conversation.
"Speak of the devil," I sniffed, and to my surprise, Taehyung ducked back under the thin bed frame, offering no reply. Keeda bounded into the room, scanning it briefly before turning to me, almost frantic.
"Lex, Lex, I can't find Mr. Kim!"
A snort from under the bed.
"So?"
"What do you mean, so? What if-"
"He's cuffed. Nothing will happen, like last time." I bit my lip, repressing my own pain.
"Alright... whatever you say..." Keeda's eyes had darkened, and her energy seemed to drain as she murmured, "Yeah. Like last time."
A/N
I was really tired when I wrote this so I'll probably go back and edit it later for grammar mistakes and tense issues, sorry for anything that doesn't make sense~
