106 Knock Knock

He slid off the window sill and walked down the small ladder leading to the third floor of the library. Taking off the blanket that sat on the window sill, he folded them and placed them in a secret compartment in a bookshelf and slid the book he was reading before he fell asleep back into its spot on the shelf. It was one of the few books that didn't have dust on its cover and it was only due to Vixen's frequent use of it. It was his favorite book after all. 

It was a book of rabbit holes, colored with magic yet painted on a real canvas. With most of the character's being human, the book had an abnormal amount of rabbits mentioned on each page; the amount of rabbits slowly increasing at the same speed as Vixen's emotions had decreased. He liked the book for no particular reason, just the feel of the author's writing set him on edge and the constant confusion the book gave simply stimulated the theories he formed about the story and the characters. Not to mention the chills he felt at certain parts of the book never ceased to stop no matter how many times he re-read the book. 

It was silly but sometimes he wished to jump into the book himself. The real world was starting to lose its color so he wanted to stand in the house of the characters, the stench of paint filling his nose as one of the characters, Catherine repainted the walls again. He had always wanted to see what the color 'Lapis Lazulily' looked like on the walls of their house. 

He walked down the long winding staircase to the second floor of the library, then he walked around the second floor, past the tall racks of books till he reached another staircase and then walked down the last winding staircase to the first floor. He looked up at the glass ceiling of the long cylinder room and slowly spun around. He liked the feeling of being surrounded by books; it made him feel like he was in his own burrow when he stood at the bottom, in the middle of the big room as sunlight from the ceiling bathed him with golden rays. It was something out of a fairytale. 

It was time to step out of his little book and descend to the long hallways filled with cells of people forced to spend their sentences in an asylum. 

The hallways were quiet as usual but this time there were more people in the halls. Nobody paid him that much attention though. He was never really looked at on the top floor as it was the place where most of the staff resided and as much as they'd want to talk to him or gossip about him, they'd rather do it behind walls in case they were fired. 

Past groups of murmuring workers he walked, people paving a path for him. He was used to it, he hated the fact that he was used to it. Vixen glanced at the stairs at the same time that a group of workers turned to them. They turned to him, eyes glowing in slight fear like he was going to eat them up on the last step if they dared to mutter a word. Vixen turned away from the stairs in annoyance and took the elevator. 

He had been planning to start used the steps a lot more often to get more exercise. He leaned against the walls of the elevator chuckled empty-heartedly, not only could he not leave the building, he was forced to be treated a certain way due to his background. The faces of the workers flashed in his mind and he scrunched up his nose in disgust, making a mental note to dismiss them later that day. If he was going to be treated like an asshole, he wouldn't dare let down the fantasies of his colleagues and will act like one. 

Down a floor, the elevator descended along with Vixen's mood.

Ding

The doors slide open and Vixen walks out into the hallway, the usual air of silence was disrupted by quick footsteps throughout the building. The halls were filled but only had a quarter of the sound it was supposed to have as a result of light, quick paces of the workers as they rush to their positions. He had woken late and it seemed that he wasn't the only one. Bells sounded out into the hallway as the workers rushed down flights of stairs and flooded into hallways. Vixen sat on a wide ledge in the wall and watched as the people run by, it seemed he was going to be more late. 

"10 minutes to get to position everyone, 10 minutes to get to position. ALL WORKERS REPORT TO THEIR ASSIGNED FLOORS. COOKS RETURN TO THE KITCHENS IN 5 MINUTES," a voice sounded on the loudspeakers in the building. 

Groans from the workers followed, Vixen included. 

After a minute or so the halls were empty.

The voice sounded over the speakers again, "All workers and cooks must be in position. Breakfast will begin in an hour. We apologize for the delay."

Vixen stood up from his spot and ran his hand through his hair, he was going to get an earful later at lunch. 

Quickly he walked to the elevator and descended 2 floors to his assigned floor and quickly ran to one of the employee rooms to get dressed for the morning. He was one of the three people present in the room but the only one who didn't have curious stares. He walked into the gentlemen's room and took off his clothes, took a towel from his locker, and then walked into the bathing room to shower. In a mere 5 minutes he was ready. Just in time for Adam to show up. 

Vixen's nose twitched and he frowned in annoyance. He smelled like booze. Without a second of hesitation, Vixen began to walk past Adam, he twitched when an arm held him back. 

"Vixen…" Adam muttered, his tone low and sorry. 

"Get off me," Vixen snapped.

Adam immediately retracted his hand and watched as Vixen dusted off his clothes. "Vixen I-"

"I'm going to be late for work," Vixen sighed. 

"Ah… ok" Adam looked away awkwardly.

Vixen eyed him up and down and sighed, his eyes instinctively rolling. He knew the reason why Adam was like that. He felt guilty. "You're going to be late too, hurry and get changed. I can smell the booze on you."

Adam's expression eased into a smile and he saluted Vixen. "Yes sir!" he bowed, "see you in electrical."

Vixen simply turned around and left with Adam waving behind him. 

He had wasted too much time already, it was simply going to add to the length of an earful he would get later. 

*

Vixen pushed his cart down the hall to his next room. He was 30 minutes behind the normal schedule, he knew if he was then the others will be, some even by more. That was another 5 minutes of scolding added to the 20 minutes he predicted.

Quickly he walked down the winding hallways, his eyes landing on his destination. He raised his hand and prepared to knock when his hand waved in front of the door. He bit his lip and immediately turned away, his eyes catching a glimpse of the distorted 2 and 7 on the door.

It hadn't even been 4 seconds since he walked past the door when a cheerful voice let out a gasp of realization.

"Hello, Mr. Vixen!" Antonin chuckled, he sped up to meet Vixen in front of him. "I haven't spoken to you in a while."

Vixen looked up to Antonin and gave a nod, he was too tired to smile. "Same to you Antonin," then he began to walk past him.

"Ah wait!" Antonin exclaimed, grabbing Vixen's arm.

Vixen flinched, his eye twitching in annoyance when he looked down on the hand on his arm. It took him every atom in his body not to shove it away. 

His head cocked slowly to face Antonin, "Yes?"

"I wanted to thank you," Antonin smiled, his hand trailing to his neck.

Vixen sighed lightly to suppress his building anger. "What?"

"Ah!" Antonin blushed, "I mean, thank you for letting me serve Regan." He looked up at Vixen with a grin, "She's been nice to be around."

Vixen looked away from the gleam in Antonin's eyes guiltily. "...No need to thank me."

"Whatever you say," Antonin giggled, then returned to his cart and waved at Vixen, "byeee."

Vixen nodded and continued down the hallway, his steps stopped automatically when Antonin opened the door to Regan's room. His leg twitched as he tried to force them to move but they stayed planted. 

"Antonin!" Regan exclaimed, her voice wafting out of the room behind Vixen, "finallyyy."

Vixen's feet finally moved before she could say her next sentence and before the door closed to interrupt her words. He had heard enough.