Group Chat

Nicknames, as made by Maverick

Galilee: Maze Runner Eyebrows Guy

Jerry: Seinfeld

Elodie: Melodie

Benedict: Cumberbatch

Maverick: Clara's beard

Tempest: Stormy

Darlington: Darlington

Marcellus: Marky Mark

Calypso: Homer's Girl

Moonie: Moonie

Ro: Ro your boat

Darlington
Hello! Hope you all had a good rest of your break! Before the Spring Into Spring sessions tomorrow, I wanted to remind you all that you are invited to my apartment unit for a social.

Melodie
can u text like ur normal??

Homer's Girl
what do u expect his name is Darlington

Marky Mark
by choice

Darlington
Why is this shit all over me today, again?

Moonie
Ooh, a social would be fun! can i come over 1st w streamers??? Plsssssssss

Stormy
I wouldn't mind blowing up balloons!

Homer's Girl
count me out of balloons ive still got bronchitis

Maze Runner Eyebrows Guy
Oh, I'd love to help with balloons!
Wait, your bronchitis isn't contagious right?

Homer's Girl
u and ur camera are safe

Ro your boat
How can we do shots if you aren't drinking?

Homer's Girl
I can drink

Cumberbatch
????
You can't drink on antibiotics

Homer's Girl
ur not my Dad

Cumberbatch
????

Darlington
Glad to know people are feeling lively for training tomorrow. Who is coming to my unit tonight?

Seinfeld
We all are. Obviously.

Melodie
u text like ur writing an email

Cumberbatch
@Callie you can't drink on antibiotics

Maze Runner Eyebrows Guy
Didn't you stop your antibiotics three days ago? Are you still sick?

Marky Mark
fuck yeah, we're doing shots
everyone
no exceptions

Stormy
Except me :)

Ro your boat
Honestly, staff meetings this semester are going to be a nightmare again. A pipe bomb won't solve this?

Seinfeld
Pipe bomb?

Darlington
We've gone over this, don't plan crimes in my group chat.

Clara's Beard
hey everyone! :) im trying to take a nap before tonight's social and the notifications are keeping me awake

Moonie
Mav, my love, learn to mute ur phone :)

~~~

Pearcher House had to be condemned.

Unlike the building which could not be saved, they were. All eleven of them couldn't fit on the helicopter, so it required multiple trips, but soon enough they were safe and dry and warm. Benedict had an infection in the wounds on his knees which needed to be treated. Callie's lungs required puffers. Maverick had hypothermia that developed into pneumonia. All of the injuries are treatable. The scars would heal. Galilee didn't even need stitches.

Cell reception had come back just after Ro had checked her phone, and the resident assistants in other houses called for help. It took a few hours, but it went to them before the others, since the batteries in the walkie died and Darlington hadn't noticed. By the new year, the snow had melted and come back, albeit with less force, and then melted again. Now, it was a brown slush. Michigan had a habit of tricking its residents with the weather. It may not feel like winter now, in early January, as they've all just moved back to campus, but it will within a few days.

The building was destroyed and nearly everything in it. Insurance from the disaster is still being settled since each resident has to submit a claim totaling what they've lost. Ro isn't budging on her number. Until then, the population on Pearcher has been moved to a leased building off-campus. The students will be moving in tomorrow. They have the building to themselves tonight, hopefully for the last time before the snow is gone for good.

At least, before it is gone until October or November or December, or whenever the state decides to freeze again.

Galilee, while making the way to Darlington's apartment, thinks about the day everyone's family came. Benedict's family was there first since he was local and he seemed annoyed they wouldn't stick to the waiting room. Moonie's aunt came soon after, and Moonie chose not to have her aunt drive her to her family since Maverick's wouldn't make it for a few days. Before Boxing Day morning, the colour had returned to his face and he was smiling again. Ro spoke on the phone in rapid-fire Spanish, her tone just as angry as it was when they started. After her tetanus shot, Elodie whispered to that Marcellus the journey back to her home would be cold, and Marcellus agreed to join her (Galilee was sure she hadn't directly invited him, but there are many things Galilee might be wrong about). Jerry grabbed the chart in Maverick's room repeatedly until he was told off by a nurse, and then he switched to Benedict's chart. Tempest got an ultrasound and her baby was okay. Darlington held her hand until he collapsed, sleep-deprived and more delirious from the cold than he let even her know. Callie, cough and all, took Galilee's phone from her and refused to let her charge it. Calls were no doubt coming from her parents. Footage of the campus and their rescue was being played on the news in the hospital waiting room.

Galilee gets to the room, her camera in her hands. Not the polaroid camera that she had to bring to their first night alone, but her camera. The one she kept with her when Callie's brother picked them and Ro up, and the four of them spent the last nine days before they had to return in their little Heaven. Well, it wasn't Heaven for Ro, but it was for Galilee.

No one should mind the photos. The news wasn't allowed in the hospital, and Galilee pulled in most of the focus because of her famous family. While people were approached for interviews and photographs, it's been two weeks. Those five days in the building were long, but two weeks were longer. The national cycle has moved on. Galilee hopes her camera is okay.

She knocks on Darlington's apartment. Tempest lets her inside.

She's the last one.

Maverick has Moonie balanced on his shoulders as she sticks streamers to the ceiling. Jerry, Callie, and Marcellus are engaged in a war, smashing each other with the decorative pillows Darlington has on the cheap couch that came with the unit. He's trying not to get mad, and when Tempest returns with a hand on his shoulder, the look melts away. Elodie is pouring drinks for everyone, going light on Darlington this time. Benedict and Ro are in a corner staring at the schedule for the Spring Into Spring, and loudly complaining about it, trying to combat the giggles from the giggling from Moonie, the reassurances of Tempest, and the loud fights of a pillow war.

The door shuts behind Galilee, a little too loudly. Heads turn.

"Finally," Ro says. She grabs the remote for the projector Maverick brought and turns it on. "I thought I'd show you guys some pictures."

Somehow, Galilee feels more mortified than when they were all looking at her. A slideshow of her pictures? That feels like so much.

The light flickers on and she stifles a laugh. Others don't.

"Thank Darlington's family lawyers," Ro says. She offers him a fist bump, and he rushes forward to take it.

"Thank Daniel Arlington the fifty-fifth," Darlington smiles.

"Thank God for class action lawsuits, really," Callie rolls her eyes.

Marcellus scoffs, "don't inflate his ego anymore."

The couches in Darlington's unit are smaller than those in the lounge. The space isn't built for more than five people, and they are eleven, still. Consequently, they gather in what spaces they can. Elodie sits on the side arm. Tempest is a bit bigger now so Maverick bows and gives her his seat. Moonie drags him onto the floor. They crouch and crowd, and Ro gets up at the front like she is giving a presentation.

Even though Darlington's family is paying for the class action lawsuit, Ro is the one doing most of the communication. She's great at keeping logs and data, and she has a ton of it. How much all of them lost in personal belongings, financially and emotionally. The dangers and the codes the building didn't fit anymore. All of it is in her brain.

"Is that the entrance?" Benedict asks, tilting his head.

Ro nods, "I think so. I haven't seen the photos of the damage yet. I thought we could go through them together."

So, they do. Elodie texts Marcellus a drinking game, secretly. They drink every time Darlington says something pompous, or when Ro points out a flaw in the architecture, or if at first blush they can't tell what the picture is of.

Galilee is so relieved. Each picture, has more damage than the last. Uglier and more disgusting. There's something wonderful in the grotesque. She glances over at Callie, who glances back.

There are photos of the hall where they were upstairs, with all the mattresses strewn about.

"Is that the mattress I was on?" Tempest stands up, peering at one with mould. "That's so gross."

"Such fond memories," Jerry shakes his head.

"Everyone such a fucking stand-up comedian," Benedict grumbles to himself.

Maverick stares at all of this. The memory feels less like its in fog now. His body is better but it cannot fill the gaps in his memory. He barely remembers talking to Moonie.

"They could film a horror film there," he looks at her with the brightest eyes. "No more Hallmark."

"There's always more Hallmark movies," Moonie argues. "There are only two things that are inevitable in life. Taxes and Hallmark movies."

He laughs.

The slideshow clicks to the final image. Ro doesn't even peer around before everyone is laughing altogether.

A picture of the office, which was destroyed in the flood. The whiteboard is cracked leaning against the wall rather than attached to it properly. The water, soapy from the laundry room, washed it all cleaned, and the floor collapsing above it didn't do much good. It's blank. All but one letter. One F, that Ro wrote in permanent marker.

Every year, the resident assistants at Darnley University were told in training that being a resident assistant was like being in a fishbowl. Someone could always be watching you and you might not notice. Every action you take might be blown up out of proportion. Consequently, the resident assistants were expected to behave in accordance with the values and policies of the Residence Unit at all times.

Maybe it is like a fishbowl. Fish are trapped the same way they were that winter break. Foggy glass, cold water, and the same food day in and day out. Pet fish are inherently at the whims of forces big and above their control. The thing is, people outside the fishbowl aren't looking in to watch the fish fail.

~~~~~

And folks! That's a wrap. I've got a new story which should hopefully be out by the time you read this. Check out Deterrent on my profile. I'm sad to see this go, but I love to watch her leave.

Final questions. Favourite moment? Saddest moment? Any final thoughts? For me, I was happy to go on this journey with these characters and learn and grow alongside them. It's all too much :')