5

Slowly, Tania opened her eyes. Remembering the past events, her heart started beating fast. “Okay… okay- breathe.” She whispered to herself, and so she did. “Inhale… exhale…” Talking to herself helped.

Memories flooded her brain. “Okay, uhm. Scary guy is coming after me for something Spencer did, she can’t say his name, my dream was… real? She said, That dream you had wasn’t as much of a dream as you think. What did she mean by that?” Tania sighed and brought her cold hand to her forehead. She felt like she was burning.

Her face lit up as she realized she forgot something. “Papers. The papers.” She reached for the drawer where Spencer supposedly put the first one and, just as she imagined, it was there. It read, “don’t talk about what happened.”

She got up, her head pounded, but it wasn’t going to restrain her from getting what she wanted. Then, she walked to her bag of clothes, the last piece of paper was between her black sweatpants and the grey ones. On this one, Spencer wrote, “protect yourself,” Tania read aloud.

“You know, it would help if I knew what I needed protection from, but potayto, potahto I guess.” She shook her head, it wasn’t useful, but at the same time, it felt validating to know she wasn’t going insane.

A knock on the door startled her. She hurriedly hid the papers in the bag and sat on the bed. “Come in.”

Luna was the one behind the door. “Look at you! You’re up, does that mean you’re feeling better?” She asked. Grinning, she got closer to hug her. Tania squeezed back gladly.

“I am actually feeling better, even more now that you’re here. I just woke up from the longest dream I’ve ever had.” Luna laughed and pulled away from the hug.

After analyzing what she just said, she realized she didn’t know what time it was. She didn’t want to be rude and grab her phone while talking to Luna, so she asked her instead. “What time is it? It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“Awe, you miss me that much? It’s only five PM.” Luna smiled sweetly at Tania.

“Of course I missed you, dum-dum. You’re my favourite person.” Tania said, returning the smile.

She slept longer than she thought. Whatever he,- whoever “he” was -, did to her, it worked pretty well.

“Hey, have you seen Spencer? She hasn’t showed up to work today.” Luna asked Tania.

What is she supposed to say now, Spencer told her to say nothing, but it’s Luna. Tania tells her everything.

Not this, she can’t. It would just put Luna in danger, and Tania wouldn't be able to bear this loss. She wouldn’t be able to go through that pain again, only that she would also have to do it alone. Of course, she had friends but, she would need Luna to get through that. “If she hasn’t said anything, she’s probably sick at home. Don’t worry, she’ll be back in a few days.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. It’s just, do you know about the video?” Uhh well, does she? She does, but she shouldn’t.

“What video?” Tania asked her.

Luna took her phone out of her purse. A few seconds later, she showed Tania the same video Spencer told her she recorded, with the same drones she dreamed about.

Once it finished, Tania broke the silence. “This is… horrible. What happened? And why the hell does it have to do with Spencer?”

Luna sighed. She turned her phone off and put it back in her purse. “She was there when it happened, she was the one who recorded it and posted it.”

“What the- is she okay!?” Good acting Tania, she gave herself a pat on the back. Even though she felt like shit for blatantly lying to Luna, she knew there was a valid reason as to why she was doing that.

“Yeah, when we found out, Sidney, as the parent of the group that they are, scolded her. It was quite funny but she could’ve gotten really hurt just because she wanted to record everything. One day being journalists will be the death of us.”

“I have to accept that Sidney yelling at Spencer must have been funny, but you’re right, she deserved it, it was stupid.” Tania said with a worried expression.

“This is what I’m worried about, that she actually got hurt and didn’t tell us. Maybe she’s really injured at home. Maybe she needs our help, I don’t know. I just know that I’m worried.” Luna finished, shaking her head and her leg, the latter moved up and down. It’s a move she’s done for as long as Tania can remember. She’s anxious.

Tania grabbed Luna’s left hand, and then put her right hand on Luna’s knee to make it stop shaking. “Listen to me, if Spencer needed help she would’ve told us. When it comes to self-care she reminds me of a certain someone, she’s irresponsible, almost reckless, but she knows we can help, and she knows it’s not a problem if she asks for anything. So, I’m telling you, she’s alright.” Luna nodded. “Promise me you won’t go all stalker-ish on Spencer and show up to her house.”

Luna laughed at that. “I promise.”

“Good.” Tania smiled.

Their tête-à-tête continued for the next two hours until Luna had to leave.

It had been two days since Tania last saw Spencer. She had woken up about an hour ago when Spencer walked in the room. Tania was already expecting her, of course. She fell unconscious in a quite uncanny way. All she wanted was an answer.

“Tania? How are you feeling?” Spencer asked, her facial expression telling Tania she was worried. She doesn’t know what to do, does she bring up what happened? She remembers Spencer telling her about the papers she already found. She also remembers her saying that, when she came back, she would make it seem as if nothing happened.

What makes her decide is seeing Spencer roll her sleeves up and showing Tania a text on her forearm. She wasn’t looking at her, but at the heart monitor. Once she finished reading, she did as told.

“I don’t know, I had a really weird dream. It almost felt real… almost.” She rolled her sleeves back down and smiled at Tania.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Spencer got closer and sat on the chair.

“You’ll think I’m crazy.” Tania said, with a sarcastic chuckle. I could totally be an actress, Tania thought.

“Not at all. Tell me, it’s okay.” Spencer said with a reassuring nod.

“Well, it started a few days ago, I dreamt of drones, clones, and Luna dying. That last thing is the one I was most worried about. I can’t lose her and it all felt so real… Then I woke up, but in the dream. You came to visit me. Your eyes turned black and you talked about those drones. I don’t remember much about what happened with you, everything feels like a blur. Then I woke up for real.” Tania remembers everything but, she read what Spencer wrote, she didn’t want to compromise Spencer nor endanger her life more than it was already in danger.

“And are you feeling better now?” Spencer asked.

Tania nodded, “yes, it was a bit overwhelming, but I’m alright.” She smiled, Spencer smiled back. They needed to keep the performance good, so Tania asks, “where have you been? Everyone has been worried about you.”

“Funny story- or well, not that funny, I was sick, caught a cold of some kind. If I haven’t answered messages or calls it’s because I left my phone somewhere in this room. I should probably look for it. Also, I always have it on silent mode.”

Spencer got up and searched for the phone, the one she had in the back pocket of her pants. She opened a drawer, “maybe it’s in that closet.” Tania said, pointing in front of her, two white doors. She snuck her phone out of the pocket as she opened one of the doors.

“Here it is!” She said. “I need to start leaving. Maybe I’ll get some work done.” Spencer turned around and smiled at Tania while approaching her to hug her.

“Good luck there. You’ll get yelled-at by Sidney and maybe by Luna too. She’s been worried.” Tania told her. They pulled away, “thanks for the warning, I’ll get ready then.”

Spencer walked out of the room, and Tania sighed, relieved. She had been tense the whole time and hoped he wouldn’t notice. Right after Spencer left, Dr. Walker walked in. Ironic.

“Hello, how are you? I saw your friend coming in and wanted to give you some privacy.” He said.

“I’m okay, thanks for the privacy.” She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

“I came in to tell you that tomorrow we’ll run a few tests to see how everything inside you is behaving after everything. Depending on the results you’ll leave in a few days or in a few months.” He told her. He had papers on hand like he always did. Tania wondered if there was something important written there or it was just an accessory. She smiled, not minding her thoughts and minding what was actually important.

She might be able to get out of there sooner than expected.