Emotions
We continue checking rooms on the third floor with no success. Soon our two hours are almost up, and it's time to meet up with the others on the ground floor. As soon as we reach the entrance of the school building we find Anette and April waiting for us. We start walking towards them but before we can even say hi, Chris and Sarah descend the staircase as well. Relief is visible on everyone's faces as we look around at one another. (Everybody's alive...) I heave a sigh of relief as we regroup. "Anyone found the key?" I immediately come out and ask the most important of questions. "Unfortunately, no." Chris states looking defeated. "We didn't find anything either..." April says in the same manner. "Neither did we." Max voices and we all fall silent. "Well no point brooding over it now. Let's have a quick 30 minute break for lunch and rest, so we can keep searching." Our leader announces as we all agree, except Chris. "What? We barely have any time to find the key and you wanna rest?" He protests, clearly irritated. "It's better to eat and rest now than mess up later because we're hungry and tired." April explains and Max gives a little nod as thanks. "Fine..." Chris voices while he sighs and sits down on the ground, while bringing his school bag in front of him. I sit down on the ground too while taking out the sandwich I made from my bag before we left the Home Base behind. Max on the other hand, with her map in front of her, calls April and Sarah, probably to mark the rooms they checked. I unwrap my sandwich and look at it, but before I take a bite, I scan the room for Anette. (She's been awfully quiet since we regrouped... more than usually at least.) I think as I see her rubbing her forehead. I sigh at myself as I get up and sit down next to her. "Something the matter?" I ask while she turns to look at me. "Y-Yeah...my head just hurts, that's all." She explains while I reach for my bag. "Your sixth sense must be taking its toll on you. Here." I speculate as I hand her a painkiller pill. She widens her eyes and takes the pill from my hands in hers. "Thank you, Jack." She gives me a small smile as she gulps it down and takes some crackers out of her bag. "Want some?" She says passing them to me. "Nah, I'm good. I have to take care of this bad boy first." I say while taking a bite out of my sandwich. She giggles and then turns her gaze in front of her. "Did you and Max talk about happy things while you were searching?" Anette asks and I nod, but after a few seconds I narrow my eyes and look at her. "Yeah, but how do you know?" I inquire as she tilts her head to the side in thought. "I don't know if you'll believe me or not, but you left behind a surge of emotions. Those emotions are still lingering inside that room. And I can tell that they're happy ones." She explains and now it's my turn to think about it. "Oh, something like the beacon you placed on our Home Base?" I ask as I remember what she did to pinpoint the location of the Home Ec classroom. "Exactly." She replies as she takes a bite out of a cracker and we sit there in silence, having our meal.
Soon, the 30 minutes are up and we are all ready to go. It was difficult to enjoy a meal when death is looming over us, but I forced myself to finish my sandwich anyway. We might not get another chance to eat and relax, after all. "So should we split up again?" Sarah asks and Chris is quick to complain. "There's clearly a problem with this strategy! When we split up and start searching again, we'll check room after room that we've already seen!" He explains and Max starts to think, a hand over her chin. "Yeah, that slows us down, alright. But I don't see a way around it." She states with a serious expression. "We can just ignore rooms we've already checked." April says but Chris protests once again. "We still need to open every door!" He claims while Sarah nods behind him. "And we have to go slowly, in case there are any traps..." She adds to the mix. "Oh and don't forget all the rooms that look like one another, so you have to stare at it, trying to figure out if you've been there or not!" Sarah continues as we all realize we need to find a way around all this. "It's true. The ever-shifting layout of the school forces us to waste time while searching." I state and everybody fidgets around in thought. "I have an idea... Actually Jack and Max were the ones who gave me that idea." She claims as me and Max exchange confused glances. "I felt the emotional residue on a room on the 2nd floor earlier, and I can still pinpoint its location. It's on the 3rd floor." She states and I realize as the cogs inside my head spin around. "Oh, that must have been when we talked about that group project!" Max realizes as well. "So if we place emotional beacons on rooms that you can track, you'll be able to tell which rooms we've checked and which rooms we haven't! That way we can cross off rooms from the map and avoid the ones we have already checked!" I shout out in yet another eureka moment. "Yes, exactly!" Anette voices excitedly right after me. "But doesn't this put too much strain on you, Anette?" April inquires as Anette shakes her head. "It won't be a problem. I prefer a headache over being dead." She states and I chuckle at that. (I honestly didn't think I'd live to see the day where Anette would just casually crack a joke...) "So all we have to do is find rooms we haven't checked, check them and start thinking about something strong enough to place an emotional beacon?" Max asks while Anette nods. "Okay that sounds like a plan. We should go in pairs again. Does anyone have any preferences about who to be paired with?" Max asks while giving me and April THE LOOK. "I'll go with Chris again, we were in the literature club together so we'll find something for that beacon of yours." Sarah announces as Max speaks up immediately after. "And Jack will be going with April. I'm sure they'll put up a BUNCH of emotional lovey-dovey beacons for us!" She states with a wink, while April covers her face with her hands and I look away. "MAX!" We both cry out in a scolding manner. "Great! So it's settled. April and Jack take the 3rd floor. Me and Anette take the 1st one and the ground floor while Sarah and Chris take the 2nd." Max announces and we all split up with an affirmative nod.
The sun has already gone down, and it's practically pitch black outside. Thankfully the hallways have automatic lighting in case it gets dark, so the time of day does not bother us. Except of course that we're one step closer to our time limit. As of now, I'm walking down the hallway with April at my side as we start searching. As April opens a door all the way, we both peek inside and notice that there lies the student council meeting room. (That's where we found April unconscious, in the first day of this whole ordeal...) I think to myself as the girl next to me chuckles. "What?" I ask her and she shakes her head. "Just thinking... this is where it all started, huh?" April says, her voice trailing off. She takes a piece of crumbled paper and tosses it inside. "We already know there aren't any traps here, though." I state while she shrugs. "Better safe than sorry, mister." April replies as she walks inside the room, and lightly caresses the wooden round table in the center. I follow suit as I step inside, and I'm instantly reminded of the first ever day we got trapped here. "It feels like an eternity ago, although just 2 days have passed." I blurt out as she turns to look at me. "I know... So much has changed." She says while slowly walking closer to me. "I didn't even know who you were 3 days ago..." She says, her voice fading away slightly. "It feels surreal... How much our lives have changed in the course of just 3 days." I voice my thoughts as the girl in front of me gently rests her hands on my shoulders. "Even though death is a real possibility at any given time, I still wouldn't trade the time we spent together and with everyone, for anything." She states and I nod in understanding. "I feel the same way, honestly. We've changed for the better. Both of us. So let's get out of here, and enjoy the fruits of our labor." I voice while placing my hands on her waist. "Once we get out of here... What will we be?" She asks and for a moment I stop to think. "Is that a trick question?" I answer with a question of my own. "Nope." She replies briefly, her eyes always locking with mine. Before I even realize, we bring our faces together and lock lips rather than eyes, for a mere 5 seconds or so. When we pull apart, the answer comes naturally. "I want us to be THIS, when we get out of here." I say softly. "That's what I wanted to hear, mister." She grins at me and gives me a peck on the lips before separating. "I think this will be a good emotional beacon." She comments as we look around the room for the key, but obviously and unfortunately it's nowhere to be found. As I close the door behind me, and click the lights off April who's walking down the hallway turns to me. "When you said there's a lot we haven't done yet, what exactly did you mean?" She asks and for a moment I'm taken aback. "What's that all about?" I chuckle and ask. "Answer the question miisteeer!" She cutely drags out the word as she walks next to me. "Uhm... I don't know. Dates, movies and stuff?" I reply in a somewhat unsure manner. "You wanna go to the movies?" She asks me while tilting her head to the side. "Yep, why not? We can watch the new James Bond movie..." I suggest and she giggles. "Sure, we can watch James Bond, but no Titanic!" She playfully smirks at me. "Hey, I told you I'm not a fan!" I quickly throw back as she laughs and walks further ahead from me. We continue onto the next door and continue checking rooms in this fashion, enjoying each other's company as we go.
Soon, we're back in the school building entrance with everybody else, and it's time for us to see our progress on the map. April and I managed to mark several rooms, including the student council meeting room, as well as the faculty room. As we explain the kind of emotional beacon it is, Max marks off each one, while Anette adds a special symbol by the rooms we successfully marked. After doing so, Sarah and Chris do the same and in a matter of minutes we have marked off a significant amount of rooms. We all catch a breather as Max stares into the map with a perplexed expression on her face. "Uh-oh..." She makes a sound that everybody's curious and we all come closer to her. "What?! What happened?!" Chris who is on clearly on edge, speaks out first. "This is something I actually didn't expect..." Max says as we're all figuratively on the edge of our seats. "What's wrong?" I ask as she raises her head from the map and looks at all of us. "We've checked every room." She voices bluntly. "Wait what?!" I immediately cry out in response as everybody else is in the midst of panic. "This can't be!" Chris protests while he comes closer to see for himself. "Look." Max says while waving her hand at the map. While only some of the rooms are marked as having beacons, every single one is either crossed off or marked as having one of the three keys we already found. "How is this possible?" April inquires, clearly confused. (We've searched every room, and we still haven't found the 4th and last key. Did we miss it? Or more precisely, does it even exist...?)
Soon, the 30 minutes are up and we are all ready to go. It was difficult to enjoy a meal when death is looming over us, but I forced myself to finish my sandwich anyway. We might not get another chance to eat and relax, after all. "So should we split up again?" Sarah asks and Chris is quick to complain. "There's clearly a problem with this strategy! When we split up and start searching again, we'll check room after room that we've already seen!" He explains and Max starts to think, a hand over her chin. "Yeah, that slows us down, alright. But I don't see a way around it." She states with a serious expression. "We can just ignore rooms we've already checked." April says but Chris protests once again. "We still need to open every door!" He claims while Sarah nods behind him. "And we have to go slowly, in case there are any traps..." She adds to the mix. "Oh and don't forget all the rooms that look like one another, so you have to stare at it, trying to figure out if you've been there or not!" Sarah continues as we all realize we need to find a way around all this. "It's true. The ever-shifting layout of the school forces us to waste time while searching." I state and everybody fidgets around in thought. "I have an idea... Actually Jack and Max were the ones who gave me that idea." She claims as me and Max exchange confused glances. "I felt the emotional residue on a room on the 2nd floor earlier, and I can still pinpoint its location. It's on the 3rd floor." She states and I realize as the cogs inside my head spin around. "Oh, that must have been when we talked about that group project!" Max realizes as well. "So if we place emotional beacons on rooms that you can track, you'll be able to tell which rooms we've checked and which rooms we haven't! That way we can cross off rooms from the map and avoid the ones we have already checked!" I shout out in yet another eureka moment. "Yes, exactly!" Anette voices excitedly right after me. "But doesn't this put too much strain on you, Anette?" April inquires as Anette shakes her head. "It won't be a problem. I prefer a headache over being dead." She states and I chuckle at that. (I honestly didn't think I'd live to see the day where Anette would just casually crack a joke...) "So all we have to do is find rooms we haven't checked, check them and start thinking about something strong enough to place an emotional beacon?" Max asks while Anette nods. "Okay that sounds like a plan. We should go in pairs again. Does anyone have any preferences about who to be paired with?" Max asks while giving me and April THE LOOK. "I'll go with Chris again, we were in the literature club together so we'll find something for that beacon of yours." Sarah announces as Max speaks up immediately after. "And Jack will be going with April. I'm sure they'll put up a BUNCH of emotional lovey-dovey beacons for us!" She states with a wink, while April covers her face with her hands and I look away. "MAX!" We both cry out in a scolding manner. "Great! So it's settled. April and Jack take the 3rd floor. Me and Anette take the 1st one and the ground floor while Sarah and Chris take the 2nd." Max announces and we all split up with an affirmative nod.
The sun has already gone down, and it's practically pitch black outside. Thankfully the hallways have automatic lighting in case it gets dark, so the time of day does not bother us. Except of course that we're one step closer to our time limit. As of now, I'm walking down the hallway with April at my side as we start searching. As April opens a door all the way, we both peek inside and notice that there lies the student council meeting room. (That's where we found April unconscious, in the first day of this whole ordeal...) I think to myself as the girl next to me chuckles. "What?" I ask her and she shakes her head. "Just thinking... this is where it all started, huh?" April says, her voice trailing off. She takes a piece of crumbled paper and tosses it inside. "We already know there aren't any traps here, though." I state while she shrugs. "Better safe than sorry, mister." April replies as she walks inside the room, and lightly caresses the wooden round table in the center. I follow suit as I step inside, and I'm instantly reminded of the first ever day we got trapped here. "It feels like an eternity ago, although just 2 days have passed." I blurt out as she turns to look at me. "I know... So much has changed." She says while slowly walking closer to me. "I didn't even know who you were 3 days ago..." She says, her voice fading away slightly. "It feels surreal... How much our lives have changed in the course of just 3 days." I voice my thoughts as the girl in front of me gently rests her hands on my shoulders. "Even though death is a real possibility at any given time, I still wouldn't trade the time we spent together and with everyone, for anything." She states and I nod in understanding. "I feel the same way, honestly. We've changed for the better. Both of us. So let's get out of here, and enjoy the fruits of our labor." I voice while placing my hands on her waist. "Once we get out of here... What will we be?" She asks and for a moment I stop to think. "Is that a trick question?" I answer with a question of my own. "Nope." She replies briefly, her eyes always locking with mine. Before I even realize, we bring our faces together and lock lips rather than eyes, for a mere 5 seconds or so. When we pull apart, the answer comes naturally. "I want us to be THIS, when we get out of here." I say softly. "That's what I wanted to hear, mister." She grins at me and gives me a peck on the lips before separating. "I think this will be a good emotional beacon." She comments as we look around the room for the key, but obviously and unfortunately it's nowhere to be found. As I close the door behind me, and click the lights off April who's walking down the hallway turns to me. "When you said there's a lot we haven't done yet, what exactly did you mean?" She asks and for a moment I'm taken aback. "What's that all about?" I chuckle and ask. "Answer the question miisteeer!" She cutely drags out the word as she walks next to me. "Uhm... I don't know. Dates, movies and stuff?" I reply in a somewhat unsure manner. "You wanna go to the movies?" She asks me while tilting her head to the side. "Yep, why not? We can watch the new James Bond movie..." I suggest and she giggles. "Sure, we can watch James Bond, but no Titanic!" She playfully smirks at me. "Hey, I told you I'm not a fan!" I quickly throw back as she laughs and walks further ahead from me. We continue onto the next door and continue checking rooms in this fashion, enjoying each other's company as we go.
Soon, we're back in the school building entrance with everybody else, and it's time for us to see our progress on the map. April and I managed to mark several rooms, including the student council meeting room, as well as the faculty room. As we explain the kind of emotional beacon it is, Max marks off each one, while Anette adds a special symbol by the rooms we successfully marked. After doing so, Sarah and Chris do the same and in a matter of minutes we have marked off a significant amount of rooms. We all catch a breather as Max stares into the map with a perplexed expression on her face. "Uh-oh..." She makes a sound that everybody's curious and we all come closer to her. "What?! What happened?!" Chris who is on clearly on edge, speaks out first. "This is something I actually didn't expect..." Max says as we're all figuratively on the edge of our seats. "What's wrong?" I ask as she raises her head from the map and looks at all of us. "We've checked every room." She voices bluntly. "Wait what?!" I immediately cry out in response as everybody else is in the midst of panic. "This can't be!" Chris protests while he comes closer to see for himself. "Look." Max says while waving her hand at the map. While only some of the rooms are marked as having beacons, every single one is either crossed off or marked as having one of the three keys we already found. "How is this possible?" April inquires, clearly confused. (We've searched every room, and we still haven't found the 4th and last key. Did we miss it? Or more precisely, does it even exist...?)
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