When you peak your head under your bed you see...
Aris. He has half of his body out of the vent and is looking at you curiously. You jump a bit and yelp, which causes him to lift his finger to his mouth, shushing you.
"Aris!? What are you doing here?" You whisper to him.
"Shh, follow me." He says then turns and crawls back into the vent.
You freeze, not knowing what to do but decide to follow him. You could trust Aris.
You get off your bed and slide under it, the tight space between the floor and your bed making you claustrophobic. You manage to crawl through to the vent opening, making it into the large vent shafts.
Being in the vents is like being in a whole different world. The vents are grey but there's red lights reflecting everywhere, coming from an unknown source.
The vents themselves seem to be breathing, but it's just the breeze coming from an AC unit.
Aris continues crawling then sneaks a peek behind him, the smallest hint of smile on his face as he makes sure you're okay.
He crawls forward a bit then makes a sudden left then right turn.
All the while your thoughts are swarming, where is Aris taking you? Are we gonna fall through the vents or get busted? What if someone wakes up and notices i'm missing?
You're snapped out of your thoughts as Aris comes to a stop ahead of you.
You crash into him a bit, putting you both in an awkward position. You apologize, and he forgives you with a slight chuckle.
"Why did you stop?" You ask him, "Here, come up front." He says as he motions with his arm. "I want you to see something." He says.
You crawl up next to him, thankful for the wide vents. You see a huge vent grate, similar to the one Aris pushed open to get into your room, only this time it's larger.
You can see through the metal bars of it and see a blank white hallway, the same as any other hallway here.
You start to ask him another question but he cuts you off.
"Listen, they should be coming soon." He says, holding up his hand.
You listen intently and begin hear footsteps incoming. You start to panic but Aris puts his arm on your shoulder making you realize that you're safe up here in the vents.
An African American doctor walks through the hall with a long white lab coat, light blue scrubs on underneath, and a clipboard in her hand.
She reaches for a large metal door just barely in your line of vision, then pulls it open and hold it there as you hear more footsteps approach.
What looks like a stretcher is carted into the room. You get a quick glimpse of it, but it's enough to freak you out.
There's a thin white sheet covering what must be a body laying on the stretcher. A blue digital pad is on the stretcher as well. From what you can see, it has statistics like the persons heart rate, height, and a full model of their body.
This gives you the creeps. You look at Aris, his expression smug, but it softens when he looks at you. "Just look, there's more." He says, pointing at the vent grate.
About five or so of those stretchers roll into the room. The doctor who was holding the door open the door shuts it, the loud slam echoing through the halls.
You look over at Aris. He must sense your distress and says, "It's okay, i won't let anyone hurt you, we just have to make sure that Janson doesn't call our names at dinner."
This somewhat reassures you. "Thanks for showing me this Aris, this is really important. I think we should be careful but i won't tell the others just yet, we can't be sure that those are the kids Janson calls every night." You say and he nods.
You turn around to leave the vents, a wave of fatigue hitting you, but Aris pulls on your shirt, "Y/N wait!" He says.
"I have a place i want to show you." He says, then he cuts in front of you, leading you deeper into the vents to a secret spot next to a nice and warm heater.
Aris sits down in front of the heater and motions with his hands for you to join him, so you do.
You sit next to him, heart racing from how close you both are. You can feel his heart pounding as well as hope it's a good thing.
The wave of fatigue runs over you again, and the heat of the heater is beginning to lull you to sleep.
You rest your head on Aris' shoulder, his arms wrapping around your body.
You're only aware of you and him in this moment, the world seems to drift away from you.
You look up to his sparking blue eyes and your heart suddenly fills with something. Love, it fills with love.
"Aris, I- uhh-" you stutter out, trying to explain how you feel to him when he cuts you off, "It's okay Y/N, i have something i've been meaning to ask you." He says.
"What is it?" You ask, trying not to get your hopes up too high.
"I was wondering if, well," he trails off, "If you would want to be my girlfriend." He asks, turning a shade of pink you've never seen before.
"I would love to be your girlfriend." You say, giving him a hug that he returns, putting his hands around your waist.
You stay like that for a while until Aris releases you, "Let's go back to our rooms." whispers Aris, and you nod your head sadly.
You and Aris begin to crawl back to your room. After a while, you get to a vent gate the looks like one in your room.
You crawl up to the little gate of the vent, making an effort to get out of it. Once you were out, you turn to Aris.
"Thanks for this." You say, a blush growing on your cheeks.
"No problem." He says with his adorable smile plastered on his face.
He then turns to leave. Once he had left, you sat on your bed, knowing it would be a while until sleep came. You still felt your heart thumping out of your chest.
The rush of being with Aris was starting to wear off, although you couldn't stop thinking about him. Eventually your eyelids shut and the land of dreams consumed you.
