wtf is a child doing here? | DOORS

part sixteen - exception.

What are you thinking? Seek asks where he has his head laid next to him on the bed.

Will has his arm outstretched in the air, rolling his wrist around experimentally. Almost unconsciously, he huddles closer to Seek's shoulder before reaching his other hand up and pointing at the area where the joints connecting his wrist and hand are.

"I thought I broke my wrist earlier," he told the man. Entity. Whatever. Dad. "From the bookshelf."

Seek does the equivalent of a frown, the upper half of his eyelid creasing as he visibly hesitates for a moment before reaching his own hand out to encompass Will's arm. He brings the boy closer and examines the wrist area, fingers fleetingly brushing against the skin in fear of breaking something.

Will found that frankly ridiculous. Seek treating him like a napkin that would tear apart at the slightest drop of water made him feel so fragile.

I apologize, Seek breathes out heavily, something weighty in his words. I did not realize that you were injured. I should not have left you in such a state.

Will took a moment to dwell on those words, turning them over in his head uncomfortably. "It's okay," he said quietly. "It actually feels normal, I don't think it's broken anymore."

Seek turns his head sideways to look at him searchingly. Will meets his gaze head-on.

That is unusual, Seek finally says, the words slow as if he's still processing the information. He probably is, just like Will is as well.

Wrist sprains take a while to recover from. Broken bones don't just mend completely overnight.

"I think it's the hotel," Will suggested after a thoughtful silence. Seek hummed with a nod of his head, releasing his hold around Will's arm to stare up at the ceiling. "Or maybe you did it."

Seek gives Will an intriguing look of momentary surprise. What makes you so sure of that? He asked him.

Will shrugs with a small smile adorning his face. "You must be magical, I guess." He says it in a teasing tone, but the way his brow furrows slightly tells Seek that he actually believes in that.

Indeed? Is all Seek is able to say. He doesn't feel magical, and if he was, he's pretty sure that he'd be the one to know it first.

Will suddenly pulls himself up on his elbows, a more mischievous grin spreading across his mouth. "Do you think you'll be able to make me fly like Glitch did?"

Seek pulls up short and sputters.

What do you mean by that?

"Glitch made me float in the air when I was with him," explains Will, his eyes lit up like stars. As an afterthought, he adds, "It felt a lot like swimming in water."

With a glare that Seek directs in another direction, he grits out, I see, before sighing.

He feels as though they've wasted too much time resting — no matter how desperately needed it was in Will's case — when they should have already been in front of the elevator on the first floor. Briefly, he wonders if they'd be able to make any pit stops; maybe drop in by Figure and tell Will to say his goodbyes.

But he fears that it'd be better to simply transition the both of them back to the first floor; fewer chances for any unnecessary complications such as encountering Screech or any of the other entities.

"All of you are nice," Will suddenly says. It's enough to startle Seek into temporary mindlessness. The boy frowns as he sits himself up. "But I can't help but think that it isn't right."

Because it isn't, Seek says straightforwardly, because is that not the truth? But the look of dismay the boy gives him makes his chest feel tight; despite the fact that he is purely made of one substance with no vital organs intact.

The boy is an exception in ways that are unjustly unfair to other participants — not that there was any amount of fairness to begin with — and Seek has a feeling that he knows exactly that.

An exception.

Built upon corpse after corpse.

It's a chilling realization.

It is time to leave, Seek informs him. He carries himself off the bed and makes his way to the other side to lend Will a hand. The boy takes it, lost in thought.

There's nothing else to say, or if there is, neither can bring themselves to speak anymore.

A puddle of black sinks them into the floor from beneath their feet.

Will doesn't even flinch.

—

(can't wait for the second part of doors to be released in December - there's somehow already stuff from it in the asset store on roblox studio, like what- 💀

sorry for any grammar mistakes :(

also, trying to hold off on chapters until the next floor is added

next chapter will be added in like an hour or so; i just need to figure out the illustrations

jack will be in the next chapter for sure, however briefly; the storyline will be progressing because my stalling is too consistent lmao 🤡.)