Next time I'll spread you out so it's more of a slow burn… I'm going to erase your memories and start over again. Eleanor knew she didn't have much time before Michael returned to do exactly what he'd just promised, and Chidi, Tahani, and Jason weren't providing any help.
She crouched down in front of the book, trying to figure out what note to leave for herself that would help her, no, help all of them figure this out a second time and ruin Michael's schemes once again.
"What do I write? Come on brain!"
But it was too late. Suddenly, the room had changed, her creepy clown cottage giving way to a completely unfamiliar location, nothing she'd seen in the neighborhood before. The space vaguely reminded her of a dorm room? Where was Michael? Or Tahani, Chidi, Jason, or even Janet? Who she all clearly remembered.
"What the fuck, man?" she asked but then immediately gasped. "I can say fuck again? How about bitch? Asshole. Shit." For a moment, she was momentarily distracted from the change of scenery.
"Hello, bad words," she said as though greeting an old friend. "I've missed you."
Now where the fuck was she?
--
Sleep hadn't come easily the night before. In the aftermath of fleeing from the creatures, ensuring the safety of those she'd been closest to at any given time and realizing there'd already been multiple casualties, well...it had been virtually impossible to shut off her mind to allow sleep to come. With every scrap of noise, she'd flinched and focused on the sounds around her, trying to determine if the creatures had found a way into Butler Hall.
What ultimately had allowed her to give way to slumber?
Lifting Beebee up onto the bed and wrapping her body around him in a tight embrace. He understood the severity of their situation now. He'd been as silent as he possibly could and honestly? The mattress probably helped to muffle his minor twitches and movements.
The rest was short-lived. She felt as though she'd barely just gotten to sleep when she heard the sound of conversation outside of her room. Jerking upward, she untangled her limbs to look towards her bedroom door. The swear words continued and Rey stared ahead in utter disbelief.
It didn't sound like Wanda and she didn't think Wanda was so foolish. A quick cursory glance was tossed to the window, before she was scrambling to crawl off the bed, with bare feet pressing down to the floor before she launched herself at the door.
Yanking it opened, she stared hard at the woman. Right. New roommate. Her arms lifted, waving, to get her attention as she mouthed, 'Be quiet!'
--
Eleanor was quite certain that she had never seen the other woman before, so Michael really was changing things up this time. Which didn't make sense, since she still knew who he was and if she remembered her friends, she could go and find them.
But she was distracted by the thought by the other woman waving her arms around and mouthing words. "What?" Eleanor asked. "I can't hear you. Wait, are you dumb?"
Even as she said it, that sounded insulting. "I mean not like an idiot but just you can't speak? There's gotta be a better word for that…" she mused out loud. Chidi would know. "Hey do you know Chidi? You can just point me in the…"
--
'Shut up!' She mouthed again, even as the woman asked the question in her direction. Frustration mounted through Rey. In any other circumstance, she'd have understood and been patient with questions. There was no time for patience.
Lunging forward, with a thought of being apologetic later, Rey reached up to press her palm against Eleanor's mouth. Being this close to her would make it difficult to read lips so she did her best to crane back while still pressing her palm to Eleanor's mouth.
'Be Quiet' She reiterated, enunciating each word as slowly but clearly as she could.
--
Rude! Eleanor thought, her eyes going wide as her mouth was suddenly covered up, keeping her from saying as much out loud. But even unable to speak, the expression on her face was clearly readable and demanding an explanation.
What fresh hell had Michael sent them into? This wasn't just tweaking what he'd done before, which is what she had been expecting. No, this was different. Very different with some crazy woman who couldn't talk insisting she didn't either. The Bad Place vibes weren't exactly subtle this time around.
--
Rey held her hand still for a few more moments with her gaze fixed on Eleanor. She raised her brows as a silent question of whether Eleanor understood or not. After a moment, Rey reached into her pocket with the free hand.
She unlocked her phone screen. The notepad app was still up. She quickly swiped on the keyboard and then held it up for Eleanor.
NO TALKING. GOT IT?
She waited for a nod head or something akin to it, but then heard a loud bang outside. She flinched immediately and looked up to the ceiling. Great.
--
Was that a phone? God, Eleanor had missed her phone. Something else she would have said but her mouth was still covered. How or why she didn't screech at the obnoxiously loud BANG that made the other woman flinch was something she didn't quite understand, but her eyes widened more and she snatched the phone from Rey, relishing the feel of just typing out a message.
It had been too long. So even as she was furiously tapping away, she was enjoying it.
OK but WTF man? Where's Michael? Where's Chidi? What the fuck was that noise? Who are you? Where are we? Why can't I talk?!
--
Cautiously, Rey pulled her hand away. She took a step back and didn't stop Eleanor from snatching the phone from her. It was easy enough to lean in the other women's direction to read the screen.
She held out her hand and did a 'give me' motion.
Once handed over, she responded in turn.
Building is under attack. The monsters are attracted to sound. Your friends are not here. Sorry. I'm Rey.
She extended her hand to let the other woman take her device again before she moved away, towards the wall, so she could press her ear to it. She hoped the monster had lost interest but doubted this to be the case.
--
Oh that's great. Michael knows it will torture me to stay quiet so this is what he's come up with?
She couldn't really comprehend a scenario that didn't involve Michael pulling the strings somewhere, and she had no reason to yet. She was in the Bad Place. Anything was possible. Monsters attracted to sound? Sure, why not.
She didn't like the sound of her friends not being there. But she also didn't necessarily trust Rey either. Everyone in her previous neighborhood other than her, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason had been on Michael's side after all. But she was interrupted from those thoughts by the sudden arrival of a paper airplane, barely managing to stifle a startled screech, then staring down Rey, assuming she was the source. Her arms went out in a questioning manner as if to say, "What the fuck?!"
This was torture. It was going to be damn near impossible. Damnit, Michael, she cursed in her head as she picked up the airplane.
--
Rey was delicate with her footsteps as she crossed the room. It was easy to lean against the wall and shut her eyes, listening for the creatures on the outside. For a moment, she considered reaching out through the force to try to sense the creatures wearabouts this way, but she didn't need to. Another sound from above made her cringe.
Hopefully if they remained silent from here on out then the creatures would lose interest.
She turned to look at her new roommate and crossed back over. Taking the phone, she glanced down at it for a moment. Her brows came together in slight confusion. What was she talking about?
The appearance of the airplane didn't startle Rey at all but witnessing Eleanor's reaction certainly did. She snapped a look to her, almost as a warning, before shaking her head. She couldn't think of a way to unfold the airplane silently.
'It explains what is happening. It's a pocket dimension.'
--
Right. A version of the Bad Place. I know what's going on. Eleanor typed out very confidently, unaware that she was completely wrong. Not even being able to unfold a paper airplane? That was some next-level torture, she'd give Michael that.
So what are we meant to do?
--
Rey's immediate response was to give a very pointed raised brow at Eleanor. What was the Bad Place? She didn't bother to ask this before she motioned for the phone again.
'Stay quiet. Five days and it'll be over. You should have a device on you somewhere. You can write on the network.'
And then she gestured over towards the plain, sparse couch they had. An invitation to make herself comfortable during the wait.
--
How did she know it would be over in five days? Eleanor was about to say she didn't have any sort of device on her, which would have broken the no talking rule but fortunately they were both saved by her discovering she had a phone in her back pocket that she hadn't realized was there.
Nice touch, Michael.
Then she noticed the voicemail notification flashing, and without thinking, she started listening to it as she made her way to the couch.
--
Rey's eyes grew. Had she not explained the severity of the situation well enough? Evidently not. While it may have been difficult to hear the voicemail under normal circumstances, when the others in the dorms weren't trying to be as silent as possible, Rey felt as though the voicemail message was almost being played on a loudspeaker.
Instantly, her hand was up in the air with her palm open as she called upon the Force to jerk the phone away from Eleanor. As soon as it was in her hand, she slid the screen to end the call. And then she looked at Eleanor with a 'what were you thinking' type of expression on her face.
--
What. The. Fuck. The other woman had just summoned the phone by raising her hand and she was definitely Team Michael because it's not like she had powers like that of her own here, did she? She raised her own hand and tried… Nope. Nothing.
So she was in the Bad Place, one of Michael's cohorts was apparently a roommate, and she wasn't allowed to talk or make any noise at all because monsters were going to get them if she did.
And maybe Rey had a point about the noise because the monster could be heard outside again, which was slightly unsettling. Either way, she wanted her phone back so she gave Rey an apologetic shrug and mouthed, "Oops. My bad."
Then held out her hand.
--
Rey's eyes lifted to the ceiling and she held still. It wouldn't make much of a difference, she was sure, if the monster found a way to break through the wards. Still, she didn't hear the roof being torn into yet. That was a blessing. As for the request to give back the phone?
She didn't move to give it to her at first. She felt hesitant to trust her to not open up the gallery and watch a video or to try to make a call. Still, Rey wasn't one to be unfair and the device wasn't hers. After the moment of hesitation, she stepped forward and held it out for her.
'We can talk on the network. I'll answer questions. Just don't make anymore noise.'
--
Eleanor took the phone and found an app to quickly type out a note for Rey.
Yeah, yeah. Fine. I'm Eleanor btw but I think you know that already.
And then she focused on the network Rey mentioned. Because she needed to know more about what the hell was going on if she was going to figure out what Michael was up to this time. Because she still hadn't entertained the thought that maybe Michael had nothing to do with this.