The Babysitter

It Can Get Worse...

A/N: me originally trying to make this a happy book.
Okay I failed and it's ⚠️TRIGGER WARNING⚠️ time - suggestions of su!c!de

Lime's PoV:

Staring down at the tiny map on my tablet, I navigate my way through HQ, racing through the halls.

And straight into a wall.

"Ow" I murmur as I crumple to the floor. Why did this always happen to me?
I'm pretty sure nobody else still had to use the map to get around, and they definitely looked where they were going.

"Hey Lime" a small voice calls from behind me. Picking myself up off the floor, I turn to see Emerald, with Peach and Rose stood a small distance behind him.
"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you" I respond, smiling."wait a sec... why are you here, and not with the others?"

"I wanted to do tasks" Emerald shrugs, retrieving my tablet and glancing at the lengthly list of tasks before returning it to me. "You were trying to get to comms?"

"Yeah" I agree, "to di-"

"Accept the diverted power!" Rose finishes off for me, a proud grin plastered across her face.

"And I know the way!" Peach excitedly chips in, "follow meee!" and with that, she tore down the hallway with the two other children in pursuit, then I quickly followed.

There were two panels in the tiny room. "What does this do?" I ask, pointing to one of them.

"I.... er..." Peach mumbles, thinking hard.

"That's fun, you see who goes through what doors" Emerald declares, "so you know where everyone is. It's like spying."

"That's cool..." I agree. The sensors had mainly detected me walking past various doors.

Just then, a new notification pops up.

Cyan passed the north sensor

"Cyan?!" Rose asks

"But that's impossible!" I squeak, "she's...."

"The door log uses the ID cards to know when someone has passed a sensor." Emerald explained, "Did Teal take her mother's card?"

"She must have..." Peach agrees. "But isn't she supposed to be with Black?"

"He was supposed to be with them in the greenhouse..." I mutter. "Maybe they're just going to check on Scarlet?" I suggestion a somewhat hopeful tone.

Cyan passed the southeast sensor

"What does that mean?" Rose asks Emerald.

"She's gone past another sensor..." the boy replies, earning a dramatic sigh and an eye roll from Rose.

"Like, where?"

"That's the one near the cafeteria..." Emerald points out. "Meaning...."

All of a sudden, Black bursts into the room, panting slightly from running. "Have you seen Teal?"

I get a weird sensation in my stomach like butterflies, as nervousness sweeps over me. "She's gone to the cafeteria..."

Before we could say another word, Black disappears around the corner, and I heard the distant sound of a vent creaking open before slamming shut again.

"Wh-what's going on?" Peach asks, anxiously looking up at me as she edged closer to Rose.

"I.... everything is going to be okay" I assure, even though I was silently filling up with dread.

"But it won't, will it?" Rose presses, knowing the severity of our situation.

I gulp. "It'll be fine"

Teal's PoV:

I snuck away from Black and headed out of the greenhouse. There's no way I could have stayed there a second longer...

Sprinting towards cafeteria, I hold my mother's ID card to my chest, tears filling my eyes as I grip it so tightly that my knuckles were probably turning white. And I don't stop at caf, I head straight through the sliding doors, into the place where many things had ended badly for many people, the place where two children had lost their parents, the place where I'd argued with Scarlet...... maybe she had been telling the truth.

Maybe the reason she had the knife was just because it was the only thing that reminded her of her mother, like me and this flimsy piece of plastic. It wasn't her who was a danger to the crew...

It was me.

The balcony was good for getting rid of dangerous things.