Little Nightmares: The Lines Between Game and Reality

Sneaking and Solutions

After that little fiasco in the shoe pit, we entered into a familiar, spacious room with a rat hanging in the corner.

"Hey..." I started, recognising this room from earlier, "ain't this the room where I got captured?"

In hindsight, I really shouldn't have said that, because Six lowered her gaze somberly, obviously regretful and guilty that I got captured trying to save her.

"Yeah, it is..." She mumbled sadly before turning her gaze back to me, "Look, I... I'm so sorry about that... I really didn't think that was a trap...!" She apologized, keeping her head down as we walked to the small stairs where Lucecito stood, waiting for us.

"Hey, it's not your fault you got so hungry right then and there, Six. In the end, I made it out of there fine, which is enough for me. Way worse things would've happened to me if you and Lucecito hadn't gotten me out of there," I said, trying to make her feel better. I genuinely didn't blame her for what happened. If anything, it was my own fault for not remembering that trap from the game when I had the chance.

"So, don't feel bad about that, please? Yeah, it definitely could've been avoided if you'd been careful. However, it still worked out in the end, and saying 'shoulda, coulda, woulda' won't get us anywhere." I finished. She gave a pointed look to my bandaged and wounded forehead but seemed to feel better. "Okay..." She said, the guilt in her voice being much less than before.

"Good," I said, patting her on the shoulder before changing the subject.

"Alright, we should probably use our lights here." I pointed out as me and Six reached the dark hallway. After we turned on her lighter and my phone, we began traversing the hallway. We were about halfway to the lamp that was next to the large pipe in our path when we heard a familiar voice behind us.

"Little pestsss musst be cleeeaaaned..." The vocie rasped. Horrified, the three of us glanced back just in time to see the Janitor drop down from the ceiling right behind us, his arms outstretched.

"Run!" Six yelled, and we instantly turned and began running straight down the hallway and towards the elevator we rode to get here. Remembering that we were gonna have to hide from the Janitor in the elevator, I pocketed my phone and scooped up the unlit lamp mid-stride in the span of a second as we slid under the pipe, getting back up again to keep running. As I ran with the heavy lamp in my hands, Six and Lucecito gave me baffled looks as to why I was carrying it. Well, Six gave a baffled look, Lucecito just held his arms and hands out while running and glancing at me in a "Why!?" gesture.

"I'll explain later!" I yelled as we reached the elevator with the Janitor in hot pursuit. Running inside, we each turned and dashed to the boxes. Lucecito climbed and leaped into a tall box filled with shoes, Six slid into a small box on the ground on the left side while I took refuge in a small box on the opposite side of the elevator next to one where Lucecito hid, still holding the large lamp close to my chest. An instant after we hid, the Janitor rushed into the elevator as well, halting in the middle of the room. He moved his head around in confusion before a smug grin appeared on his lips as he hit the button, closing the doors and trapping us here as the elevator began to ascend.

"Heh-heh... yoouuu can't hiide foreeeveerr...", The Janitor croaked as he moved to the boxes in the room, using his hands to try to find us in them. He began with the taller boxes first, reaching inside their tops before slowly moving his arms downwards. He almost found Lucecito, but the Gnome shifted subtly in place noiselessly and avoided his giant hands by a hair.

"Come heeeerrre, buddyyyy..." The Janitor drawled as he kept searching for us as we kept deathly silent. Eventually, his hands began snaking around and found the small box Six was huddled up in. He was about to reach inside and almost grabbed her trembling form, but there was a reason I grabbed the unlit lamp. Lifting it in my hands, I deftly tossed it to the opposite side of the room right before he could find Six.