Day 6: (Ab)normal Days

Adda returned to the library and turned the lights off as she walked in.  She returned to the table and positioned three chairs- two side by side, facing the third.  She sat down in one and waited for Marci, clutching her book.

She walked into the Library and spotted Adda, sitting down next to her. She looked at the third chair curiously, then turned to Adda and sighed.

"Some meeting, huh?" she said with a hint of anger.

Adda began to flip through her book while she responded, searching for a particular page.

"Stupid bear threatened my family."

She looked up.

"We won't let him win this."

She found the page she was looking for and stopped, catching it on her finger before it could fold over.

Eloise was nervous to see David go; would that mean she was next? Soon? She wasn't about to try figuring it out.

She was suddenly on her feet, "Oh! I forgot! Crap!" As she got out of chair, the jolt shook her brain enough for her to remember poor Laura. "Gotta go see Laura" And with that she went off into the hall.

"That bear has a lot of nerve," she said quietly, "and I don't like it."

She shook her head and looked at Adda. "You were talking about Oscar before, what did you mean exactly?"

Herbert was about the break the silence when Eloise spoke. He nodded softly. Ri-ver. Rutford. Smith. He was last.

Adda looked up to the chair.

"I'd like to preface this with something.  I'm not bringing anyone forth from rest, or anything like that.  This wil just help someone hanging around to communicate, in a sense.  We can't actually talk, but you can feel a sort of presence.  Like a happy, a peaceful, a threatening, stuff like that.  There's no guarantee we could get Oscar, but if we do it here, the chance is high.  Technically, it should be night.  But we have no way to really know, and with the windows bolted it's dark enough. "  She had begun to ramble.  She knew what she meant, and forgot Marci would have no clue.

David walked out of the office with a light smile on his face, which quickly turned into a frown. He headed back to the cafeteria, walking a bit faster than he usually did.

"Eloise Rutford, the queen is calling!"

"...so we can see him, and hang out with him, but we can't...talk to him. Is that what you're saying?" she asked carefully. "I'm new to this supernatural stuff, sorry."

She sank back in her chair, thinking. "...if that's right...I think we should go for it. I wanna...I wanna say I'm sorry for letting this happen to him."

Adda shook her head.

"We can't see him.  But we can feel him.  And we can tell him what we want him to hear."

She paused.

"See, this just involves talking to the chair.  I think it started already.  We just...talk."

She looked to the empty chair.

"Oscar...if you're there.  I hope you're there.  Know you're not alone, kay?"  She touched the goggles, then laughed a bit.

"Sorry for taking these without asking..."  She waited to continue to collect her thoughts.

Adda looked over to Marci for a second, a slighlty apologetic look, and then turned back to the chair.

"This might sound selfish.  But I feel like I've known the both of you for a while.  Longer then the time we've been here.  And, Oscar, just know that regardless of how long we knew each other, we're all friends, okay?  Not just friends.  Best friends.  So don't think you were alone here, or ever will be alone again."

Adda looked up and smiled.  She wasn't sure Marci had any clue about what was going on, but she could tell.  A tear ran down her cheek.

"He's happy.  Anxious, like good old Oscar, but happy.  He seemed to relax as we went.  We're still friends.  Still together."

Eloise was well into the hallway when she heard the announcement. It wormed its way into her head and she gave a slight laugh, a disgruntled laugh. "Just a minute, your highness," she grumbled, turning towards the Main Office. She hoped Laura would forgive her for delivering the food so late, it'd probably be more like lunch now.

She looked up and sighed, smiling at Adda. "T...thanks."

She turned to the chair and smiled awkwardly. "I'm, uh, I'm glad you're happy."

She felt a tad useless in that moment - both Adda and Oscar had a good grasp on what was going on, she figured. She couldn't even understand what was going on, really - this was all out of her reach. She shook her head and looked at the chair again, a smile on her face. She wasn't sure if Oscar was really there, or of the concussion was getting to Adda's head, but she did it regardless.

Adda laughed sheepishly.

"Thing is, there's no real way to end.  We just kinda...say goodbye."

She paused.

"Not that there's a rush.  I don't want this to end just yet.  It feels... almost normal."

David headed into the cafeteria, and spotted Herbert. "Hey!" he called over, half-walking, half-jogging over. "Meeting was...okay." he looked around. "Yeah, don't get excited for it."

Adda felt Albert to her side, and smiled sadly.

"This is too selfish.  Oscar, we'll see you around some day.  Please, don't spend the rest of...well... a while here.  Please, move on."

She turned to Marci.

"Sorry I didn't ask you first about any of this.  I just...didn't think it was right to leave you out."

"I... wasn't going to. It sounded like poo poo anyways." Herbert sniffed, crossing his arms. "Ain't nothing good when that bear's involved."

This was the farthest thing from "normal" that Marci had ever done. She figured her and Adda's definition of "normal" was fairly different. After all, she had spent a full 24 hours writing a single poem one day.

Whatever Adda was feeling from that chair, she wasn't getting it. That both annoyed and worried Marci - sure, the paranormal wasn't her expertise, but it felt like she should be experiencing something.


She turned to Adda. "It's alright. It...it felt nice, I guess. Thank you for including me." She offered a smile.

He nodded. "You're next, right?" he wondered out loud, looking at his hands and counting off the remaining six. "...yeah, then me, Eloise, and you. You're next." he looked up and shrugged. "Eh, just don't let what he's sayin' get to your head. Bear's probably lyin'."

"Eh...would Herbert Smith please come down to the office?"

Eloise sauntered out of the main office, looking cross as expected.

"Guess I should still...do that" She muttered to herself, heading towards the nurse's office with the bag of late breakfast. If it wasn't lunchtime already, it'd probably be brunch. But what Monobear said made her feel a little uncomfortable with it.

A promise was a promise though, and worst of Laura had written proof of it. Eloise made her way down the hall.

Adda scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"Sorry, sorry... I get kinda caught up in it sometimes..."  she smiled.

"Well, what should we do now?  Got a whole day to kill."

Herbert looked up when he heard the announcement. "Eh, speak of tha devil..." He muettered, standing up.

"Well, stay put. Ah'll be back soon. S'not like 'e got anythin' ta git me down o bloody murderous."

Slowly, he made his way to the main office.