Pendulum || TAENNIE FF

⚔Chapter 42: Twist in twigs

A U T H O R

"Are you gonna pass them or what?" Maya asked after finding out that Heather's having second thoughts about joining Ink Fictions. "What made you doubt yourself?"

"Nothing! It's just..." She sighed and unfolded the papers in her hand. "I visited their workspace yesterday after class. I was gonna pass these!" She raised the papers, shaking them for emphasis. "But there was no life in that place. No one talked to each other. They didn't even look at one another for a split second. I understand that silence is important but Maya, I stood there for almost an hour and they were only sitting there with their pens and paper."

"And you saw Flake? Maybe he's the reason why you're backing out."

"Oh don't get me started. He sat on that big, red chair and looked at a piece of paper the whole time. I can't even remember seeing him blink once. It's like he's writing the words with his eyes." She sighed again and placed the papers on her bed. "I don't know. I can't work with creatures like that. I can't even see the teamwork."

"Maybe you joining them will change things," Maya said, confusing the other. "Why don't you try submitting your work first? You've worked hard to finish them. I've seen you stay up late for nights. You can't back out now. When you're accepted, try talking things out with Flake."

Heather scoffed and crossed her arms. "As if. Even if I did, that vampire won't listen to me."

"I was so against you doing this, Heather. But I've seen you put your everything into this. You deserve to write with them. Besides, you said you like the challenge."

"I did, didn't I?" She whined and covered her face with a pillow. "It was never this hard back home. I'm still not used to being not good at everything."

"Whatever. I'll give you some time alone to think about it. I'll be at the cafeteria to get some dinner." Maya left Heather completely drained out on her bed.

"She's right. I gave so much time for this to be accepted... But why did that place have to be so dead?!" Heather got up and looked at the door. "Unless it was an illusion. I stood there for almost an hour but none of them noticed me. I even said "good day". Could it be?"

She left the room, bringing her papers with her. She returned to Stone Academia and climbed the stairs to get to Ink Fictions's workplace. The door was open and she tiptoed her way towards it.

"Everyone's not interacting and Flake is only looking at that paper. It's the same as before." She went inside and walked towards them. "Hi. I heard you're looking for new members. I'm here to submit my entry." She said and looked at them. No one answered nor looked at her. "Strange." She went to where Flake was and leaned closer to his face. "Are you real or not?" She quietly asked. 

Flake didn't move one bit and only looked at the piece of paper he's holding. Heather looked around. The hallway was empty and none of them noticed her. She decided to test her theory. Her empty hand formed into a fist and in a blink of an eye, she punched Flake's "face". She hit him but the guy had no reaction. 

"The real Flake won't let me get away with this. There has to be some sort of a portal to their real workspace. Everyone here is dead." She walked towards a big shelf of books and began pushing each one of them, thinking one of them is a button. "Nothing's opening." She went under the table and looked for buttons or suspicious flaws underneath. "Nothing's here either."

She crawled out and sighed heavily. If I were this vampire, where would I hide the door? She thought and walked around.

"Judging from what happened two days ago, Flake's quite a witty bat. He's got everything planned out from the very beginning. His actions always mean something." She quickly turned around and looked at the piece of paper he's holding. "Got you." She excitedly ran towards it and took the paper from his hand. She furrowed her brows seeing it was blank. "What the-- Am I supposed to be a little detective just to pass my work? How did Wendy even pass hers?"

She was disappointed at her first attempt but she's no loser. She looked for another suspicious object and wasted half a minute before noticing another odd thing. 

"His eyes." She told herself and traced the location where Flake's eyes were fixed. "You sneaky creature. I thought he was looking at this paper when he's actually looking at the bottom of the shelf." She knelt and pulled the black carpet upward. A tiny lever was revealed at the bottom of the wooden shelf. "No unsolved crime can stop me. Not a chance." She pushed it to the left and the books from the shelf slowly pulled out themselves and floated around her.

Her eyes were filled with amusement as the shelf slowly unfolds itself. It was a wooden wall disguised as a bookshelf! It moved backward and slid to the left, creating a path towards a golden pavilion in the middle of a garden. "Shivers." She exclaimed.

The members inside turned their attention to her after seeing their secret door opening. Flake stood from his seat, looking confused. 

"She's the first one this year." One of the members said as everyone leaves their seats to welcome her. 

"Am I supposed to be here?" She asked them and pointed at the wooden wall. "I was only going to submit my entry but no one was responding outside. I figured it could be a trick to keep the others away. Please give my work a chance." She said and handed them her story.

"Did you bring the paper?" Flake asked as he walks towards her. The others moved to the side to let him talk to her. Heather narrowed her eyes after seeing a golden aura surrounding him. Is it just me or he's extra shiny today? "What?" He suddenly asked after hearing her thoughts.

"What? Oh! Right! The blank paper..." She cleared her throat and gave it to him. Flake took out his pen and wrote Heather's name on it. "No, no, I wasn't asking for an autograph--"

"Welcome to the team." Flake cut her off. Heather widened her eyes and blinked. "That's what the paper was for--your nametag. Ink Fictions need creatures who are persistent and imaginative. You found the way in and passed your work. That makes you qualified."

"That easy? For real?"

He nodded and stuck the paper on her forehead. "I look forward to working with you Ms. Kim."  

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A very early update😄 I don't have anything to do now so I'm just gonna focus on updating daily💖 I also attached a YT link if you guys would like to read it with a background music. I really like these instrumentals and I have a whole playlist of them. I hope it helps bring out the ambience more 😊

I hope you like the chapter!! I'll reply to comments later after cleaning my room and watching "one" kdrama episode🥴