It's Nothing Personal

Chapter 2

It was a while before Toilet woke up. He didn't want to leave me alone to listen for the others and watch the door. He fell asleep on me a few minutes later. It was cute. He woke up later than he normally would've and couldn't map the sun like usual. I think he forgot about it pretty quick, he never brought it up.

"Goooood morning MePad!!! How's it-"

"No one's called in."

"Oh." He took a bit to process this. I could hear Paper trying to wake up OJ in their room behind us. Since the hotel was mainly empty now they took lots of time to just enjoy each others company. Last night they watched one of the new zombie horror movies that came out. An evil corporation tried to create a virus that would make people do whatever they were told, but it went horribly wrong. It sounded alright, but I heard that it got really bad reviews and barely made over half of its original budget. The sound of the radio clicking on broke my thoughts.

"Hel-o- c-- yo- h-ar me?" The walkie talkies were supposed to work no matter how far apart they were. Someone else must've been interfering with the connection. I didn't dwindle on it long, Toilet's worried yelling at the machine distracted me. I almost chuckled.

"Toilet, you need to turn on the mic. Hold on-" I went to turn it on, but OJ beat me to it. I guess Paper got him up.

"Hello? This is OJ, we can't understand you. What's going on?"

"You have to say 'over' dear." Paper's voice didn't help make the situation seem as dramatic as it should've been. In fact, Paper seemed like he shouldn't have been there at all. He seemed way too... innocent to be there.

"Oh yea, right," OJ started, "but if they really are in danger I'm sure they won't-"

"Pain-- is hu-t. We'-e comin- ba-k" The caller interrupted. It wasn't hard to understand what they had said. Given that their voice wasn't scratchy like TestTube's and Lightbulb was probably very worried about Paintbrush, the caller was Fan. He sounded surprisingly calm.

"Ok," OJ said, "We'll be here to help when you arrive, over." OJ, deciding that he should get ready for their arrival, started to leave. Paper followed.

"OJ," he hurriedly whispered, "Shouldn't we go help them bring Paintbrush back?"

"No, it's- it could be dangerous."

"What could POSSIBLY be in the woods that we wouldn't know about?" They walked up the stairs and I couldn't hear the rest of their conversation. Toilet leaned on me again. "Think they'll- be ok?" He said.

"... I don't see why they wouldn't."

"You hesitated." I was hoping he wouldn't have noticed.

"And?"

"You always hesitate when you're lying."

I underestimate, at times, how well Toilet knows me. It's nice.

And weird.

"I didn't hesitate, I'm just tired that's all." This wasn't a lie. I was awake for the entire week, waiting on the radio; my battery was lower than I can remember it being ever before. I was becoming reckless.

"... You sure you didn't lie MePad?" Toilet looked up at me. It was cute. From an entirely logical perspective, that is.

"I'm sure." As I said that OJ and Paper had returned, laden with first aid packages. "Speaking of, OJ! I'm running severely low on battery power," I displayed my battery icon on my screen, it was just under 10%, "And it'd be a good idea if I-"

"Yea, sure," OJ interrupted.

"Oh. Well in that case, I'd like to go recharge now. Excuse me." I pushed past OJ and Paper, Toilet saying a soft "G'Night!!" as I left.

It was nice, laying in bed after standing in the same place for so long. The covers seemed softer than I remembered. I closed the curtains, with some difficulty, so the room was bathed in a soft blue glow as the sunlight tried to get into the room. Falling asleep was harder than I expected. I was so used to Toilet's soft snoring that it felt too quiet without it. Eventually, sleep got the best of me.

I woke up late.

Judging from the sun it was around noon, although I wasn't sure due to my clock being messed up. 'That's weird' I didn't dwell long on it, however. Toilet's sun measurements hadn't been updated recently. I recommend that he did it every first day of every week of every month. He did it any day of every other week of each month. He was sporadic in that way. I didn't mind. If he hadn't marked the sun today then he must've not have came back to our room. He wouldn't have missed an entire week. He should've done it this week. What week was it? My calendar was glitchy, I decided to look for him.

I started off in the hallway. He wasn't there. I looked on the floors above us, but I still couldn't find him. The light from the sun was the only light in the whole hotel. I tried the lights but they didn't work. There was a weird buzzing in the background, it sounded like the static from the radio. "The radio!" If Toilet was anywhere he'd be at the radio! I ran downstairs, in my haste I didn't notice how dark it was, or the tall stranger behind the counter. The static was coming from the radio, it was deafening, but Toilet wasn't there either. I sighed, glitchy, still tired.

"Missing something 101?" The silhouette chuckled.

They knew my build number? I recognized their voice, but I couldn't remember who it belonged to.

"I'm afraid that he won't be able to talk to you here." The static seemed louder. I thought I had turned the radio off. "Not that you should care. Not that you CAN care."

"Who- who are you?" My voice was shaky. I can't remember the last time it was so shaky. I didn't even know it COULD be shaky.

"Come now 101. You can't remember your own creator? Tsk tsk tsk. I thought I had programmed you better. Did 4 really influence you this poorly?" Creator. Cobs. But what was he doing here, where was everyone?

"What did you do to him?"

"4? I thought you knew."

"No- Where's Toilet?"

"That isn't any of your business at the moment," he walked around the counter and stood in front of me, too close for comfort, "Besides you can't really care about him anyways, now, can you?" Cobs smirked at me. I didn't know how to respond. "He'll be fine. As long as he doesn't let the static get to him!" He laughed again. I couldn't do anything but watch him. "I'll cut you a deal, 101. All YOU need to do is make sure you two stay out of my way. It'd be a shame if a certain ceramic friend of ours DISAPPEARED, wouldn't it?"

I felt something I've never felt before. The overwhelming urge to punch someone. I don't even have the means to do that.

"My name is not 101. If you hurt Toilet I will-"

"It's getting late. You're battery should be full by now 101. I'm sure you'll be seeing me again. Soon. I'll be waiting!" His laughter floated around me as I snapped awake.

I had to find Toilet.