When You Were Younger

My Head isn't the Problem..

"One hundr-"

"Okay. That's enough."

Mephone was interrupted by Cobs' loud and sudden statement.
He flinched, turning around to him.

Cobs stood at the door, his hands behind his back again.
"Four, come with me now. This is important. We cannot waste anymore time."

Mephone frowned, drooping his shoulders.
"Okay..." He replied, his tone low and sad.

Cobs made a hand gesture for Mephone to follow him, and Mephone jogged up to him.

As they walked out of Mephone's room, and continued down the short hallway, Cobs began to speak.
"I forgot to mention, you may see some people roaming around-," Cobs paused, suddenly stopping in his tracks.
"Do not. Speak to them. They are working. Do not interrupt them. Even if they speak to you. The only people you shall speak to are me, fellow Meeple machines, and special people that have permission. You will know they have permission, because I will be there aswell."

Cobs turned his head, looking at Mephone who stood nervously behind him, fidgeting with his hands.
"Understood?"

Mephone nodded, staring at his hands.
"Uh huh.."

Cobs then smiled, turning so he faced forward again.
"Say you understand, Four."

Mephone hummed quietly.
"I- I understand.." He stuttered out.

Then, Cobs exhaled, beginning to walk again.
Mephone followed closely.

As they walked, Mephone noticed the colours and look of the hallways changed. And he did see more people. A lot of whom were staring at him.
It made him feel awkward. He picked up his pace, walking even closer to Cobs. So close, he almost had Cobs' hand.
..
He wanted to hold his hand.
When he had held his hands in his room, it felt soft. And safe.
Mephone slowly raised a hand, brushing it off of Cobs', before it was.. knocked away.

"Four. Focus." He stated, flatly.

Mephone's uneasy frown grew bigger.
Soon, they ended up at.. stairs.
Mephone was interested. He'd never seen stairs before. They were purply-grey-pink. They went with the rest of the building. The railing shone, and the steps looked so clean. He could see different people with all kinda nametags and clothes. He spotted someone with short brown hair, and an interesting green lanyard with sunflowers on it-

"Four."

He was pulled back into reality, by another cold call of his name.

Cobs began going down the steps, and Mephone watched as the pretty girl passed him.
She turned, and made eye contact with him.
She quickly looked away, but waved politely.

He wanted to wave back. But Cobs said no.
..
But Cobs was turned around.

He gave an enthusiastic wave back with a big smile, and turned to follow Cobs down the stairs.

The steps echoed, and the way it sounded when he took each step made Mephone happy. The sound was so cool. He felt as though he could run up and down the stairs for hours. Maybe one day, if Cobs let him.
They passed some more people on the way down. It was multiple flights of stairs, so it was taking a minute.
There seemed to be way more people going around. Workers, Cobs had said.

..
Mephone also recalled how Cobs had said, 'Meeple was a family.'
Were these people his 'family'? Why couldn't he talk to them, then? That didn't seem right. It was weird. Not even a hello..?
That wasn't fair.

Mephone continued walking, and realised they'd reached the end of the stairs.
Now, they came out of another hall and were in a huge room.
A really huge room. It had a lot of people, and there were long tables with a lot of computers. Were they working? What were they working on? Was it fun?