Killing Game Quarter

Chapter 6: The Sleepless and The Broken Part 3

Our footsteps echoed through the hallway as we walked, as a question popped into my head for Urkstin. Unfortunately, Akira beat me to it and asked for me.

“You seem really excited for an art room, Urkstin.” She commented, catching her breath after running to catch up.

“Well duh! I wanna paint!”

“Do you have any ideas on what you want to paint?” I interrogated, curious about his design process.

“Oh, absolutely not! I usually come up with art ideas once I’m already into it!” He responded, flashing his goofy smile, “Planning stuff out just isn’t my style.”

“I see…” I murmured, even more interested to see his design process. By the time we had finished the sequel to our small talk, we had already rounded the corner towards the library, reaching the cell door shortly after.

As was already established by the Loudspeaker, this door was open as well, and we walked down the new hallway, looking for doors for new areas. Pretty soon after we arrived, we found a door on our left, and entered into a room that made a certain someone happy.

“NO WAY!” Urkstin cried out as he entered an art room. Liam was already in there, and his face was one of almost concern as he saw Urkstin rushing over to the easel that Liam was in front of.

“SOMEONE GET ME SOME PAINT! IT’S ART TIME!” Urkstin shouted, shoving Liam out of the way and setting the easel. Akira and I watched him prepare and breathe heavily like some kind of savage animal. Liam, surprisingly, was the one to collect and give Urkstin the paint and brushes he was looking for.

“I expect to see a magnificent piece before the end of the day.”Liam quipped, smiling lightly at the already painting Urkstin, before making his way to us.

“Anything interesting around here?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, there is not much that would constitute interest from anyone besides Mr. Urkstin. There are just painting supplies throughout this room,” Liam explained, “What about your search?”

“There’s a courtyard with a barred off sunroof. That’s about it.” Akira explained, leading to Liam nodding.

“I see. Well, at least we will be able to pick up a natural amount of vitamin D now.” He explained optimistically. “Were you two planning on exploring the rest of the hallway? I am almost positive that there was another room further down.”

“Sure, I’ve got nothing better to do.” I shrugged, before leaning past Liam to Urkstin, “We’re going to continue down the hallway, let me know when you’re done.”

“Will do!” He answered, furiously covering the entire canvas with paint as we left. We continued to walk down the hallway, now with a new trio.

“Have you ever considered the possibility that the one behind this has been lying about the time of day mentioned in the announcements?” Liam inquired, rubbing his chin.

“I don’t see why they would do that.” I responded, unsure as to where this was heading.

“I mean they could be lying to actually make us stay in our cells, that’s what you meant, right Liam?” Akira retorted, continuing where Liam left off. Liam nodded in approval.

“If they were not being truthful about their day and night cycle, that would just become yet another circumstance that they control over us.” Liam finished, “They seem to have a growing theme of wanting control over us.”

“Well if they wanted to have that power over us, why give us the option of being able to see the sun through the courtyard?” I retorted.

“Maybe they just wanna see how upset it’ll make us if they were lying about the whole thing.” Akira interjected, shrugging her shoulders, “They’re crazy, that kinda stuff isn’t out of line for them.”

“That’s… not a bad point I guess.” I responded, feeling reminded of how insane this person was. Thankfully I didn’t have long to think about that topic though, as a new door was approaching us on our right. We went to open it and… it was locked.

“Ok, what the hell.” Akira hissed. I took the time to look around for some kind of door lock, or code to input, but when I looked above the door frame, I realized why it was locked.

“This is the trial room.” I spoke, causing Liam and Akira to turn towards me, as I pointed up to above the door frame. There was another wooden plank, like the ones with our names on them, hanging above the door, simply reading ‘Court’.

“Huh. Well, I guess that solves the problem of getting knocked out.” Akira commented, “Isn’t that sweet of them.”

“Yes, almost as sweet as black coffee.” Liam remarked, before turning towards the rest of the unwalked hallway, “I almost forgot to mention, but it seems that our path ends here. There is another gate down the hallway.”

“Oh, you’re right.” I said, turning to see the cell gate at the end of the hallway, “Well, at least one of us is happy with the contents of these hallways,” 

“Urkstin’s too much of a cinnamon roll, if he wasn’t happy, I would probably try and find and beat up the person behind this.” Akira muttered, catching Liam’s attention.

“That reminds me. Ms. Aka, Ms. Akira, I am going to be looking into a way to get into the inner workings of this building in the showers,” He started, heading back down the hallway, “If you want to join me, the help will be appreciated.”

“Oh, yeah, I might come with you. I’ve got nothing better to do.” Akira agreed, catching up to Liam, before turning back to me, “What about you Aka?”

“Oh, uh…” I was caught off guard by her offer, and in the brief moment I had, I thought about if I wanted to hang out with them, or someone else.

. . .

“Ah, sorry guys, but I was planning on hanging out with Mia.” I replied, “She seems really ruffled up after yesterday, so I wanna make sure that she’s alright.”

“That is commendable Ms. Aka. I wish you the best in your efforts.” Liam respectfully answered, before tapping Akira on the shoulder, “We should get going as well then.”

“Ah, right. See you later Aka!” Akira announced, waving goodbye as her and Liam turned the corner. After a long deep breath, and a moment to think about what I was going to say to her, I began my tread back to the cafeteria.