The moment my feet hit the ledge, I bent my knees and pushed my weight downwards.
I waited with bated breath, not even daring to move an inch after that.
This was just the third level of this building, but felt like it might as well have been the thirtieth. There were no conveniently placed vines growing along the walls to provide better hold, nor any bushes underneath to cushion an accidental fall.
I was looking down at a stretch of grey, hard concrete.
This ledge was all that was keeping me from plummeting down to meet it.
And there was nowhere else to escape to if the people within the staff quarters discovered us.
'Tell me! What's going on here?' the voice repeated sharply.
It was answered by some more garbled shrieking from the woman who'd fallen.
I listened carefully for any indication that they knew the two of us were here.
…
…Nothing.
I finally sighed with relief.
Looks like they hadn't been looking in this direction when they entered the room.
I hadn't been seen.
Feeling better, I strained my ears to focus on the words being said.
'…that little… she should've known! She should've… causing trouble for everyone like this… Aargh! I'm so mad!'
'Why is this psycho obsessing about that again?'
'I don't know. Hey. Hey! Shut up. The rest of us are still trying to work here. We already have enough on our plates, dealing with those little lying, troublemaking bastards without you also going nuts again.'
'Seriously. Just shut up and go back to sleep. Don't draw any attention to us unnecessarily.'
Footsteps again.
Someone was walking nearer and nearer to the window.
'If I make it to the end of this year, I swear I'm never coming back to this godforsaken place…' a voice muttered.
There was the click of a lighter, followed by the smell of a cigarette.
Someone was smoking by the window, mere feet from where we crouched hidden.
I buried my face in my sleeve and breathed through the fabric, hoping I wouldn't start coughing.
Luckliy, the person didn't stay there for too long.
There was the sound of a heavy sigh, before an unfinished cigarette with a crushed tip fell onto the ledge by me. From there, it rolled unceremoniously off onto the ground below.
Then, footsteps sounded again, walking away this time.
I heard some shuffling, and turned to see Aron shift his body nearer to me, still crouching.
'Hope your glutes are strong, newbie,' he whispered.
I noticed that he didn't enunciate the 's' sound in his words.
'Looks like we'll have to wait here until the end of this class,' he continued, his signature grin back on.
He then frowned slightly. 'Well, atleast until then,' he added after some thought. 'I'm hoping they'll all leave for lunch after the bell.'
I nodded mutely.
'Hey…' Aron spoke again after some time. 'Do you have asthma?'
I looked up.
'I noticed you were careful to avoid the smoke just then,' he said.
After a moment, I nodded.
'Mild,' I clarified. 'Though I probably needn't have worried anyway, considering I'm in a different body right now.'
'Mm-hmm,' Aron nodded. 'Chronic conditions or injuries from the real world usually don't transfer over to these worlds unless the role you're playing calls for it. Even then, I've never seen the world give anyone an unfair advantage or disadvantage.'
'What does count, however, is the things you build up. The skills you learn. The reflexes you train. Mental fortitude. Physical dexterity. Even your general fitness and situational awareness.'
I changed the topic.
'What'd you find in those files?'
'I'll tell you with Mason and the others later today,' he answered. 'I'm sure they'll have something worthwhile to exchange for it. And you can tell me about that book you nicked then too.'
'Diary.'
'Oh. Interesting.'
…
…
'Are you worried we're wasting time here?' he asked after some time.
Damn, this dude was a real chatterbox, wasn't he?
'Mm-hmm…'
'You did good to hide in time,' he said. 'If they caught you doing something you shouldn't be, it wouldn't have ended with just a detention.'
'Speaking from experience, hm?' I commented.
He let out a soft huff of laughter. 'One of my first instances was also a similar setting; a haunted corporate office. Oh, that was also the first time I crossed paths with Mason in one of these worlds. Anyway, there was this guy who lost his temper. He trashed his files and told the NPC boss he was there to investigate the hauntings, and not for his damned company profits. He laughed and said, 'What're you gonna do? Fire me? See if I care!' …something like that.'
'So, this regular looking suit-and-tie NPC boss jammed a ballpen in his eye, dragged him to the most haunted conference room, and locked him in there for the ghosts to rip to pieces while he watched.'
'What I'm saying is, this is not the real world. You cannot expect these people to behave like real people. Be wary of everything, and everyone, in here.'
I pursed my lips and nodded.
'Thanks.'
For no reason at all, Aron was giving me information again.
He was probably just one of those guys.
Some people were nice like that.
Kinda like…
…
…
He'd probably been through a lot. An ugly part of me wondered how much, and how long it would take, for these worlds to fully break that part of him…
…
…
Diiing~ Diiing~
…
Sure enough, once the bell rang, I heard several sets of footsteps return to the room, then depart together.
Obviously, it wasn't possible to determine the exact number of people from those sounds.
I slowly stood up, my knees clicking slightly in protest after remaining bent for so long.
I didn't stand to full height at first.
Peering into the room carefully, I scanned it from end to end.
The older man was still sitting slumped at his desk. Which meant that that woman had also probably gone back to her spot curled up on the ground.
This was as good as it was going to get.
I nodded at Aron, who also stood up.
The two of us then vaulted back into the staff quarters, and managed to successfully leave the room without a hitch.
We reunited with the piercing trio in the cafeteria.
'It's confirmed,' John said. 'Eight players in this instance. Only the ones from our level in the dorms.'
'Well, seven now,' Aron commented, shoveling spaghetti into his mouth with gusto.
'Actually, six,' Sheila said softly.
I noticed he… well, she, wasn't eating.
'The eighth guy, whom we didn't know, was also a newbie…' she continued. 'I found him in the music room, at the very back of the woodwind storage section. Something large had twisted his head clean off.'
Mason was glowering down at his own bowl of spaghetti.
'Eight players aren't much for an instance. Fewer players usually means better chances for survival. But this ratio is off. Nearly half of the number being testing phase players…'
'Not to mention, two out of six getting killed off in the first morning itself,' Aron pointed out. 'It's not looking good, dude.'
He slurped down a cup of milk while everyone stared at him.