Day 5: (Ab)normal Days

Adda tapped out a message quickly, allowing some typos to slip by.

Herb's in a bit of a pikcle, you could say. Something happened and he lost an eye?? We're gonig to meet outside the bathrooom.

Laura felt the tingle in her pants pocket just after Eloise did, and pulled out her Electronic Student ID in suit. She tapped the screen and read Marci's message. "Hm, it looks like Herbert got what was coming to him."

Then the video started. Laura stared blankly at the screen, not knowing what she was looking at at first. But then was a shot of her home, crumbled down the hill it was once perched upon. After a few more clips, it cut to a view of a large hospital, completely abandoned. "So it was true!" Laura gasped, dropping her Student ID. "Dammit, he didn't lie!" She was shaking. "Why?! What did a ten year old boy have to do with any of this?!"

Eloise did not like where this was going. How did Herbert get hurt, and how badly? The guy had been pretty nice to her yesterday and she genuinely worried.

As her fingers moved to type out a reply the slideshow began.

Eloise's stomach clenched. He fingers trembled over the ID's screen as pictures of a mismatched group of kids flickered on the screen, followed by the gruesome image of a car wreck. The car was practically twisted, upside down and flooded with broken glass. What had been haunting her the past few days was now projected before her eyes and she knelt down to the floor, letting the ID slip out of her hand.

She coughed a few times as if to throw up, but nothing. She couldn't even speak. She just dug her nails into the floor while trying to form words with whatever wheezes came out.

He patted Herbert's shoulder and looked over at him. "Calm down, don't get angry at her. She's just tryin' to help." he sighed. C'mon, the faster we get there the better for you, right?"

Herbert grumbled in reply, trying to get down the stairs as quickly as he could. From there, it'd just be along walk to the bathrooms. He was happy to finally get on level ground. He could moan about his condition later, at least. He tugged on David's arm, his strides growing longer as he wanted to get to the bathroom as quickly as possible.

Laura slowly regained herself after the slideshow ended, and she bent down as far as she could to pick up her Student ID and shove it back in her pocket. "I've gotta get outta here," she muttered to herself. Then more loudly she spoke to Eloise.

"C'mon, let's get out of this room. The others are by the staircase, let's just go. We can talk about it later."

David watched Herbert carefully, helping him down the stairs and onto the second floor. His shoulders relaxed a tad as they reached the bottom stair, but he didn't stop walking and only hurried to match Hebert's pace.

"Slow down, I don't want you to fall or something. One injury's enough," he mumbled, not making any movement to actually stop him.

Adda let her shoulders sag as she followed Marci.

"What are we even supposed to do here? Why is this all happening? It's been five days... how could so much happen in five measly days..." she mumbled.

For once, Herbert actually listened, slowing down a little. He hissed through his teeth when he finally pushed the door open, taking off his glove and handwrap and looked into the sink.

"poo poo. Get me a rag or something." he hissed, finding out the hard way that it wouldn't be easy to fill it. It didn't have a stopper or anything. He cursed inwardly.

Eloise took a few deep breaths, staring at the Student ID screen to calm her down. Adda's reply was still there.
"Outside the bathroom," she wobbled to the door and then at once solidified her stance. As far as she was concerned Monobear didn't exist anymore and she made sure not to acknowledge him.

"Let's go."

"I don't got a rag, but I got an idea." he muttered, stepping away from Herbert's side for a second to take off his jacket.

He undid his tie as fast as he could and, realizing what Herbert was trying to do, plugged the drain tight. He turned on the sink and the water began to rise.

"There." he said simply, shrugging his jacket back on and returning to Herbert's side again. It didn't occur to him that the tie was one of his favorites.

"I don't know, Adda, I don't. I don't know the why, the how, or the what. But honestly, I think it's better that way." she looked back at her. "Ignorance is bliss, after all."

She turned walked to the bathroom and stopped outside it. Herbert and David were nowhere to be seen, but the door was open a fraction and she could hear people inside.

"...do we go in?" she asked, turning to Adda.

Herbert flinched for a moment, trying to figure out what just happened through a haze of pain and sudden vision loss. It finally hit him, and he shoved it to the side of his mind, favoring to wash his face. It hurt even more, but the pain actually lessened the more he attempted first aid. After almost five minutes of him vigorously splashing water in his face- the cold didn't bother him that much- he stopped.

"H-how bad es it?" He said, not wanting to look into the mirror. He took his broken glasses off. From all he knew, half the glass was gone, and some landed in his eye, along with a spear. He was expecting the worse, since the water was tinged pink with blood. He had no idea how to progress from here.

Adda shook her head vigorously.

"That's the boys' bathroom. First of all, you just don't go into the boys' bathroom. Second, it's the only place left for them to go where they can get away from us girls. We can't take that sacred place from them with our femininity and hygiene."

She laughed a bit. "I figured that from you, but either way, that was a rhetorical question," she said with a smile, "...and I think this is an exception to the rules." she added with a serious look.

She turned around and, not wanting to make it a scene or anything, walked into the bathroom. She saw the sink filled with water like the color of her sweater and hurriedly walked over. "Sorry if I'm intruding, but could I help at all?"

Laura let Eloise go out first before following her out of the rec hall, similarly ignoring Monobear's presence. She had had enough with that bear for one day.

"Alright, let's head over," she said quietly, letting the door shut behind her and meandering over towards the bathrooms.

When she reached them, Marci had just walked inside the boys' room. Laura shot a sideways glance before rolling her eyes and stepping in as well. "Yo!" she called, loudly and without much seriousness. "Someone call for back up?"

Adda stood outside the door as the other two entered, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"You guys, just yell if you need me to grab something, okay?" she asked, her voice trailing off.

Herbert froze at the intrusion. He wouldn't have minded Marci, but when he heard Laura's voice.

That was it. His poo poo-I-can-take-o-meter capped. "Get out!" He yelled, "Nobody asker fer all yall ta git here! Damn peepin' Janes, the lot o' you!"

Eloise stepped in behind her, much more quietly. She took in the scene and it all honestly failed to shock her anymore.

When Herbert began yelling she frowned and turned around. She didn't plan on staying long anyway, just enough to see if her friend was alive. She'd wait until he cooled down a bit.
She turned to Adda now, giving her a long and silent stare before saying, "Hey, what happened?"

"Okay, I'm sorry," she said with a small nod and headed out quietly without another word. She held the door open for Laura to come out and looked over at Adda, shrugging a bit. "Wanted us to leave." she said simply.

Adda put her hands on her sides and nodded.

"Some things aren't needed even in a crisis." She turned to Eloise. "I don't know the full story either; only David, Herbert, and Monobear would, I guess.

Monobear strolled out of the women's restroom right next to where the group gathered, wiping his hands with a paper towel. When he saw the girls there, he blushed.

"I just didn't want to intrude on those boys, I swear!" He chuckled. He crumpled up the paper towel as he approached the group.

"It's so boring around here with you all huddling together~. Much more fun to actually come and converse! Upupupupu! I just wanted to compliment you all- you work at such a faster pace then I expected!

Raising her eyebrow, Laura gave Herbert a very judgmental look. "Ey, I came in to help, you stupid pig."

"Whatever. Enjoy riding your time getting it on with the chauffeur, see if I care." She spun around on one crutch and bounced back out of the bathroom with her head held high. She would have given Marci a quick thank you, but she got distracted by the bear's appearance. "What the heck is that? I'm not touching it, god knows where it's been."

Marci walked over to the two other girls. "Herbert's eye is messed up. There's a lot of blood. I don't know how it happened," she paused, "though it reminds me of...another incident." She looked over at Adda, hoping that she hadn't brought back bad memories.

The bear appeared from the bathroom and she looked at it quizzically as it spoke. She smiled a bit.

"Wait, intrude on the boys? Are you a girl bear?"

"Hmph," she turned her head back to the bathroom where Marci was now exiting. She was going to ask if he was OK but judging by the fact he was yelling, Herbert seemed to be his normal self.

When Monobear approached she gave an audible groan and turned around to face it, "What. Else?"