White Ceiling Chapter 2: Caged, an ever 17 fanfic

Disclaimer: All characters and likenesses contained herein are the intellectual property of KID. This is a fan piece designed for the sole purpose of entertainment, so please enjoy!

Spoiler Warning: This piece of fanfiction contains spoilers relating to Tsugumi's scenario in EVER 17. It is recommended that you play through her scenario before reading.

EVER 17:
White Ceiling
by Andrew Glasco

Chapter 2
Caged

I opened the door to my room and waddled over towards the bed. I was feeling a bit light-headed after finishing today's tests and I didn't want to walk around any more. As I scrambled up onto the now-familiar bed, the boy beside me called out to me.

"Hey, Tsugumi. They finally finished?"

"Yeah," I replied curtly. I didn't feel too much like talking about it. Actually, we hardly ever talked about our situation. Several months had passed since I came here, but nothing had really changed save for my familiarity with the routine. We would both wake up to the doctor coming into the room and getting the boy beside me for testing. I would wait a couple of hours before he and the doctor returned. The doctor took me with him on his way out, and then they ran tests on me, always comparing information they'd gotten before. I still didn't really understand it, but I thought they must have gotten closer to finding out a way to help me after so long. I still didn't exactly know what was wrong with me, either. At first when I would ask, the doctor would always start getting really technical and I couldn't understand what he meant. But when I ask now, he just smiles and tells me not to worry about it because I have all the time in the world. Why wouldn't they just explain it to me so I could understand? It was frustrating.

I lay back upon the bed and looked up at the same white ceiling that I'd been watching for months. I was used to it now, and I guess it was the closest thing that I could call 'home.' But I missed my home before I came here. I was an orphan, and I didn't really have a great attachment to any of the people at the orphanage I grew up in...but even life there wasn't so repetitive. I had to remind myself that once they found a way to cure me, I would be able to leave. Thinking like that was the only way not to be bothered by the same painful routine day after day.

I wondered how Julia was doing. Julia, who was so sick when I got in that accident and was forced to come here...was she better now? Had she already been allowed to leave? More importantly in my selfish mind, did anyone tell her about my accident? She didn't think that I just abandoned her, did she? I had been visiting her nearly every day, but I suddenly didn't show up anymore. I hoped that she knew the reason. I didn't want her to think of me as a bad or fickle person. I still worried about her. I just spent much more time worrying about myself these days. I still didn't feel sick, but the doctors assured me that there was no mistake. I guess they would know better than I would, even if it was my body. Honestly, I felt a little depressed about my situation. The same thoughts swirled around in my head again and again. It was incredibly repetitive and disheartening, just like my routine day after day.

"Tsugumi," the boy called over again. "Are you asleep?"

I glanced over towards him. "'Course not. I just laid down a minute ago." I knew I wasn't being very fair towards him; I was just in a bad mood. The boy didn't seem to mind.

"Tsugumi, you wanna see some place neat?" the boy smiled.

"Of course!" came my nearly automatic reply. There was simply nothing to think about. I had been here looking at the same surroundings for a few months now. Without fail, I would jump at the chance to see something new.

"But we're not supposed to go there, so we've got to be careful," he warned me. I understood him. The doctors treated us okay, but they seemed strict. I hadn't done anything to make them mad since I came here. If we got caught somewhere we weren't supposed to be, I had no doubt that we'd be in trouble. Still, I wasn't really worried. My bad mood was quickly fading at the idea of seeing some place new, my face smiling all on its own.

The two of us quietly headed outside the doorway, our bare feet lightly tapping off the linoleum floor with each step. There was no one in the hallway outside of our room, and after casting one another a knowing look, the boy led on. I didn't know where we were soon enough. I hadn't explored the floor outside of where they'd taken me. I immediately got the impression that they didn't want me wandering around without them even saying so. On the other hand, with the way that the boy navigated the hallways, I surmised that he had done his share of poking around. It was then that I realized that even after all this time, I still didn't know how long this boy had been here. I'd never really thought about it.

"Hey," I called out to him curiously. "Just how long have you been here, anyway?"

"How long?" he repeated, curling his nose up in thought. "Well, I've been here for about seven months that I can remember."

"Seven months, huh?" I repeated. I wasn't sure if it was a long time or a short time. It sounded long, but I didn't know how long we would have to be here, either. In that case, maybe it wasn't such a long time.

"Here it is," the boy snapped me from my daydream, gesturing to an unmarked doorway off to the right. It only looked like any number of other doors in the hospital. I stepped up to the doorway and looked back to the boy, curious.

"What's inside?" I asked him directly.

"You'll see," the boy grinned. He turned the knob and stepped inside. I followed a step behind him.

I was mesmerized as I stepped inside. The room didn't look much different than some kind of messy storeroom, but there were lots of animals inside. Cats and mice in cages were scattered about everywhere, some stacked on top of one another. Some of the cats mewed as fluorescent lighting from the hallway shined brightly into the otherwise dark storeroom. I stepped past the boy, towards a few of the cages. The poor animals... Many of them looked tired and cranky. It definitely couldn't be very comfortable in those cramped cages. There wasn't anything even resembling a toy in any of the cages. It looked like a cold, unforgiving home. Suddenly, my room with the boy didn't seem so bad. The boy flicked the lights on and came to stand next to me as I looked down at one of the mice.

"They're so cute," I murmured quietly. The mouse was adorable, looking up at us with wide, red eyes. Its movements were sudden and quick, and I was fascinated by it. I'd never had a pet, and I hadn't ever been very close to a mouse. There were a few back in the orphanage one year, but I never saw any of them except as they quickly scurried away.

The boy leaned down to take a better look at the mouse that had monopolized my attention with his hands on his knees. "I wonder why they're in a place like this?"

"Yeah," I replied, still distracted. "Those cages are so small... It looks painful."

There was silence. I stuck my index finger into the mouse's cage, and the critter quickly ran up to inspect the unknown object. My lips curled up into a small, affectionate smile.

"...You want to let them out?" the boy suddenly asked.

I was surprised, turning my eyes up to look at the boy. "I wonder if it would be all right?" Was he serious? I knew we would get in trouble...unless he had an idea for us to sneak them out somehow. I was hopeful.

The boy smiled, his eyes sure. "It should be. Come on, let's do it!" Suddenly enthusiastic, the boy reached down, beginning to fiddle with the lock on the mouse's cage.

"Hey, wait..." I tried to cut in to stop him, but he didn't listen. It didn't look like he had some great master plan. He was just letting them out. Wouldn't we get in big trouble? Nonetheless, it was too late to stop him as the mouse's cage swung open. The boy quickly scooted over to the cat's cage nearby, opening it as well before moving down the line. Animals were soon hopping out of containment, and not long after, all of the cages had been opened.

"Okay, everyone out!" the boy shouted as if the mastermind behind a grand-scale breakout. "Run while you can!"

I was stunned. The boy had simply opened the cages and was ushering the little animals towards the door. Was he just not thinking, or was he really not concerned? While I stood there stunned, a pair of doctors entered the room, obviously driven here by the ruckus. Their eyes immediately fell upon the two of us.

"Hey! What do you two think you're doing?!" one of them shouted, looking at the animals scattered about the floor.

"Oh no! The experiment!" the other yelled, backing away from the door in something akin to panic.

Both researchers quickly began to scurry down the hall, yelling. A ruckus quickly began to sound further down the hall.

"Everyone, be careful! Whatever you do, don't let them bite you! They're contagious!"

Were these animals sick? Looking at the animals, who were quickly scurrying away every which way, I wondered if we'd done something wrong. If the animals were sick, were they just trying to keep other people safe? That's why I was in this hospital, wasn't it? They didn't want me to make anyone else sick, and they wanted to help me get better. Were they trying to make these animals better, too? But...somehow, that didn't seem right. The animals were kept here, in this cold, dark room. They were huddled together with complete disregard, so it was better to let them out...wasn't it?

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EVER 17 -you are in the infinity loop- EVER 17
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Soon enough, we were herded back into our room by one of the angry doctors. He yelled at us and left the room after telling us to stay put. Both the boy and I sat on our respective beds, quiet for the time being. I felt like I needed to say something, though. We'd been scolded, but I didn't really feel bad about it. I wondered what the boy was thinking as my eyes rose to take a glance in his direction. To my surprise, he was peeking a glance at me as well. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks, my eyes instantly falling back into my lap. I saw the boy do much the same in my peripheral vision.

This was stupid.

"Tsugumi?" the boy called out, beating me to the punch by a split-second.

My own call stuck in my throat, I stammered out my words. "Wh-what is it?"

Nonetheless, he didn't seem to really know what he wanted to say, either. He struggled with his words for a few moments before he finally managed to put his thoughts together. "Say, do you think the animals got away?"

"I don't know," I admitted honestly. I didn't really see how they'd get outside. But still, I thought that if they hid themselves well enough, some of them might get out. I could only hope.

"Was it a stupid thing to do?" the boy asked with a sheepish grin.

Oh, so he was worried. I thought it was a brash thing to do, but I was honestly very happy that the animals had been able to escape thanks to him. It wasn't fair for any living thing to live stuck in those tiny, cold cages...or so I believed. Even if we were scolded or punished, I was glad. "No, I wanted to do it...but I was scared."

That's right; I couldn't bring myself to do something so sudden and bold. I wanted the animals to run free, but I was still worried about myself. I was selfish.

The boy's face conveyed his surprise openly. "You were scared? Why?"

"Because," I explained weakly. I was too embarrassed to openly explain my reasons. I admired the boy for his ability to just...act. He didn't seem worried about the consequences. Why couldn't I be like that?

"Uh...okay," he pretended to understand, though he still certainly didn't have a clue. "That's okay anyway, 'cause I'll do the dirty work."

The boy laughed at his joke, and of course, I instantly knew he was trying to cheer me up...but even still...

"Ha, ha, ha!" I found myself quickly laughing along with him. It didn't really matter whether it was funny or not. What mattered was that this boy was truly my friend. It wasn't like at the orphanage where the children were all herded together and made to play with one another; this was genuine friendship. I was certain that both he and I knew that. From the beginning we'd had a kinship with one another, but this was more than a simple understanding. He cared about me. That was why he wanted to cheer me up, wasn't it? I was sure of it.

And I couldn't help but smile.

A bit over a week passed. The doctors were really upset with us, keeping a closer eye on us than they normally would for several days. It was for that reason that neither of us had been able to check in on the results of our little stunt with the animals. Had any of them escaped? Surely at least one of them had gotten away, right? We wanted to find out, and agreed that we would go there again once things had calmed down. Finally, our chance came.

"Tsugumi," the boy called over to my bed from his own. "You're awake, right?"

I turned my eyes away from the white ceiling to look at him. "Uh-huh. What's wrong?"

"Listen," the boy replied simply. I listened, waiting for him to continue before I realized that he didn't mean to listen to him. I listened carefully for any sounds in the background, but heard nothing. Oddly, my hearing seemed to be sharper than ever lately. It was probably just my imagination, though.

"I don't hear anything," I answered, shrugging my shoulders a little. But the boy's enthusiasm didn't quell, but instead grew.

"Exactly!" the boy grinned. "You know what that means, right?"

"Huh?" I had to think about his words for a moment, but I quickly caught on to what he was getting at. "Oh! No one's around outside!"

"Yep," the boy affirmed as he slid off of the bed, his feet touching down on the cold linoleum flooring. "So want to go take a look?"

"Yeah," I nodded, now enthusiastic as well. I slid off the bed and slipped in behind the boy as he opened the door. This was only the second time we'd done this, but we both knew how we were going to go about it. We wanted to be careful, but quick. Thankfully, the halls were quite empty, so voices and footsteps from their shoes carried quite well down the hallway. We heard neither voices nor footsteps as we started down the hall. I probably had a stupid look on my face. I was excited about getting to see the animals again, plus I enjoyed the thought of doing something we weren't supposed to do. It felt like an adventure, like it was something really dangerous. It was actually only a bit of mischief, but when compared to the monotony of my usual days, this was hair-raising excitement.

Both of us jumped as a door a few yards away suddenly swung open. In a panic, we looked left and right, searching for some way to escape. While I was flustered, the boy grabbed my hand and rushed to the left, opening an unfamiliar door there and running inside along with me before quickly closing it behind us. The room was dark, which I immediately took as a good sign. Oddly, it didn't seem too hard to see in the thick darkness. It was a small cleaning closet, stocked full with enough chemicals to give me a nearly immediate headache. The smell was overpowering, but I vowed to endure it. The boy was feeling along the wall for a light switch, which I guess he couldn't see.

"It's over there," I assisted, pointing to a spot on the wall less than a foot to his right.

"Where's 'there?'" he asked, apparently not seeing my finger either.

"A little to your right...move your hand up...right there!" I directed him until his hand was right over the switch. He flipped the light switch up and...nothing happened.

"I guess it's burned out," he admitted with a hint of worry.

I turned away from the boy, taking a step into the small closet and scanning the walls. "Don't worry, I can see pretty well in here."

"Really? I can't see a thing," he gawked, obviously impressed.

"Well, we shouldn't have to wait too long," I tried to assure him, wondering silently if his eyes were bad.

"Well," the boy began, taking a step in my direction. He couldn't see where he was stepping, however, and the stick of a broom caught his ankle. "Ah...!"

"Ahh!" With a startled cry of my own, his body crashed into mine, causing both of us to go tumbling to the floor.

"Ow..." Pain ran through my head. I'd banged the back of my head against the floor when I fell. It throbbed. Slowly, as the pain dulled, I opened my eyes and found the boy laying over me. His face was inches from mine, instantly bringing a rush of heat to my cheeks. He looked stunned...probably almost a mirror of my own expression. Embarrassed, I quickly turned my head to the side, desperately trying to escape his eyes. Quickly, as though brought back to reality, the boy scrambled off of me.

"S-sorry," he murmured, standing to his feet. "I couldn't see, and—"

"I-it's okay." I replied, standing up slowly. Odd...the pain was already almost gone from my fall. I must not have hit it as hard as I thought.

And then there was silence. We didn't really know what to say, and the air felt a little heavy. It was probably close to a minute before I finally spoke up.

"Hey, kid...I don't hear anything outside anymore."

"Oh yeah," he realized. "Then let's get out of here!"

The tension between us loosening a bit, he opened the door and peeked out. There was no one in the hall once again. I also recognized that we were pretty close to the room. I hoped that we wouldn't encounter any more problems as we stepped out into the hall, retracing our steps towards the storage room full of animals.

It didn't take long for us to reach the room, no further incidents occurring between our exit of the closet and our arrival at the storage room. The inside of the room was dark, though not quite so much as the closet we'd just been stuck in. The darkness was shallow, but the boy reached over and turned on the light anyway. Thankfully, the lights in this room worked. My earlier excitement returning, I hurried over towards one of the crates. It was the same crate that the mouse I'd played with before had been on, and I wanted to see if it had gotten away.

I was disappointed to see that the mouse was back inside its cage, curious eyes looking towards me as I towered over its meek little prison. Casting my eyes to the side, I noticed the cat that was next to it had been caught as well. Taking a quick look around, it looked like all the animals had been caught. I wasn't positive, but the animals seemed to match up in my memory. I felt badly for them...free for only a few minutes or hours only to be forced back into their cages.

The boy came to stand next to me, looking down at the mouse. "They were really mad at us."

I nodded, sticking my index finger into the cage through a pair of the thin bars. The mouse hopped over and sniffed at my finger curiously. "You opened the cages so fast, you surprised me."

"Sorry," he replied immediately. The boy knew that I was glad for his intervention with the animals, so his apology wasn't really necessary. It was probably more of a natural reaction. Of course, I was sure he knew that I wasn't blaming him for anything, either. We understood one another. His eyes remained trained upon the little mouse who was enamored with my finger. "They caught all the animals again..."

My voice trailed low, remaining just above a whisper. "Yeah, they're right back where they were before...in those cramped, small cages. They're trapped again..." I noticed the boy glance towards me out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't look away from the little mouse to meet his eyes. Why should these animals have to remain trapped in these little cages, unable to ever leave? Shouldn't they at least be allowed to roam a room freely? Shouldn't they have a little more space? Weren't they miserable like this?

"Why do they have to be locked up that way?" I whispered under my breath, a gloom surrounding me as I pondered that question that I could not so easily dismiss. "Why?" I couldn't find an answer that satisfied me. What reason could there be that would justify it? Who was it going to help? What was it going to accomplish?

I wonder...

"Why?"

But deep down, I was beginning to realize the answer to that question. The reason I couldn't answer it wasn't because I didn't have the knowledge, but because my point of view was distorted. I was trying to figure out why the doctors were keeping them here, caged and packed together, while trying to help them. But...there seemed to be no signs of help anywhere in this room. The primary problem was that it wasn't a storage room turned into a hold for animals, but rather just a storage room. It hadn't been altered at all. Cages were stacked on top of crates, various tools I didn't recognize littering the floor. There was no sign of care for the animals or their environment. They were packed here not to be nursed back to health, but...for something else. These animals were being held here without a chance to leave. They had no say in the matter. They probably wondered why they were here.

These animals were just like me.

It was a sudden, violent realization. But just how long had I actually realized that something was strange? Before now, certainly. I was just like these animals, stuck here being poked at day after day, unable to leave. But...the doctors were trying to help me, right? I was suddenly very wary and uncertain of my position here, but I also couldn't allow myself to become paranoid. I was also still young and naïve to a point. I wanted to believe the doctors. The doctor had told me that he was my friend. I would have to trust them for now. If something more was afoot, I was confident that I would find out more sooner or later

Author's notes:
Chapter 2 is a wrap! If chapter 1 served to introduce the characters and their situation, chapter 2 focused more directly on trying to develop the characters while taking a more methodical pacing with their situation. Chapter 3 will speed things up a bit. Hopefully the pacing isn't too plodding or too rushed.

Before I'm lynched without a proper trial, let me say that I'm trying to portray Tsugumi at present as I believe she acted in the flashback. Though she wasn't very talkative, she also seemed a bit lost and rather dependent. Don't worry – I don't intend to stray from the end result of Tsugumi's personality. There's still twelve years until the LeMU incident, after all.

Oh, it's also worth mentioning why I chose the first-person perspective. It's simple, and most people probably guessed it without me having to point it out. I simply used the first-person to try and capture a bit of the same atmosphere as the game. The formatting, while certainly different, is often spaced into shorter paragraphs for the same reason. However, I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I simply don't have a lot in mind to write or I become a bit too long-winded. Like now, for instance! I hope you are enjoying the story. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think! Until chapter 3!