Inhuman (Jungkook ff)

Parvus Inventionis

When Maia awoke, she was still in Namjoon's office, except instead of light pouring through the windows, there was nothing but darkness.

Did he just leave me here?

Maia felt a pang of sadness strike her heart upon the realization that he didn't care about her as much as she'd like. Nevertheless, she rose from the settee and patted down her wrinkled dress. Despite having slept for hours, she still felt a bit groggy, as if oversleeping was somehow more harmful than sleep deprivation. When she left the office, she found that not only was it the night but that the main electric lights had been turned off and Hannah had lit the gaslights. Meaning that both had turned in for bed without waking her. She was sure Hannah was conflicted about leaving her to sleep on a cramped couch in the middle of a dark room, but knowing Namjoon, he probably shooed her off.

She began to walk down the dimly lit corridor with no real destination in mind. Like a lost soul doomed to haunt the earth, she traveled to this room and that trying to entertain herself before retired to her room for the night. After what seemed like an hour, Maia found herself in the kitchen.

Since her stomach had been making those strange noises for a while, she figured there was no use in walking away without a little snack. She had no problem navigating the kitchen due to her experience with helping Hannah during meals. Opening the cabinet, she retrieved a thick slice of pumpernickel bread. After lathering it with butter, Maia poured herself a tall glass of milk, similar to the ones she drank when she couldn't sleep.

She was just about to turn the corner to her room when an odd sound caught her ear. It wasn't loud or particularly alarming but was subtle enough to fall into the background if you weren't actively listening for it. She craned her neck, straining her ears in an attempt to grasp what that noise was and where it was coming from. She followed it to the other side of the hallway, the library, and upon further listening, she found it was the sound of books, opening and closing, and pages turning.

Maia tsked and started back for her room. Namjoon was also pulling late nights like this to study and brush up on his science or whatever he was doing at the time. She had no interest in talking to him anyway. She hated to admit her feelings were a bit hurt by his nonchalance towards her night terror last night. She stopped in front of her door and pushed it slightly ajar. It hadn't been opened since last night when she ran away in fear. She glanced around, there was nothing out of the ordinary and all things were in their place. Yet it still felt so strange, as if someone had been in there last night. She shook the feeling and took a deep breath.

She was going to go in and be a brave girl. Before stepping inside, she made note of the house's nighttime sounds. Frogs on the outside, the few crickets who had managed to sneak inside whistling every now and then, and Namjoon loudly snoring down the hall.

All was as it should be.

When she stepped inside, Maia approached her nightstand and placed her meager meal on top so that should slide on her nightgown.

Wait a moment...

'Frogs on the outside, the few crickets who had managed to sneak inside whistling every now and then, and Namjoon loudly snoring down the hall.'

If Namjoon is asleep,

who was in the library?

Maia felt the small hairs on the back of her neck rise to attention. It was as if her nightmare had slipped into reality. 

When she left her room and went to Namjoon's, she slowly poked her head in to see the sleeping doctor peacefully dozing without a care in the world. 

So he was there.

Suddenly, the walk down the hall to the library became a lot more ominous.

The pattering of her bare feet against the cold, polished floor was the only sound that echoed through the air. The sound in the library had ceased sometime between now and the arrival at her bedroom. A sliver of yellow light streamed through the partially opened door. When Maia slinked her way through the door, concentrated on not making a sound, she looked around for any sign of intruders. Nothing, in fact, the only way she could tell something was off was by the way several books littered the ground as if thrown in search of something. Cautiously, the young woman crept closer to the books on the ground and observed them. The titles ranged anywhere from 'The Last Days of Socrates' to the 'Social Contract'. There was no specific pattern or way they were thrown or any connection between the books. The only thing they had in common was that they were in fact, on the floor. 

Maia stooped and began to gather the literary masterpieces off the ground. After placing them on their respective shelves, Maia did another quick glance around the library and thought back to the sound she heard while passing not but a few minutes earlier. She just didn't understand how the empty library had suddenly become full of activity. Just then, a fluttering of pages caused her to turn her head towards the sound erupting from the silence. It came just beyond the shelf she stood behind. Without thinking twice, she glanced around the bookcase only to see a table.

Now this particular table, she knew for a fact, was one of Namjoon's favorite places to read and study. Maia also knew, the habit being woven into his obsessive-compulsive behavior, that whenever Namjoon was finished reading or studying, he would clear the table of any books or writing instruments he used that day. 

Which is why she found it so odd that the table that was normally so neat and clean at night was now littered with over a dozen books, all open and turned to random pages. Maia approached the table and tentatively flipped them to their covers, making sure to save the page they were on.

'Gray's Anatomy'  (yes, it is a real book)

'Anatomy of the Human Female' 

'Reanimation: Is it Possible?'

'Could the Functions of Organs Be Preformed by Machines?'

'Could The Dead Be Brought Back From Beyond the Grave?'

And the final title was very familiar to her,

'Frankenstein'

It was opened, like the others to a certain page, but this time there was something that caught her eye.

A  passage, crudely underlined, as if the pen was held by a shaky hand.

In a voice lower than a whisper, she read the highlighted words aloud,

"It is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account, we shall be more attached to one another."

As soon as the words left her mouth, a small draft blew through the room, as if it had been satisfied the moment she read that sentence and was contented enough to leave.

Drawing the book to her chest, she left as well, not bothering to glance back once.