Little (T.S.T) + (T.D.C)

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Chapter 2:
> Why is there a little girl here?<   
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"Just open this stupid thing so I can get out!"

He obliged, though too slowly for Darcy's liking. Still, he pulled off the vent cover and Darcy crawled out, thankful to finally be able to stretch her limbs after being stuck in that vent system.

"Oh my god, I have to tell you about something that happened earlier. So, you know the way a doctor came--" she began, but cut herself off. "Hold on. Why are you in clothes?"

"Uh... I don't bother changing at night," he said, though in a rather unconvincing tone; Darcy could tell he was lying.

She raised one eyebrow and glared at him. She was never all that close with Aris, but he was lying to her now?

"Stop looking at me like that!"

"You're planning something," she declared.

"No, I'm not..." he tried, but upon realising she wasn't having it, he said, "Alright, fine. I've been sneaking through the vents for a couple days."

"And you didn't tell me? Or come find me? This is my first time doing it and I came straight to you!"

"Look, I don't have to explain myself to you. Now go back to your room," he said impatiently, moving to walk around her.

"No."

"Darcy," he said in a warning tone.

"Aris," she mimicked him.

"Fine, stay here. Whatever. I need to go"

"Go where?"

"Somewhere."

"Somewhere sounds fun. I'm coming, too."

"No, you're not."

She didn't reply, but she just sat down and slid herself under the bed. She crawled through the opening of the vents, but then turned around and popped her head out from under the bed. "I don't exactly know where we're going!"

Aris heaved a weary sigh. "You can come with me as long as you promise to do what I say when we get there."

"Nah."

"Darcy. Promise me."

"Fine, fine. I promise," she said, whilst crossing her fingers behind her back.

He crawled under the bed and went through the vent, Darcy following along behind.

"Hey, Aris?" she whispered up to him after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"What?"

"This is a fun adVENTure, don't you think?"

"Darcy, shut up."

She laughed to herself. Okay, that pun is getting old now.

Aris finally stopped, pulling out an opening and sticking his head through into what was seemingly another room. "Psst! Hey! Down here!" he whispered.

A boy leaned over the side of his bed and was about to say something when Aris said, "shhh".

"Come on, follow me," he whispered again.

Aris turned around and scooted past Darcy to lead as she didn't know where they were going. The boy from the room then climbed into the vent.

He looked at her and he seemed very confused. Nevertheless, they both followed Aris as he led them through the vents. To what, she didn't know. The new boy didn't seem to know either.

"Hey! Wait a sec. What the hell are you doing?" the boy called out.

"Come on, we're gonna miss it!" Aris said.

They came to a large space, a hole in the vent the only source of light.

"What're we doing?" the boy asked.

"Shh," said Aris.

"And why is there a little girl here?" The boy asked.

"Hey! I'm not little!" she exclaimed, folding her arms and frowning.

He just shrugged it off and came over to where they were sitting. Darcy still didn't know what was going to happen, but she was preparing for something dramatic, so when a woman came along, she was disappointed. The woman stopped at a door and took out a key card. Then, another doctor came along, wheeling a kind of table; it wasn't just a bare table, though. Something was covered in a white sheet and had a diagram of a body on it. That something that was covered looked awfully like a body.

A couple more came along and the doctor opened the door. They went through and then it closed.

"What the hell was that?" asked the boy.

"They bring in new ones every night like clockwork," said Aris darkly.

"Do you know what they do with them?"

"I don't know. This is the farthest I've ever gotten. The vents don't even go into that section. But once they go through that door, they don't come back out. I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place."

"Come on. We gotta go before someone notices we're gone," said Aris, after a moment of silence. "Hold on. Darcy, how long have you been gone?"

"I don't know. Like, 2 hours?" she guessed, thinking about it.

"2 hours?!"

"Yeah. Probably more." She shrugged.

"Oh that's not good. We need to get you back," he said quickly.

The boy looked between them, confused. "Who are you guys?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm Darcy," she said with a smile.

"Aris," said Aris. "Now, Darcy, come on." Aris quickly crawled in the direction of Darcy's room.

"What's your name?" Darcy asked the boy.

"Thomas."

"I prefer Tommy," she said with a smirk. And then, she was following after Aris.

When they finally got back to her room, Aris said, "You better get to sleep quick. Just in case anyone comes in here."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," she said as she climbed out of the vent.

Aris was about to leave when she called his name.

"What?" he replied irritatedly.

"Do you really think Harriet, Sonya and Rachel are in that room?"

He was silent for a minute, but then he said, "I really hope not. But I don't know, it seems fishy."

She didn't say anything else, and Aris left.

*A/N: Oof. Kind of a short chapter. Oh well. You better get excited because she's meeting the rest of the gladers next chapter!*