Pieces [Wattpad's Editor's Choice]

5: HeArTbEaT

"You go first."

The stairs were dark and stretched for miles. Or so it seemed. I shined my phone light ahead of me but the light only stretched five steps down.

"It was your idea to come here. Why don't I just stand guard on top of the stairs and you go do your thing?" Isaac leaned against the door frame behind me.

"Psh, fine. I'm not afraid." Not of monsters, anyway. But what if a raccoon lurked down there and attacked me?

I took the first step. The stairs were concrete, so it didn't make a sound. I looked back at Isaac. "Come with me or our deal's off."

"The deal was that I'd let you into the building, not follow you to some off-limits part of the science building to make 'love,' as you say."

"If you stay here and something happens to me, Professor Howard knows you're the last person I was with and you'll automatically become a suspect."

He pursed his lips. Shook his head. But he decided to follow.

We made our way downstairs and reached the bottom in just under a minute. There actually weren't that many stairs. I counted thirteen total; my lucky number for February, I guess. I felt the wall for a light switch, but there wasn't one.

"How does anyone find anything down here?" I whispered. My phone light collected specks of dust in the small beam as I slowly aimed my phone towards the left of the darkness.

A light flicked on-several lights, in fact-and I jolted, nearly dropping my phone.

They were fluorescent and bright all over the ceiling. It was white light that illuminated every blemish, every detail, every shadow on a person's face. I realized at that moment I was still in my black sweats and gray t-shirt with a hole near the belly-button. I also wasn't wearing any makeup. I'd spent the day crying over Ethan, so I'm sure my eyes were still puffy and red.

I glanced over at Isaac who stood on my right, his lips parted as he took in the room. In the light, I saw his dark hair was more black than brown-slightly wavy-and he had incredibly long eyelashes.

His mask of professionalism seemed so concrete, but what really went on in his head? Did he have any youth left in him? He had yet to smile tonight. Dark shadows lingered under his eyes like he never slept. But that wasn't a surprise because he was involved in everything on campus-remnants of a busy and fulfilling life, right?

Still, this was not the guy Luna swooned over in the days leading up to the night I caught them in the dorms together. She described him as comedic, sweet, gentlemanly, curious, and incredibly creative behind closed doors. After that one night, she didn't mention him and had found another guy to satisfy her needs. And after that year, Isaac became a recluse. He'd never be caught at any social events or with large groups of outgoing, reckless people. His poker face could stone Medusa.

I wondered what changed.

"The lights are automatic," Isaac said, dark eyes roaming the lab. "So this place is pretty up-to-date."

I looked around and noticed four metal tables, shiny and clean, in rows. There weren't any disturbing tools or contraptions that might be found in a morgue, and it didn't smell like blood or guts. Maybe it smelled more like...mint.

"This is nice," I said. "Okay, so I'm gonna need-"

"Whoa whoa, I'm not helping you with this."

"But what if I become famous? Your name won't be in the papers."

He shrugged. "Fame's not important to me."

"I'm kidding. I'm not selfish enough to drag you into this. Well, the experiment part anyway. This is my problem and I'm going to solve it. If I die, at least you'll get to see my final moments." I set the book on a table and started searching for a flask and other things the book told me I'd need.