Val Mathers (val_in_motion) wrote in zenithrp, @ 2015-11-19 20:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | #day 009, val |
Who: Val
Where: Theater, then to her room
When: Morning
Val hadn't been sure how long she could hold out, how much longer she could stay in that hospital room. Her skin felt like it was covered in beetles crawling all over her, and she felt like she could, quite literally, climb the walls just for something to do. She'd eaten her food slowly, and once that was gone, she'd started drinking the wine. With no idea what time it was, she had finally decided not to take her time with it. Maybe if she drank the whole bottle fairly quickly, she would find it easier to pass out in the middle of the day. And so she did.
When she woke, it was still daylight, but the angle of the rays told her it was at least late afternoon. She was hungry again, but she knew there was nothing to do about that, so she took to pacing instead.
By the time the sun had set, she'd been visibly shaking, filled with a desperate need to GET OUT, to be around people and not stuck alone with just her thoughts. But still she'd waited, just in case any of her fellows were lingering in the town. Though why the would, she didn't know. After a bit, though, her stomach was growling painfully, and she forced herself to leave the hospital.
Despite it being dark and the town being eerily quiet, she'd crept along the buildings, desperate to not run into anyone. She hadn't got this far to fail now. She'd ducked into the grocery store, pieced together some more food, and then she'd gone back outside and just stared in all directions, trying to figure out where to go. And then she'd noticed the little theater right next door to the grocer.
Slipping inside, she'd noticed the well stocked snack bar and wondered if that meant that it was a functional theater. It would beat going back to the hospital, though she wished absently for a blanket and pillow or something. But she'd just have to make do, that was life, right? And as long as she made it through to 9am tomorrow morning, she'd be fine.
And in the theater, cramped in a somewhat uncomfortable seat with the remnants of her snacks strewn about her was where Val awoke in the morning. She had no idea what time it was, and she was too anxious to leave the theater to find out. She did, however, make her way to the restroom she'd seen marked just off the theater lobby.
She was just coming out of the bathroom when the noise sounded, but it was so much worse than just some noise. It was an ear-splitting siren than she felt all the way to her bones. Val shrieked and covered her ears, dropping to her knees as her body started shaking with the intensity of the noise.
It didn't last long in the grand scheme of things, but it felt like an eternity. Tears were falling down her cheeks, and she curled into a ball as the siren cut off, her ears still ringing. She was still so focused on the pain and ringing in her ears that she didn't catch the entirety of the robotic message from Them, only a few key words getting through to her.
24 hours. Quests. Completed.
It was enough for her to realize that it was over. Or, well, at least this one challenge was over. She'd done it, she'd managed a full 24 hours of self-imposed isolation, and as the realization hit her, she started crying more. It was a release of all the emotions and pent-up energy from the past day. She wasn't sure how long she lay there, curled up on the lobby floor of the theater, but finally she unfolded herself and slowly stood up, wiping the wetness from her cheeks.
Her ears were still ringing as she stepped outside, the sun blinding to her red-rimmed eyes. She didn't rush, didn't think she had it in her to rush, but rather walked with her arms wrapped around her middle. She felt awful and stiff and like she needed a long, hot bath - and she wasn't even imagining sharing it with anyone, which would have spoke to how awful she felt if she'd given it any thought.
It took her longer to get back up to the mansion than it would have to get to the town, and yet it was relatively quiet. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting; some sort of chaos as punishments were doled out, perhaps? She entered the mansion and slowly climbed up the stairs, half hoping she didn't run into anyone on the way. As much as she craved human interaction, she thought she desperately needed to get clean first.
When she opened the door to her room, a little slip of paper fell to the floor, and she bent to pick it up. She couldn't help the smile as she realized it was from Eddi. She found it so sweet that the younger girl had made her something and left it in the fridge for her. And she would happily go get it, just as soon as she was feeling like she could handle it.
Before that, though, the blinking light on her screen beckoned her. The emotions just kept coiling as she read the words, and though she now knew the results, she couldn't help but wonder what had led to them. She was filled with both relief and disgust and then just a little bit of hope. They were ALL going to be rewarded in some way, and she couldn't help the way she fixated on the idea of additional clothes. It would be interesting, she thought, to see how that vote would go.
Pam failed; Val was torn between relieved that the stag was still alive and saddened that her friend would end up punished for it. Jack succeeded, and she wondered what he wanted his phone so bad for. She wasn't surprised Cecilia refused, as asking her not to offer help to the rest of them was pretty messed up considering she seemed to be one of the few, if not the only one with a medical background here. And Rhett had failed, she noted with great relief. She skimmed the rest, but when she got to Juno's, she had to pause and reread it, cringing. While she hadn't liked the idea of a gun, she definitely didn't want Juno to be punished.
At the second to final note, she glanced down at the clock in the corner of the screen. 10:23 AM, time enough for a good soak and maybe some food before she had to be outside. And she was decidedly not thinking about that final note about someone being terminated from the study or someone new joining them.