The warming glow of a roaring fire illuminated the room, casting dancing shadows across the mahogany boards. In the faint distance lingered the sounds of footsteps, human footsteps. As the noise of soles reached his pale ears, he released a sigh from his equally lacking lips.
Another one of those humans had been caught behind the rest of their group, straying far from their gathering to investigate and gawk ancient treasures...or fill their greedy palms and pockets with as much gold as the fabric could swallow.
He recalled about seven of them having passed him by, wide eyes showing their sclera; how he adored scaring them half to death. Never had he laid a finger on their skin, but the horror carved into their faces made up for his lack of direct harm. It was a good way to pass the time, he thought, not that there were many other methods that worked.
Groaning softly to himself, he sunk into the rose pillows of the armchair he was sprawled out on, the balls of his feet the only part touching the ground. His palms covered his face, smearing away the sweat from his moist visage,"I'm not even ready...Can't they watch over their own for one damned day?"
He sighed, his chest heaving once more, as he fixed out his posture, maximising his height to come across as a tad more intimidating to his new guest.
Every ounce of confidence was knocked clean out of his cocky expression when a slender, dark figure shoved through the doorframe, dragging along a trembling and wide-eyed human by the scruff of their neck like an animal.
Jack's eyes lit up with curiousity as he eyeballed the human, less focused on their dishevelled appearance and more fixated on who was grabbing them.
A piercing pitch akin to TV static played as the looming body hauled the human across from one door to another.
"Who are you?" Jack mustered the courage to pipe up to this opposing force,"What are you doing to that human? I'll-"
"Relax." It demanded in a booming voice,"You will sit back while I deal with this one."
Immediately retracting his confidence, he plopped down onto the sofa, defeated,"I-I Absolutely. Yes, sir."
All Jack could do was merely admire the assertiveness of such an entity. Most of the others were feral, unruly gremlins who stormed the hotel with booming noise and very little respect. Yet, this one...it was loud but it resembled a human, like himself. Only a handful of other entities had such a striking, humanoid body, so this was quite a sight for him.
Slowly, he stood back up and peered into the next room, where the other humans had been hiding from Rush, which was strange since he swore they had long since evacuated to the library...apparently not.
This brand new entity set the human down on their feet before smacking them on the face for being abandoned.
"You punish them for being left behind, rather than the others for leaving them behind?" Jack criticised, barely noticing the words as they left his mouth.
A scoff escaped the entity as it turned towards him, facing his direction as it spoke,"They wandered off, they take the fall for it. If they wish to look around, communicate it. I cannot have them lingering around alone."
"Why not? It's not like they're doing any harm to anyone." Jack scoffs back, getting cocky with him without even registering his malicious tone.
If they had eyes, they would've rolled them at Jack to show how bored of him they were,"Guiding Light insists I take them back to their group. They make the rules, not I."
Every single one of the eight humans were very, very concerned by the fact two entities were seemingly arguing in front of them.
Groaning, Jack grabbed the bridge of his nose,"Look, I just don't know who you are. I've never seen you before."
"Glitch. They call me Glitch due to my jitters and loud static." He uttered, holding out a friendly hand.
Taking his hand, he shook it,"Jack. I linger in hallways and closets. How I got my name, I don't know; Guiding Light named me."
"I see." Glitch nodded, admiring the honesty,"You have the most human name here, aside from Timothy."
Jack's expression soured at that information,"Timothy? Who...Who here is called Timothy, of all things?"
Pulling the door closed, Glitch guided Jack back to the chair, climbing onto the chair arm,"Well, Timothy is a spider. You'll find him in the drawers, protecting the coins."
"...Who named the spider Timothy? Surely Guiding Light isn't so tasteless."Jack chuckled, seating himself back onto the chair.
Glitch's voice held a tone of cockiness,"Curious Light did. Wouldn't be surprised if they made it for the sake of curious scavengers."
"...No, that makes sense." Jack mused, a faint nod accompanying his words.
Adjusting his shoulders, Glitch set his upper body back, leaning himself against the back of the chair,"We never see them both here, do we? Curious Light never hangs about here anymore. When was the last time you saw them both together?"
"...Are you proposing they had a falling out?" The pale entity uttered, staring blankly at Glitch.
"Or, so I've heard. Something tells me they might have had an argument. So, that means the hotel may lay in someone else's hands." Glitch murmured, suggestively gazing to the door the squad of humans were in.
"You don't mean..?" Jack gawked, glancing at the same door,"You think one of them could be in power? I thought only we could see Guiding Light and Curious Light."
"Hmm..." Glitch figuratively raised a brow,"I suppose they can. It would make sense; they always find the keys and switches."
Taking in the news quietly, Jack came to an understanding humiliatingly slowly,"...Humans are in contact with Guiding Light and Curious Light? That's...oh, that's bad news."
"It's good news." Glitch remarked,"They may be able to save us all."
"...Save us all? That's...you're mad, you are." Jack scoffed, bowing his head as the glow of the flames lights warms him,"What do you know that we don't?"
A calming arm wrapped around Jack's shoulder,"I don't mean to be vague, but it's best that I keep this simple; the angel."
Feeling completely lost, he stared up at Glitch,"Look, I get you're trying to be helpful, but I don't know what angel you're talking about. At all."
Pulling Jack closer, Glitch simply held him to his chest, rubbing his back as he whispers,"It's about time we leave, and the angel has come to save us."
