Harry stared at the opening to the bathroom with mixed feelings. On one hand, it was absolutely repulsive. From what he could see, the floor and walls were smeared with a brown substance. He didn't want to think about what that could mean, but the smell made sure the thought never left.

  On the other hand, Harry felt unclean. After diving into the box on unimaginably dirty clothes, Harry felt like he needed a good bath or two. Maybe even three. The clothes were just so… stiff and moldy, with the foulness of the Lighthouse Keeper's B.O clinging to them for dear life.

  And the worst part of it was, the endeavor was completely fruitless. No sign of a number or a code to be found.

  Next time, he would make Six dive into the box. He didn't care if they were on schedule, it was her turn to feel the filth. Giving the girl beside him a dirty look, Six merely stared at the bathroom in thought, completely oblivious to the vengeance being planned in Harry's mind.

  The box had unfortunately yielded no results and they've searched practically everywhere else, even under the bed. The bathroom and the upper shelves connected to the walls were the only things left to examine. If they couldn't find it there, then…

  Best not to think about.

  Looking towards the ceiling, she could make out a light fixture, small though it may be. But that was a good thing, if it worked. Now she just needed to find a switch. Carefully walking to the very edge of the grime covered floor, she leaned into the room to try and find it. Luckily, the bathroom was relatively small, and it was merely above her to the right.

  But of course, it was too high for her to reach herself, and there wasn't anything in the room she could drag over to it. So that means it was time for a team up.

  "Hairy, help me with the switch, would you?" she asked, turning back towards him. By now, he had lost most of the resentment he harbored for having to take a dive into the chest, but that didn't mean he wanted to take a single step onto whatever that was.

  "Fine, but I'm grabbing something to put on the ground first," he said. Six crossed her arms, a vexed look on her face.

  "We don't have time for that. The Lighthouse Keeper could show up at any minute," she argued. But Harry wasn't listening. Not this time. He would rather be turned to stone than step on that floor.

  "Then we make time. Do you really want to step in whatever that is? Just look at it. I think it winked at me," he said. Six hesitated, giving the bathroom another look, suppressing a shudder at the sight. No, she didn't want to do that. When she turned back around, Harry knew that he won.

  "Fine, just don't take too long," she said with a sigh. Hopefully the Resident wasn't smart enough to realize that the clothes blanketing the floor were in different spots. She doubted it, but the risk still made her feel itchy. And yet…

  Turning to stare at the bathroom again, she thought it just might be worth the itch.

  Thankfully, the Lighthouse Keeper was a slob and left his clothes everywhere, so it didn't take Harry long to drag a couple over. The two of them then spread it out past the entrance, creating a path.

  Six had to admit, stepping onto the shirt laid out on the floor was much better than the alternative. No matter how dirty the clothes may be, they weren't anywhere near as bad as the floor. They then took the second article of clothing and placed it in front of the light switch.

  Once that was done, Harry was only too happy to be the one to give her a boost. The switch itself didn't appear to be too grody, but then again, they couldn't see the top of it, so who knows.

  Six placed her foot in his hands and it made her realize it was probably a very good idea to place the cloth down, or one of their hands would have been covered in the putrid substance.

  Her hands, most likely.

  Jumping up, Six grabbed the light switch which slid down with surprising ease. The lights flickered briefly before turning on. Six almost wished it hadn't. At least then she couldn't see the full scope of the mess.

  It was almost like someone took a hose full of mud and sprayed it all over the room. Except mud doesn't smell like that. She idly wondered if it was the green slime that poured out of the Keeper's shoes. Sure it wasn't green now, but that didn't mean it hadn't been before.

  "Well, isn't this charming," Harry said sarcastically as Six dropped beside him. She agreed with him, but there wasn't anything they could do about it, so griping wouldn't help.

  "Just look for a number or something so we can get out of here," she said. While it was true that they couldn't read the language, Six suspected the symbols they were looking for would be fairly recognizable. That was the hope anyway. If nothing could be found, she would scale the shelves along the wall and take a peek at the safe herself for a clue.

  With a sigh, Harry did as asked. He first inspected the grime covering the entire room to see if anything had been scribbled into it, like he did with the chair. But like the piece of furniture, he didn't see anything, not even a skull this time. Which was kind of a relief, actually.

  The light switch was fairly close to the clawfoot bathtub. From his position, he should be able to jump up and take a look inside, but he wasn't exactly thrilled to grab hold of the edge. While not brown, it did have a greenish yellow and seemingly slimy substance coating it.

  Gathering up his courage, Harry jumped up and grabbed hold of the bathtub. He was right, it was definitely slimy. It made it somewhat hard to keep his grip but he managed, even if all he wanted to do was let go.

  Six watched as he pulled himself up to peer over the edge. She had been inspecting under the sink, contemplating getting another piece of clothing to make a bridge towards it when Harry made his jump, slightly startling her.

  "See anything?" she asked.

  "Just dirty water. It looks like someone just shampooed a dirty carpet and poured the remains inside the tub. Who takes a bath in something like this?" Harry answered. There was a small, bright yellow rubber duck floating along the top and Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for it.

  Dropping back down, thankfully on the clothes, he immediately began wiping the substance from his hands. Six ignored this, staring at the tub in thought. Could the code be written on the bottom? It seemed unlikely but then again, the nonsensical was often the most sensible path in the Nowhere.

  But for now, she would inspect the rest of the room. There were really only three points of interest besides the tub. The first was the sink. Six doubted there would be any numbers there, but you never know.

  Second was the cabinet above the sink, the one with the broken mirror. She would need to climb on top and check the inside. That was the most likely place to find something.

  Finally, there was the toilet. However, Six sincerely hoped they would not be forced to check that particular spot. Given the state of the room, she shuddered to think of what might await them in there.

  "Hairy, help me get some more clothes. We need to check the sink," Six said. Harry nodded, but a small, devious smirk made its way to his face as they exited the bathroom.

  "Guess that means my idea was a good one," he teased.

  "...It wasn't terrible," she admitted, rolling her eyes at his victorious chuckle. She was sure that someday they wouldn't have the luxury of forgoing the filth of this world, and she doubted that day was far off. Hopefully he could handle it.

  But until then, they would keep their feet at least somewhat clean. Given the small scrapes and cuts along their soles from running across the bridge the previous day, it was probably for the best they avoided stepping in something that could cause an infection.

  The two of them carried the clothes to the room and spread them out. They now had a nice and somewhat sanitary path leading to the sink.

  Once they were standing in front of it, Harry gave her a boost. Six grabbed onto the ledge and hauled herself up. The sink was in a somewhat better state than the rest of the room, though not by much. It was still dirty, but in a way that was normal for the Nowhere.

  Reaching up, she carefully opened the cabinet. The hinges were rusty and made a terrible racket as she forced them open. Her ears were practically ringing by the time she managed to get it open.

  Inside was basically empty, save for a few miscellaneous bottles and tubes containing who knows what inside. Curiously, she did spot a toothbrush, but the bristles were practically nonexistent and the few that remained were so yellow it would probably leave the user's teeth dirtier than when they started.

  In other words, it was completely useless for the task it was created for.

  Looking at the back of the door, she sighed when it was noticeably blank. Just rotten and moldy wood greeted her.

  "Anything?" Harry questioned after a few minutes of waiting. Once she had gotten that horrible door open, he had moved back so he could watch her. She rummaged through just about everything she could, and it didn't look like there was much to be found.

  "No, nothing. Not unless you want to brush your teeth?" she asked, holding up the nasty toothbrush for him to see. He grimaced at the sight. Just the thought of that thing coming into contact with his mouth was revolting.

  "No thanks, I'm good. Thanks for the offer though," he called back, making the red eyed girl chuckle as she returned the brush to its rightful place. She thought about closing the door once more but decided the noise wasn't worth the risk. Besides, it looked like he never came to this room anyway. There wasn't a single footprint on the floor.

  With a sigh, Six dropped back down to the ground, landing with barely a sound. That was another bonus of having the clothes on the floor, it dampened the squeaks of the floorboards.

  But with the sink being a dud, all that left was the toilet and draining the tub. Looking over at the disgusting thing, Six was at least somewhat mollified that the porcelain wasn't totally covered in whatever was all over the place. Didn't mean it was clean though.

  Next to the toilet was a dangling chain, one she imagined must be used to flush the toilet. That was probably a good thing, as she couldn't imagine the inside of the bowl would be pleasant.

  Pointing towards the object in question, Harry gave it a look before his shoulders slumped. He wasn't thrilled about having to check it out either, but they were running out of options. So it was with a heavy heart he gave her a solemn nod.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The two moved the clothing to make a path, which was much harder than it had any right to be. Apparently, whatever was on the floor did not want to let go, holding onto the pair of pants with an almost desperate need.

  Neither of the children appreciated a needy floor.

  Regardless, they had their path and still there was no sign of the Lighthouse Keeper. Six couldn't help but feel apprehensive about the sudden influx of luck. If something good was happening now, that meant something bad would have to happen later to compensate for it. Not exactly what she would call ideal.

  However, as the two stood before the toilet, a completely new problem reared its ugly head. Who would be the one to open up the lid? The pair shared a look, each one demanding the other be the one to do the deed.

  "You do it," Six stated once it was clear Harry had no intention of volunteering himself.

  "No way. I already dove into that gross, moldy chest earlier. It's your turn now," Harry said, violently shaking his head in protest.

  "That just means you have the experience needed to do it," Six argued back. Normally she would be against this pointless waste of time, but she really didn't want to open that lid. Instincts long honed through trials and tribulations screamed at her not to do it.

  "And what kind of person would I be to rob you of such experience?" Harry questioned dramatically, really playing up that he was doing her some kind of favor.

  "As the more experienced one, isn't it your job to properly teach me what to do?" Six challenged.

  "I believe in a more hands-on learning experience," he shot back. The two stared at each other, glaring, neither one willing to back down. But time was not on their side. Eventually, the Resident would return so they needed to find what they came for and get out.

  Six let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. How about we play rock, paper, scissors for it?" she suggested. Harry thought about that. He didn't exactly like leaving it up to chance, but it was better than being saddled with the job. So, with great reluctance, he agreed.

  The two of them stood a small distance apart, their hand held at the ready. The air between them was almost suffocating with the amount of tension it contained. Green eyes met red, each containing an enormous amount of determination.

  This is it. Are you ready?" Six asked.

  "To win? Of course," Harry replied back confidently. This made Six snort. If he thought she was going to lose, he had another thing coming.

  "We'll see about that. Alright, here we go. On three. One… Two… Three!"

  Harry stood in front of the toilet once more, lamenting his no good rotten luck. Of course he would lose at rock, paper, scissors. He should have known better than to tempt fate. That guy always seemed to have it out for him.

  "Good luck," Six called out from a safe distance behind him. Harry grumbled but there was no use in complaining. He lost, fair and square, and now it was time to pay the piper.

  So, with trembling hands, Harry reached out and placed them on the lid. So far so good, but now the real challenge began. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his resolve and lifted it up.

  Six watched as the lid rose up, with Harry staring at whatever continents it contained. As unlikely as it was to hold any code, they still needed to make sure. Better safe than sorry as they say.

  "Huh, it's empty," Harry stated, his tone one of relief. But for Six, his words didn't compute for a second.

  "Empty?" she asked, wanting to make sure she heard him right. Harry nodded, still staring at the inside of the toilet bowl.

  "Yeah, see for yourself," he responded. This made Six raise a brow.

  "Is this a trick?" she asked, suspicion clear in her voice. Harry turned and gave her a blank look.

  "No. The bowl is empty. It doesn't even have any water in it. Sure stinks though," he muttered. Deciding that her companion wasn't trying to pull a prank on her, Six cautiously approached before peeping inside for herself.

  "It's empty…" she stated after a few seconds. All that worry for nothing? Was her instincts becoming that bad she couldn't tell a real threat from an imagined one? Or was she so disgusted by the room her mind invented a danger?

  But for some reason, she didn't think it was either of those options. While it was odd the toilet contained nothing, what was even more surprising was how clean it actually was. There were a few stains here and there, but compared to the rest of the bathroom, it was almost pristine.

  That just didn't make sense.

  "Why is it so clean?" she asked. Her words confused Harry for a second, before he looked at the bowl again. He knew something felt off about it, he just couldn't put his finger on it. But now that she mentioned it…

  "You're right, that is weird," he said, suddenly feeling nervous about holding the lid up. And after being so relieved just moments ago.

  Not willing to risk something exiting the pipes, Harry slowly closed the lid once more. Clearly, there was no code or number to be found in there.

  However, Six was even more confused. Looking to her right, she took notice of the chain once more, innocently hanging there. She felt certain it was used to flush the toilet, but if there was no water, then what was it used for?

  Looking up, she followed the path of the relatively thin chain. It went all the way up to the ceiling where it hooked around a pulley with the chain going into the wall behind it. Not only that, but if she climbed it, she would be able to reach a small shelf that would grant her access to a vent.

  She needed to find out what it was used for. Hopefully it didn't sound an alarm of some kind but you never know.

  "Hairy, I think we should check out the chain," she told him, turning to meet his gaze. Surprised, he shifted his own attention to the object in question. Considering they haven't found anything yet, it was as good a plan as any.

  "Sounds like a plan. But it's too high up for me to give you a boost," he said. Six nodded, having already come to that conclusion herself. However, there was a simple solution to this little problem.

  "I'll use that. I should be able to jump to it from there," she said, pointing to the tank resting on the back of the toilet. Giving it a look, Harry agreed that would likely be her best bet.

  "Alright. But let's place some clothes beneath it first," he suggested. Six figured that was probably a good idea, given that she would have to let go of the chain eventually. Harry traveled back to the bedroom to procure the goods.

  As he was doing this, Six made her way to the top of the toilet. So when he came back several seconds later with a vest, she was ready to go. Placing the object beneath the chain, Harry gave her a thumbs up.

  Seeing this, Six took a small running leap towards the chain, grabbing hold of it, swinging with the momentum. However, nothing appeared to be happening. The chain gave a small dip when she grabbed hold of it, but that was it.

  Six knew something was supposed to happen, the chain wasn't here for no reason. Giving it a good yank, she could hear something rattle. Could the chain be stuck on something? Looking up, she guessed that there was some mechanism that needed to be activated but something was wrong, which meant that she needed to fix it.

  "Hairy, I'm going up. I think the chain is caught on something so I'm going to check," she said.

  "Do you want me to come with?" he quickly asked. She shook her head.

  "No, stay here just in case something goes wrong or I need your help with something," she replied. Receiving an acknowledging nod, Six made her way up the chain. Once she was at the top, it was easy enough to hop onto the shelf which thankfully didn't break.

  The vent cover wasn't terrible, only having a small amount of repugnance attached to it. So Six grabbed hold and pulled. It opened with a high pitched groan, giving Six access to its insides.

  Crawling into the stuffy, metal path, Six pulled out her lighter, using it to illuminate her way. Once inside, she saw it divide into two directions, one to the left, and the other to the right. The one leading right probably led into the bedroom, so she would save that for later. The one she most likely needed at the moment veered left.

  Path decided, she turned to the left. It wasn't long before her direction abruptly changed once again, heading to the right and away from the room. The vent then began to slope downwards in a spiral. After nearly a minute of this, she eventually came to the end. There was no cover, only an opening leading to the unknown.

  Reaching the edge, she peered into the small room. Strangely enough, it looked like a maintenance room of some kind. She could spot several rusty pipes and some kind of electrical system. She decided it was best not to mess with that unless absolutely necessary.

  But what she could also see was a chain. It came down from the roof and exited out the bottom, heading back the way she came. As to its purpose, she still didn't know, but at least she was in the right place.

  Exiting the vent, she made her way towards the pulley system. Holding up her lighter, she inspected it for any sign of damage. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for.

  For some reason, there was a nail japped into one of the links, so whenever it was pulled, the nail would catch onto the pulley itself, preventing the mechanism from working. But who would do something like this? Thinking it over, she came to the only conclusion that made sense.

  It must have been one of the Nomes. She knew they could be a bit mischievous and playful, so she doubted it was trying to actively sabotage anyone. It was probably just playing and thought it would be fun.

  A small crack in the wall seemed to confirm her theory. Just because she hasn't seen one yet, doesn't mean they didn't live here. There was always the chance it had died as well.

  Sighing, Six placed her lighter on the ground before moving to extradite the nail. It was jammed in there pretty good and had slightly rusted, making it even harder to remove, but she managed it eventually. The nail came out with a violent tug, nearly sending Six to the floor.

  She glared at the little thing in her hand before tossing it aside. She made sure to check the chain and pulleys one last time before heading out. Once everything seemed to be in working order once more, she made her departure. Hopefully Harry wasn't too bored without her.

  As she made her way back, she idly noted that this was the first time they were truly apart from one another since meeting. Sure they weren't always connected at the hip but they were always nearby each other. It was almost strange not having him close by.

  Which was weird, as she was completely alone just a day ago. Was she truly that lonely? Perhaps. Either way, it didn't warrant overthinking. She had someone with her in this horrible place, and that was cause for comfort.

  The way back up was slightly more strenuous than the way down but it didn't take her long to return. Peeking back into the bathroom, she noticed the boy she was just thinking about looking into the bedroom. He didn't look concerned, merely contemplative, which was good.

  "Hairy," she called, stepping onto the shelf once more. Hearing her call him, Harry turned back and reentered the bathroom.

  "So, did you fix it?" he asked, giving her a curious look.

  "I think so. Why don't you pull the chain while I watch from up here," she suggested. Shrugging, Harry made his way to do just that, climbing up onto the toilet seat. As he stood on top of it, he could swear he heard something scurrying around in the bowl beneath him.

  But that was just crazy, wasn't it? The bowl was empty. He was just imagining things. The atmosphere of this world skewed the scales towards paranoia. So he chose to ignore the fear creeping up his spine and climbed on top of the tank.

  Once there, he jumped towards the chain and grabbed hold of it. The effect this time was immediate.

  Loud gurgling echoed throughout the room, and both of them had an idea as to what it was. From the tub, they could see the water slowly start to disappear. It took a while for the thick, viscous liquid to finish pouring down the drain. It looked like mud and apparently was almost as thick.

  For her part, Six watched with eager anticipation. This had to be it. There had to be a code hidden below the muddy waters. But her hopes died a not so quiet death as the last of the fluid finished draining.

  "Well, do you see anything?" Harry asked, still holding onto the chain. He could see the water drain but he wasn't able to see the bottom of the tub from his position. Looking up at his friend, he saw her staring at the basin with a frown on her face.

  Well, that can't be good.

  "Six?" he called again.

  "Nothing," she responded. "There's nothing there. Just more eyes." The last word came out sounding more like a feral dog than a person. Six was incredibly frustrated. They searched this whole darn room for the code and came up empty handed. All she had to show for it was 8 eyes staring at her with a mocking gaze.

  "Seriously? How many eyes do they need? They're everywhere in this room. The door, the books, the T.V, and now the bathtub? Enough is enough," Harry grumbled before finally dropping back to the floor.

  As he rolled his shoulder from the strain of holding himself up for so long, Six continued to stare at the tub, his words echoing in her mind like they were on repeat. Thinking about it, she did notice this room in particular was decorated with the things.

  There was 1 on the door, the painting had 7, and the tub had 8. Eyes widening at the implication, Six quickly called down to her companion.

  "Hairy, how many eyes were in the T.V? And the books?"

  "Huh? Why?" Harry called back. What reason could she possibly have for wanting to know that?

  "Just answer, please," she responded.

  "Ok, let's see… The T.V had 5, I think. And there were 3 books with eyes on the spine," he answered. Hearing this, the numbers appeared in her mind, 1-7-8-5-3. Could that be it? Was that the code to the safe? The order may be wrong, but she was almost certain those were the numbers.

  "That's it!" she shouted, face splitting into an actual grin. "That's the code!"

  Harry tilted his head, confused. "Um, what are you talking about?"

  "The eyes, Hairy! The number of eyes! That's the code!"

  That made his own eyes widen. Could she be right? But why have a code in such a complicated manner? Why do the people who live here have to make so little sense?

  "Meet me in the other room. I think the vents lead over there," Six said, her face losing most of the exuberance it just held. But her eyes were still shining with enthusiasm. It was enough for Harry to get swept up in her momentum.

  "Alright, I'll see you over-"

  Thump

  Thump

  Thump

  Harry froze mid sentence as he heard the familiar lumbering footsteps of the Lighthouse Keeper. Judging by the sound, he wasn't very far away either. Six and Harry shared a look, whatever excitement once held in her ruby eyes dwindled to nothing.

  Looks like they finally ran out of time.