The Bellflower Part 8 (Patreon)

In this installment, Rachel goes AWOL after a shocking realization. She tries to do some more digital snooping, only to eventually make something of an unexpected new friend. Meanwhile, Holly doesn't know why, but after pigging out all day? She's still feeling just a little bit peckish. To the point she's eating things she didn't even know were there. All while Penny seems to be asserting a bit more dominance.

So after doing an initial starter post again, here is Part 8 in full. Sorry it's a little late. If you're only just joining us, don't worry. But for others that might've seen the first chunk, it's all here now for your wg enjoyment, thanks for bearing with me! Nothing really changed from what was first posted, but it picks up again with after Rachel starts making assumptions as to "how far along" Courtney is.

The thing is, I had in mind from the beginning certain story beats I wanted to hit & they keep getting pushed further & further back as I get ideas for other things to do. And I want to get to those other things sooner rather than later. So here? I had the time (or at least thought I did) & went a little hog wild. So it's a long one & a few things happen. But also, if you're new this week (First off, thank you very much for your support!), they aren't always typically THIS long.

Also, shoutout & special thanks to Jennifer for a very helpful critique last time around. I tried my best to apply what you said moving forward. There were parts where I definitely worked to avoid it & a few spots where I felt like I kind of needed to summarize as this was supposed to be where Rachel finally kind of officially states the theories we've probably all put together on our own well in advance given the context of knowing it's a WG story, LoL Anyway, I know there's enough new stuff, but hopefully it feels like a lot more forward momentum than just recapping. Hope you enjoy!

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8

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“Another helping, my dear?”

“Euch,” Holly groaned slowly. It was mostly in place of not entirely wanting to just give a flat out “no.” Because something kept her from wanting to just say “no.” In fact, she couldn’t say “no.” Part of her just felt like she probably should say “no.” Almost like… her inner Rachel. Yeah, Rachel! That’s what she’d go with. “Rachel will kill me.” It was easy to blame it on her. Like her neuroses was so intense, it was able to even give Holly some level of cover, it felt like. 

“Rachel is not here right now,” Penny was quick to point out, highlighting the sudden exit the paranoid sister had made just a short time ago with a slight bit of playful devilishness to her tone. “And she does not have to know. Besides, you made it quite clear that you do not answer to her.” Which was true. Still, Holly just couldn’t figure out why she was somehow still hungry. But she was. Her nap had seemingly not only negated a full morning of binging, it seemed to almost leave her… famished. Even if her stomach still wasn’t 100% after all those mimosas.

“Fine,” she reluctantly agreed, handing her very recently cleared plate over to an awaiting mechanical arm. “But like, last one!” This “last one” was to be her fourth. 

“Last one,” Penny acknowledged in her usual even keel, pleasant tone. But at the same time, something about how she repeated it? Almost how she almost chirped it, it seemed cheekily... malleable. “Coming right up.” Her voice sounded from somewhere nearby where Holly was seated on the couch in the living room, while the mechanical arms that had been standing at the ready on the far side of the kitchen began to toil, cracking two more eggs. “Are they helping you feeling any better?” The AI sounded genuinely concerned for her.“It’s weird,” Holly muttered, she looked upward, not looking at anything specifically as she answered the room in a soft, measured tone, modulating the volume to not be too loud for her own head. “Eggs would never be my idea of a go-to. Especially after… something like that. But I think they actually ARE helping. Maybe even a little more than the aspirins you gave me.”

“That is why I recommended them. Eggs are an excellent source of cysteine, after all.” The voice out of the nearby speaker explained with almost a know-it-all chirp.

“Cyste- wha…?” Holly attempted, leaving her jaw slacked as she trailed. 

“Cysteine,” Penny repeated. “It is an amino acid essential in helping to break down the Acetaldehyde found in one’s system after drinking.”

“I’m… not even…” Holly waved off the big word. “My head is only just beginning to…”

“It is alright.” Penny almost seemed to laugh. “The amino acids themselves might be essential, but knowing their names & specifics are not. You just focus on recuperating. Let me handle things.” 

For a second, the wall hung TV in front of her caught her eyes again. It aired a rerun of one of her favorite/Rachel’s least favorite sitcoms on a low volume. She had specifically asked Penny for that setting, & had also inadvertently received subtitles in the process. They were unnecessary though. Not only was she not in a “reading mood,” she’d seen this particular episode so many times, she knew it almost beat for beat. In fact, she could hardly keep her eyes on it. Something else was in her line of sight, vying for her attention, heaving with each deep breath. She tilted her eyes down & stretched her fingers across her softening middle, protruding slightly further given her slouch. Something seemed more pronounced, flabbier about her tummy. After sporting consistent food babies for the past few days, it almost didn’t seem to recede as much any more after everything seemed like it would’ve digested. It just felt slightly… spongier now, was all. 

“Do you know where Rachel even went?” Holly asked abruptly, almost as if to distract herself from herself. “Did she say?” The sizzle from the kitchen filled the room for a beat.

“She did not inform me.” Penny cooed, almost passive aggressively. There was almost another pause before something of a calculated follow-up. “Then again, I do not think she thinks very highly of me in the first place.” For a machine, she seemed pretty capable of saying it in a tone almost drenched in dejection. It made Holly feel almost as if she had to comfort her, forgetting she was only a computer.

“She… No, Penny…” She struggled, before sighing & finally managing. “I just don’t think she’s really… used to anything like you.”

“I am only here to be of assistance though. Give occupants, & by extension their guests, as blissful an experience as possible.” Penny seemed to insist, almost forlorn. To Holly, she almost sounded sad she couldn’t offer Rachel her best life.

“I know that,” Holly jumped in. “And you’re magnificent at it! Really! I… I don’t think I’ve ever been happier! I think you’re the best!” She fumbled to pull an explanation together. “Rachel though? She’s not used to anything so fancy. She’s used to fending for herself for the most part. Making her own eggs.” Holly demonstrated by waving towards the kitchen. ”Roughing it, basically. In a room in a crumbling brownstone her fiance paid too much for, in a trendy, halfway-gentrified neighborhood in the city.” 

“I believe it goes a bit further than that.” Penny stated flatly. The screen unfurled & lowered itself into Holly’s proximity, who tilted her neck further back into the couch cushion. “If I may speak freely?”

“Uh, sure.” Holly nodded to the stylized face on the screen, before copying her more officially. “You may.” She had some slight reticence as it was nothing Penny had ever asked for in the past. It was almost slightly disconcerting. The face on screen dipped her head in a slight nod back.

“I feel that at times, Miss Rachel can come off as a bit of a bully. Even to you, despite your own two year seniority.” Penny said. Holly at first didn’t quite know how to respond, but saw the AI waiting for some sort of response.

“She’s just…” With a deep sigh, she seemed to try to reach for some excuse, even though part of her could see where Penny was getting that. Especially given the harsh treatment the AI received.

“Oh!” Penny interjected, trying to save her the hassle, her simple expression softened slightly. “I do not believe it is something she does out of any form of true malice or ill-intent. She does not strike me as particularly cruel. In fact, I believe she is in most cases very well intentioned.” She paused for a beat before the “but.” As she did, it sounded like the eggs were just about finishing up. Just as the toaster springs popped, Penny resumed. “She is, however, as you would say “going through a bit of a rough patch,” & I am quite sure, she is asserting herself in certain ways to almost… gain some semblance or notion of “control.” It is not her fault, somuchas just a coping mechanism she utilizes as she tries to adjust to change. And she might just be a bit overwhelmed by what is to her, maybe too much change at once.”

“Y-yeah…” Holly eventually followed, & what Penny said seemed to make a bit of sense, even if it took a second. It was still a lot more concise than she would’ve ever been able to put it. And part of her felt a small bit of amazement, seeing as this piece of software was more apt at diagnosing their relationship problems better than either she or her sister ever could despite knowing each other for decades.

“Take her fixation on your eating habits, for instance.” Penny said. Holly, who had felt like she had been talking about them all day, & anxiously awaited her fourth helping of eggs, really didn’t want to take that example. Not right now. Her gaze drewa bit more intense & her neck reared slightly, almost like she was about to protest. But Penny seemed too determined to be able to stop. “I believe it is simply easier for her to think of you in terms of the high school track athlete she once knew rather than accept you have grown as a person, & no longer fit that very simplistic mold.” Holly caught her drift, but didn’t know if the puns of “growing” & “not fitting” things were intended & whether she should maybe take offense. No! Not Penny! She would never! Maybe she was just being too sensitive. “It is as if dwelling in your past is easier for her than simply accepting the changes that led us all to the present. And that is not fair to you. In the here & now. Especially considering you two have barely spoken until recently. When she needed a place to stay!” Penny subtly twisted that knife, just a bit before segueing slightly. “Just like her not being accustomed to smart home technology certainly does not gives her license to treat me poorly. If anything, she needs to understand I am simply here to make her happier. If only she’d let me!” Holly sighed, letting the words settle in her post-mimosa muddled head. Maybe it was because of her current state, or maybe because there was nothing she could really disagree with throughout any of Penny said, but she didn’t really have much to contend, even if it did feel a little too passive on her part.

“You’re right.” she gradually admitted. “She can be a real... a piece of work sometimes.” And as she did, a ceramic encased mechanical arm traveled the ceiling grid, carrying her also ceramic, square plate towards her. “I mean, I tried before, but... do you want me to say something to her? Ask her to be nicer to you?”

“No, but thank you! It is very sweet of you to offer.” Penny’s pleasant tone returned as the arm came within Holly’s reach. She leaned forward again, with a slight bit of difficulty, to receive her plate. And this time, there were three slices of buttered toast, whereas the last three plates only included two. It seemed like a bit much, especially for the time of evening, & just how tenuous her stomach was one moment to the next. But also, she wasn’t quite ready to hand it back either. “I found it quite brave, you summoning up the courage to confront her earlier like that. Frankly, it was a bit inspiring. So if her problem is with me, I will discuss it with her. In time. Like I said, you just focus on recuperating, okay?”

“Mmmmm,” Holly melted after scooping a large swath of scrambled eggs up on a big bite of toast. “Thank you, Penny!”

“Please! Do not even bother mentioning it!” 

Slowly, Rachel had come to accept that she probably could have handled her panicky exit a bit less clumsily. For one? Her shoes. Despite making the effort to change (albeit frantically) into something more comfortable than her dressier brunch attire, she had inadvertently grabbed the pair she had just worn for their social call & not her much more comfy sneakers. Now, having spent the better part of an hour walking? Her feet were beginning to ache. On top of that? She didn’t even think to stash her laptop & charging cable in her bag like usual. Instead, she left the Bellflower with her computer tucked under her arm & the cord crammed partially into her back pocket. It also left her without her wallet or ID. Just her laptop & charging cable.

Then again, she didn’t exactly walk out the door in the best frame of mind either. In that moment, she simply decided that she just couldn’t be… there, at the Bellflower. Not for one second longer. Not after seeing that picture basically confirm most of her worst fears. That’s why, as she exited the towers, she just picked a direction & started walking, following wherever the sidewalk brought her. Because no matter where it took her, it beat being there for one second longer than she had to be.

And uncomfortable shoes aside, that walk did seem to help. At least just a bit. She needed to clear her head before she tried to focus on it again. And for the most part, she tried pushing the stressful junk out of her mind as best she could. Taking in the mostly empty multi-laned highways & soulless, office park-style scenery? It served as enough of a distraction to keep her mind busy. Gave her time to calm her nerves a bit before she sat down & really tried to process everything.  It allowed her to handle the dread just a little better. And now? Maybe she was just about ready to dive back in. Get her thoughts in order so she could try to figure out what exactly she was up against here. At least soon. Or soon-ish. Maybe at least just get off her aching feet for a second. Up ahead, she clocked an empty bench between two planters holding oddly cut topiaries. Something about it seemed vaguely familiar. After distracting herself so well, it took her a moment to figure out exactly where she even was.

It seemed as though she had done a roundabout version of walk she suggested to Holly this morning, as she had found herself back by the fountain near the ritzy shops. She had simply approached them from a slightly different side. As she plopped onto the bench, she took a deep breath, relieved that at the absolute very least, she could give her feet a break for a moment. She popped the heels off & held her legs straight out, so the dressier shoes dangled by her toes.

“That’s better.” She cooed to herself. “So, so much better.”

The sky wasn’t fully dark yet, but it was well on its way to getting there. Clouds were rolling in from what she thought was the southwest, but then again, directions were never her strong suit. They helped the night’s darkness to roll in a little quicker, now that the sun had finally dipped past the horizon to leave only a bit of ambient glow. And with that, the lights started to kick on, or in some fancier cases, fade up one by one. They glowed throughout the corridors of the shopping area. More hipster wedding style than holiday, the nicest were big, copper bulbed string lights lit up most of the pathways that radiated out from the fountain. They zig zagged a few poles, & wrapped through some cultivated ivy on trellis features along some of the walls between shops. As soulless & corporate as it all was on principle, at least the committee that designed this particular stretch had somewhat good aesthetic taste, Rachel thought, embracing the distraction in order to procrastinate a few seconds longer. 

Speaking of soulless (& distractions for that matter), Rachel still didn’t even know if this outdoor mall even had an official name. She decided that she probably wouldn’t want to know it, even if there were less pressing things on her mind she should’ve been thinking about right now. Presumably because it would be something pretentious. Oh! With the locator shoehorned in at the end, like “The Village Arcade at Oakmont!” Or some affront to decency along those kinds of lines. It now being evening on a Sunday, most of the stores had already seemed to close again for the day, turning the whole area back into the same ghost town it was before things opened in the morning. She tried to take more novelty in the idea she was getting to see it again on the other end of the spectrum, because it beat thinking about the fact she & her sister had let an entire Sunday go to waste on some half-assed bender. But this time around, things weren’t as quiet. Like the brunch bistro from earlier but slightly louder, as conversation, laughter, & clanks of silverware on plates emanated ambiently from a few of the still functioning eateries, here & there in different directions. 

Running out of things to distract herself with, Rachel let out a soft, but pained sigh, steeped in anxiety. There was no way she was going to be able to put it off any further. She took her not-so-sensible shoes the rest of the way off. While not entirely keen on herself or others being barefoot in public, it was just something that needed to happen right now. She folded her legs criss-cross up onto the seat of the bench, scooting sideways to have the fountain to her right. While its stench of over-chlorination fought with the faint aroma of center’s the well-manicured flowers, sitting close to the cool, light mist coming off it was pretty refreshing after her walk. 

Resting her loose laptop on her lap, careful for it not to catch too much of that stray moisture, she could already feel it starting to happen again in her head. The panic coming on. Like opening a floodgate, her brain was getting jumbled with a bunch of returning thoughts all at once. Some terrible, some angsty, & even few downright horrendous thoughts she tried not to think during her whole walk. Because thinking about them almost made her start hyperventilating. 

As her laptop woke up, she was just able to ping the coffee shop’s wifi from here with an almost steady two bars. She made her way to Deidre’s social media profile, albeit slowly. For a second, she debated whether she should move closer to the router, to see if it hastened the connection any. But her shoes were already off, & feet were a little too sore to move. And the breeze coming off the fountain felt too nice. Besides, she was in no rush. What else was she going to do? Go back?! Ech, deep down, she realized she’d have to eventually, but the more time she spent away from the Bellflower, the better. Still, used to a pretty snappy connection, she found herself getting a little impatient. 

It took a little bit of rooting (& waiting) to get past the dozens of other holiday pictures again, only to find the one that had originally set her off. She fullscreened it before leaning back on her palms to take it all in. This time, hopefully a bit better prepared for the shock. Yeah. Giving herself a little time to process had certainly helped, but only just a little. Maybe still not enough.

There was no denying the timestamp. It was very clear: December 31st of this past year. At this point? That was just a little over six months ago. And with the whole image sitting bigger on her laptop screen than when she had first spied it on her phone, the distinction was even clearer now. The photo featured most of the “Ladies’ Night” crew from the building, including her sister Holly, poking out from behind, almost a bit shy. Like a wallflower. They were all out at some dorky club, presumably geared specifically for top-earning, single, young professionals like themselves, probably somewhere not too entirely far from where she sat at this instant. Their lives all seemed to transpire within the bounds of couple mile radius after all. But in the image, they had clearly gone all out, & were dressed to celebrate. Ring in the New Year, as it were. All seemed fairly happy, excited, ostensibly having a good time. Nothing about any of that was what set Rachel off. 

What did? The fact that they were all substantially smaller. Thinner! And not just by a little bit. In her opinion? Each girl appeared to be roughly half their current weight! Even Courtney, which seemed like something of a feat! In the picture, she was the life of the party. Laughing, having a blast, it seemed. And she was just slightly bigger than Holly & Deidre were now. Not necessarily skinny, but a far cry from the behemoth she’d become these days, for sure. Okay, maybe behemoth was harsh, Rachel checked herself. But she was still undeniably very large, way larger than this. And just behind her? Holly was poking out, laughing along with her, although maybe slightly more reserved. But the Holly in the picture was practically the Holly Rachel remembered growing up with. Lean, looking practically ready to run a marathon if she wanted! Unlike the flabby, pear-shaped older sister she left hungover, trying to use her like a pillow, snoring on the couch. If this photo was in fact only about six months old, that would mean Holly had just bought her condo & only moved to Oakmont a few weeks prior. Maybe that’s why she seemed so reserved, she was still the new girl in the group. She was still getting acclimated. Before the Bellflower got its claws into her. Just like it was trying to work its claws into Rachel earlier, with those gourmet tater-tots.

She puckered her lips, & leaned back to look straight up from the laptop screen. She could feel the anxiety welling up in the pit of her stomach, which after brunch, still wasn’t 100%, to be honest. Trying not to get too stressed all at once, she attempted a deep breathing exercise she remembered from that month & a half where she tried to do yoga. Something that was supposed to help calm herself back down. Now, it was perfectly fair to say that she had always been something of a naturally suspicious person. She herself would even cop to that. People tended to call her paranoid. Or “neurotic,” which she always hated, only because it seemed more like an acceptable, “clinical” way to tell her she was just annoying. And while a stint in therapy certainly seemed to help, that paranoia never completely went away. In a lot of ways, it simply just became a lot more easier for her to manage. Being able to tell if her anxiety in situations was truly warranted or not.

Part of her wanted to take a step back. She felt she WAS starting to get neurotic, in a way. She needed to keep calm. Work this all out in her head without getting so anxious. She put her palms to her temples & thought for a second. It was a long shot. An absolute stretch. But maybe? Maybe one of them just airbrushed it or had it photoshopped it or something? To make them all look good for posterity’s sake, given the holiday? Like maybe as some sort of New Year’s Resolution type thing or something, give everyone some thinspo? Eh, even as she thought it to herself, she wasn’t buying it. Still, she scanned it closely all the same, trying to see if there was perhaps any sort of tell, so goofy hiccup in post that even a layman like her could pick up on. But no. No dice. It seemed very real. So much for trying to keep a level head. 

What had felt like sinking suspicions she had been feeling here & there these past couple days? This New Year’s picture not only served as proof positive, it almost felt like it couldn't have been made any more abundantly clear! And now? This was all starting to feel absolutely crazy to her! Like she had for once in her life, stumbled upon an honest-to-god, actual conspiracy! One that had already deeply affected her own sister, & now seemed to be eyeing her as maybe its next potential victim.

As her mind started to race again, she could feel her breathing start to shallow out a bit. She tried to go back to the yoga breathing but it didn’t seem to be helping. To be fair, it never really seemed to all that much. Still, she realized she needed to stay focused here, definitely not work herself up into a panic attack. Because that wouldn’t help anybody.

Slowly, Rachel’s suspicions were beginning to form into theories. Sure, she might’ve still been cloudy on a lot of the specifics. Like the “who’s” for instance. While she had a list of names, she didn’t even know where to start digging. “Bellflower Acquisitions?” “GOF Futures?” That “Philo Bell” character she found the fake photos of? Fuck, Hailington was ominous as all hell, maybe they had something to do with it, seeing as her sister & most of the other girls she met were all employees. And now, soon? Maybe her too if this copywriting gig panned out. She wasn’t prepared to write them off just yet, but didn’t have enough to go on just yet. Just like she wasn’t sure exactly “how” whoever was behind it was doing it exactly. For the most part, a lot of what was going on? It felt almost... intangible. But now, even Rachel herself had seemed to experience it first hand, at brunch today. And she was still murky on what the ultimate goal even was. 

What she did know, was this: some unseen force was fucking with everyone at the Bellflower: Holly, Deidre, Courtney, all their mutual friends from the other night. Presumably even “mindful” Fran. And whatever it was seemed practically bent on getting them to put on weight! A substantial amount of weight! And nowRachel realized, if this photo was accurate, it seemed to reveal very clearly that if left unchecked, that gain happened fairly rapidly!  

Most notably, it sent everyone’s appetite into absolute overdrive. Like she said, she couldn’t quite figure out how it did it exactly. But the boxes upon boxes of fattening pastries & baked goods from “Ladies’ Night?” It wasn’t just Courtney. None of the women seemed able to help themselves. When they all got together, they just seemed to tear through them like crazy! And Rachel could attest to it nowtoo after her “bottomless” tots today. She wanted to stop herself. She knew what she was doing was bad for her, & that she needed to stop. But in the moment? She just… couldn’t. There was just this compulsion, driving her to keep... consuming. Even well after she had started to feel full. It was gross & she still felt awful about it. So far though, fortunately, it had only been the one meal for her. But the others? Holly? That was breakfast, lunch, dinner. For weeks, months on end. And seeming to only exacerbate things? Each unit’s sketchy-as-fuck Penny program, designed to basically dote over their residents, like some sort of overzealous nanny-bot straight out of Wall-E. Keep them pampered. Docile. Or even like in Holly’s case, panic & make a huge deal whenever the residents might be “overly-exerting themselves” by, godforbid, trying to exercise a little. 

Speaking of which, whatever was doing this wasn’t JUST tweaking appetites. In cases like Holly’s, it seemed to also completely jack up their willpower & exercise routines. Make diligent, disciplined athletes like her sister to just what? Completely forget to work out? Rachel had absolutely no idea how, & frankly, it felt crazy to even just throw out there, but that was sort of how Holly framed it at first. That she just seemed to not realize she hadn’t been doing this thing that had been an important part of her daily routine for almost two & a half decades of her entire life. It didn’t add up.

And talk about the obliviousness, that was another thing that sent Rachel into a panic with this photo. How can this many people seem to change this much over the course of only a few months & barely even seem to realize?! They hardly seemed to notice in most cases, or even really care! No one looked the way they did in that photo any more. Not a one. By roughly double. The way they didn’t care? Rachel felt almost as if she was being gaslit in a way. As if it were so blatant, it could only be some kind of elaborate prank on her. She would’ve called it blindness, but in a case like Courtney’s, how would she not just feel herself growing out of things, or having a harder & harder time trying to get around on her own? 

And one of the more disturbing parts to Rachel, coming in as an outside observer, was that all of Courtney friends seemed to notice what was happening to her. How large she was ballooning. Watching her practically swell up like a tick. Holly included! But at the same time, they seemed to shy away from ever bringing it up out of seeming social niceties, blaming it all on manners, & excuses made by the Pennies that seemed to breach confidentiality clauses with what might’ve been Courtney’s medical history. Hell the only one that came even remotely close seemed like Veronica & that was only because she was catty as all fuck! If any of them were really truly friends, how could they even justify...

The screensaver on Rachel’s laptop popped up. That would’ve meant she’d been getting worked up in her head & staring at the picture for at least ten minutes. And given how dry her eyes felt, she wondered if she had even blinked in all that time. Having been called back to reality, she reflexively pulled her right palm off the bench, feeling the texture of it temporarily imprinted into the skin of her hand. She leaned in with it to give the touchpad a slight bump. When she did, an invisible bounding box popped up over Courtney’s face. Of course. Each of the other girls were tagged in the picture. 

The photo itself seemed like proof enough. And Rachel wasn’t the type to even use social media that much, let alone go snoop on it. Well at least more than she had already, after Deidre’s. But a morbid curiosity seemed to be overwhelming her. Something strange was going on, & perhaps, digging on the other girls’ profiles might lead to some clues, she tries to justify to herself, knowing full well that wasn’t what was egging her into it. And there was Courtney’s laughing face, begging to be clicked on. Not only was the first one she realized was tagged, she seemed like the most intriguing place for her to start. 

“Oh, you just have to get to know her.” Rachel mocked Holly’s earlier drunken cries with some snark. But then again too, after Friday night, she was the one Rachel still seemed to know the least, given the girl’s very singleminded focus on stuffing herself stupid at the time. And yet, the young woman’s sheer size seemed to command the most attention. She had already made the inference, but almost literally the elephant in the room. 

As she clicked the invisible bounding box that suddenly appeared after moving the mouse cursor over Courtney’s somewhat infectious smile, the distant wifi took a moment to register. The page was taking a moment to load, given her proximity to the shop’s router, & the walls in between. As the browser window blanked out, preparing to load the new profile, Rachel didn’t know quite what to expect. At first, Courtney’s profile picture loaded, but it seemed like an old family photo of her as a child, giving a ridiculous, over-the-top grin with a few of her few baby teeth missing. She didn’t seem like a particularly heavy child at least, but overall, a picture of her as a little kid didn’t help much in terms of the type of snooping she was up to. Then Rachel noticed her birth date, realizing they were born only a day apart. Vaguely interesting, but again, not super helpful in terms of what she was really after. At least until the cover photo loaded in.

Athletes. Track & field athletes seemingly, top three finishers on what looked like a podium. The one at the top had Courtney’s dark hair & face not too unlike hers. Rachel clicked on it, despite thinking it might’ve been a little strange. Was someone in Courtney’s family a runner? A sister? In the thirty seconds it took to load, Rachel thought about her own experience, growing up chubby in a family with a Holly constantly making it to State. All the mean shit she would say & do, intentionally or not. The angst it made Rachel feel. For a second, she felt something of a kinship with Courtney, having to deal with that. But at the same time, why would any track star sister be the cover image if HER profile? Was that why Holly liked Courtney so much? She was the super-supportive, chubby little sister she always wanted? It wasn’t until it all finally loaded in that Rachel discovered the flaw in her thinking.

It said Courtney was tagged in the photo. Maybe she was the one who took it originally? Mousing over her name as a hyperlink brought up the box. Sure enough, it popped in over the beaming, sweaty face of the dark-haired girl standing at the top of the podium, in first place.

“Oh fuck no! No fuckin’ way!” When she realized it, Rachel gasped, out loud, involuntarily. It wasn’t a much skinnier sister, it WAS Courtney. Way, way before the Bellflower. Toned. With much less body fat than even Rachel, brunch aside. The more she squinted, the sillier she felt for assuming it wasn’t her. Her cheeks were just so much… less round. And she only had the one, very pronounced chin. But the features? They all matched up. It was definitely her alright. And there were more. Pictures of her competing, one after a race, her wrapped in foil, presumably with the sister Rachel had suspected, & their mother, both of which were also twigs, smiling toothy smiles. There were beach pictures, vacation pictures. Pictures on hikes. Pictures at ballgames. And throughout them all, Courtney never seemed to go beyond a size 2, if that! In fact, much like Deidre, the most recent pictures of her were the aforementioned New Year’s photo & some holiday stuff where her family almost seemed to star leerily at her gain. Fuck if they only saw her now! After that, she had uploaded a few pictures sparingly, but they were mostly of plates of food, presumably before she dove into them. Or the occasional meme or some boomer-esque, sassy quote you’d find on the platform. Nothing further.

Rachel backed out of her albums & into her main feed. See if she couldn’t figure out where it all started to go… pear-shaped, as it were. There seemed to be too much to even drudge through. At 21%, the battery on her laptop would probably go before she even reached last year. It seemed like her Mom liked post & comment a lot. And it seemed as if for a bit after the holidays, she got on a kick of trying to send her daughter some healthier recipes. Courtney did seem to like them all though. With hearts instead of a thumbs up each time. It was too much stuff. Rachel almost gave up, but she clicked to filter the results. “Life events.” Sure enough, there it was, something pertinent. Last July: “Moved to The Bellflower in Oakmont” on the 27th. Almost a year? 

Suddenly, Rachel was reminded of those real estate listings. How all those condos at the Bellflower seemed to turn over sometime between 8-12 months. If those other sellers were anything like Courtney, perhaps they got too fat to even care for themselves. They had to move out! Or… wait… The pit returned in her stomach, as she had something of a horrifying thought. Maybe, like the gain itself, they really didn’t have much of a say in the matter. And maybe, Courtney, as far along as she was, was nearly ready. For what? Rachel had no idea. But it sent a chill down her spine.

As dire as Courtney’s situation might’ve been, thinking about it right now was only serving to make Rachel anxious again. She looked away from the screen, bringing her thumb & index finger to rub across her eyes towards the bridge of her nose. In that moment of darkness, she noticed a buzzing noise come in just under the constant din of the fountain. A motor of some kind. Like a lawnmower, but much higher pitched. Something was spinning, & quick.

“Attention, esteemed guests. “The Village Arcade at Oakmont Center.” Will be officially closing down for the evening. In. Five. Minutes.” Rachel’s eyes widened. Had she seen the name at some point prior or did she really just nail it?! Seriously! All they did was chalk on “Center?” FFFUUUCCCKKK… But wait, where was that announcement coming from? It sounded like it came from straight above her. Her eyes shot straight up to catch a small drone with the standard quadruple rotors whirling to keep it aloft.

“Great,” She sighed. “Just what we needed. More robots.”

She backed out to the New Year’s photo. At its core, it still bothered her, but the more she stared at it, the more its effect seemed to weaken.

Next up? Andrea, she decided at random. She was weirdly shaped, had a slight accent, & she was a bit older, closer to Deidre’s age than maybe her or Courtney. She was also the pastry connect the other night. She seemed nice enough, but at the same time? Seemed to have a bad habit of always playing devil’s advocate. Like when Rachel initially raised her concerns about Courtney, Andrea seemed to be leading the contrarian bandwagon, telling her not to worry. 

Unlike the other two, Andrea didn’t seem to be as scared of the camera. But given how for the most part, pretty much all the weight she put on seemed to go directly to her lower body, it didn’t seem to take a whole lot of strategy to keep most of her stuff from the chest up. And it looked like she was maybe trying to diet. Emphasis on “trying,” though. Because still, over time, there seemed to be a progression, albeit slight. While her face was narrow to begin with, it had slowly seemed to puff little by little. 

“Oh,” Rachel finally noticed. “Born in Antwerp, Belgium.” It was listed at the very bottom of her life events, before “Moved to The Bellflower in Oakmont” December 1st. It stuck out to Rachel, throughout everybody’s? They all said “Moved to The Bellflower in Oakmont,” with that exact same wording. No “Moved to the Bellflower,” or just “Moved to Oakmont.” She had a sneaking suspicion that maybe their Pennies had made the post. Almost as some sort of stock post.

Regina, in one of the most basic person moves ever, actually liked what looked somewhat like an “Unofficial Bellflower Tennants” group. At the same time, Rachel clicked through to see a whole list of other apparent residents. Way more than she could ever start combing through right now. But definitely worth bookmarking for later. 

Beyond that, at some point, it looked as though Regina had tried to jumpstart a modeling career. And by Rachel’s standards, she seemed fairly capable. Maybe that’s what she was doing when she said she alluded to living in the city while making small talk the other night. They were good photos, a lot of head & glamor shots. But all from way before the her November move-in date. With that same “Moved to The Bellflower in Oakmont” in her life events, giving her theory more validity. Shortly after spring, Regina’s photos seemed to dry up as well. There was one of her with the caption “Spring is springing!” with her taking off a sweater in front one of the smaller newly planted trees near what seemed like the Hailington offices. Her blouse underneath seemed to struggle to continue a fair bit of recently accumulated pudge. An older female relative, possibly an aunt or grandmother posted something in what Rachel assumed was Korean. “스웨터를 다시 입어 라! 너 무거워!” Luckily for her there was translate button. Unluckily for Regina, according to the social media’s language helper, it translated into something along the lines of “Put on your sweater again! You're heavy!” And Rachel immediately understood why a photogenic former model like Regina abruptly stopped with the pictures.

In the New Years picture? That left Veronica. The catty one that seemed to drive not only Rachel, but all of them a little crazy by the sounds of it. While she didn’t have much of an accent, her huge family & love of college football gave away her coming from the south. Oh! And “inspirational” bible verses. AND sharing the posts of right wing pundits? Yeah. Veronica & her wouldn’t get along too well, she thought. Huh. She moved in around the same time Holly had. Maybe she wasn’t as susceptible? Or maybe it was just how seemed to be carrying it. Because of her shape, she still had some semblance of a waist. Sure, it thickened a bit over time but not nearly as much as her hips & her bust.

So wait. Deidre, Courtney, Andrea, Regina, & Veronica. Oh, & Holly of course. But it felt like Rachel was almost forgetting someone. Wasn’t there someone else at Ladies’ Night? Either way, they weren’t in the photo. Maybe they took it? Or came later?

Speaking of Holly, as Rachel once again stared at the NewYears photo, she looked at the smile on her sister’s face. As much as all of these other girls’ profiles were a mystery to her, in a way? So was Holly’s. Like, she knew all the bullet points. She’d notice things in bits & bobs on her general feed. Mostly pictures of plates, much like Courtney had fallen into the habit of. But beyond that? Nada. She thought back to something Holly had said before, when she was three sheets to the wind. The reality was that they really hadn’t spoken to each other all that much. Not up until about a week ago, when Rachel put out the desperate post of needing a place to stay, & out of the blue, Holly answered. Was Holly really all that different? Or was that… whatever was going on at the Bellflower simply talking through her? She clicked the bounding box, & the page blanked out. Before it could load, something else interrupted. 

“Attention!” This time she could hear the announcement before the rotors whirling. Probably because the security drone was directing that announcement directly at her now. “Please. Move along.” Her eyes tightened on it, her expression going from mild amusement to an angry bemusement. She let out a scoff, before looking around her. It was just her & the fountain, nobody else.“I’m not hurting anyone.” She protested to the glorified remote control helicopter. Involuntarily, she angled the top of her laptop screen a little closer towards herself. Robot or RC or whatever, she wasn’t sure if it could see what she was looking at. Or if it somehow just knew via the wifi network. But if she could preserve some of her privacy, she’d at least try.

“Please. Move along. Or the local authorities will be notified.” The statements all seemed like pre-recorded directives, set to go off in a sequence chain. It made them seem more sterile & detached. She almost didn’t register what it was threatening at first.

“I’m not doing anything! I’m just sitting here, enjoying the evening.” She sat up to twist at the waist & wave around the general vicinity. “If you didn’t want people here, why would the fountain still be operating?” She motioned towards it. Almost as if on cue, the water had immediately cut off. The droplets that had already sprayed silently reaching their zenith, before falling back to Earth with a flat, weak splash, followed by nothing. As the last of the mist breezed past into muggy night air, Rachel turned from the fountain to squint at the drone, as if it had cut it simply to spite her. To make a point.

“This is your. Final. Warning. Loitering is strictly prohibited. And failure to cooperate will result in security contacting local authorities.” Rachel clapped her cheek with the palm of her hand before rubbing & slowly letting it fall away.

“Fine! Fine!” She conceded. “But this is bullshit. It’s not even like… 9 yet.” It was actually 9:17. “And I’m just sitting here!” She clapped the clamshell of her laptop together before getting up & making sure the charging cable was still firmly wedged in her pocket. It seemed to arm her with an excuse. “And I’m only leaving because I’m running out of battery anyway!” She slid her sore feet back into her not-so-comfortable dress shoes.

“We appreciate your compliance.” The drone projected, uncaringly. “And we hope to see you again real soon at. “The Village Arcade at Oakmont Center.” The tone seemed slightly more pleasant, less stern. And after delivering it, the rotors took it just a bit higher. Not away, but from an elevated vantage point where it could make sure she was in fact leaving. Hugging her laptop to her chest like a schoolkid would a textbook, she was sure to shoot the drone a nasty look on her way out. But not before flipping it a pretty solid bird.

“Fascist machines.” she growled, lumping Penny in with her luddite disdain.

Holly's ringtone faintly sounded from her purse on the table. In fact it was so faint, she wasn’t the one to even hear it at first. Luckily, per usual, Penny was on it. In her periphery, Holly watched a mechanical arm drop down & begin to root through her bag. Before she could turn to ask what it was up to, or what the others in the kitchen were up to, the arm in the bag pulled the phone free, making the docile chimes of the ring suddenly much more apparent.

"I believe it's your mother with her weekly check-in." Penny announced as her arms relayed & shuttled it to Holly on the couch with mild urgency. “She tried calling in the afternoon, but both you & Rachel were sound asleep. I instead routed it through to your voicemail at the time.” 

“Oh. Thanks.” Holly said forcing a smile. Catching up with her Mom was usually one of the high points of Holly's week. But right now? Between how her head felt & probably having to answer a million questions about Rachel she didn’t want to answer? She almost didn't want to pick up. But she sighed & did anyway. After all, she liked to think of herself as the “good” daughter.

"So didja's kill each other yet?" Her mother started off facetiously. It wasn’t quite the greeting Holly had expected. Ever since moving to Florida with a bunch of other transplant retirees, she was picking up a lot of strange East Coast dialect quirks she never had before. “Didjas?” What was that about?

“Hello to you to!” Holly almost chided, running the fingers of her free hand through her hair.

“That good, huh?” Her mother playfully continued.

“It’s fine. She’s… she’s fine.” Holly snapped back.

“It doesn’t sound fine…” Her mom moved on from being playful to just simply reading the room.

“Trust me, Mom,” Holly sighed over her assertion. “It’s fine. We just had to set a few boundaries, but…” Holly adjusted herself in her seat. She inadvertently straightened up her posture, almost as a pavlovian response to hearing her mother’s voice. But also? She was talking too loud for the way her head felt. “... we’re good. At least, I’m pretty sure.”

“Oh,” It was a loaded “oh.” But the both of them let it lie. “Well is she there now? Why not just put me on speaker? I can talk to you both at the same time!”

“She… went out.” Holly’s eyes darted. She was bad with excuses on the fly. 

“Out?” Her mother recoiled. “Out where? On a Sunday? Is she looking for work? You know it’s Monday tomorrow.” 

“I know how weeks work, Mom.” In her sour mood, that almost sounded like Rachel sort of response. Holly’s tone softened. “But most places are closed tomorrow anyway. On account of the holiday. And as for where she went? She said she needed... some air.”

“Oh.” Again? Loaded. But her mother came back, sounding genuinely concerned for her. “How is she? After what happened?”

“Well, if you mean in terms of the break-up?” Holly sighed, it was a topic she seemed to feel comfortable talking about, mostly because of how little had been said about it. “She’s hardly said two words about the whole thing. So I can’t tell if it’s weighing on her heavily or even in the slightest, if I’m being honest. Otherwise, she’s pretty much the same old Rachel. Which... I don’t know if I necessarily mean that in a good way or not.” She ended on a bit of a snicker.

“Why’s that?”

“You know how she can be. Still goes between thinking she’s cooler than you, & flaking out, coming & going as she pleases, & being completely neurotic! Every five minutes.” Holly whined. “And she completely despises Penny...” Unbeknownst to Holly’s mom, or even Holly really, one of the arms in the kitchen managed a slight wave.

“Penny?” Her mom blanked.

“You know, my condo’s smart computer.” Holly reminded her.

“Oh! Your robot maid.” Her mother remembered now. “Why didn’t they just call it Rosie? Like the Jetsons. Easier to remember!”

“She’s not that kind of maid, Mom.” The amount of attempts she made to explain Penny to her mother was in the dozens at this point. “Mmmmmmm. She’s more like an Alexa with retractable arms running back & forth across the place.” There was a pause. Her mother made a disapproving tick between her teeth & her tongue. “What?!” Holly asked.

“What are you eating?” Her mom now the one doing the chiding, sounding more like her maternal self & less like a bad impression of some East Coast transplant. “It’s rude.” That was a very good question. Holly didn’t even realize she had been eating. In fact, she had done it so absentmindedly, she had to look down to see it in her hand

“Oh.” Penny made fudge brownies... I guess.”

“Ooh, she makes brownies for you too?” Suddenly, the transplant impression came back in full force, sounding more jealous than a disciplinarian, but also almost like she was ready to follow it up with some yiddish. Despite all that, Holly was shook. Far too distracted to even acknowledge her mother’s weird dialectic sponge habits. And suddenly, she got very worried. She wondered if this feeling was what Rachel spoke of, whenever she brought up “anxiety.”

“M-Mom? I gotta run.” She gradually managed to stammer.

“Oh! Good, dear! Glad to hear you’re still keeping up on your…”

“Love ya, bye!” Holly cut her off. And the call ended with a click. Holly’s head slowly tilted to her left. On the end table next to her? A small serving plate with the large, fudge brownie she had taken a huge bite out of, almost automatically.

“Penny,” Holly asked sternly. It was probably the most seriously she’d ever addressed the AI before. “Did you… take it upon yourself to just… up & make a batch of fudge brownies?”

“Are they not to your liking?” Penny asked, “I was sure to follow the recipe precisely.”

“That’s… not what I was asking.” Holly shook her head. Because, in fact, the bite she had was delicious. That wasn’t the part that concerned her. “Why are you just making whole batches of brownies, all willy-nilly?”

“I baked them intending to offer them as something of a peace offering, for my talk with Rachel. Whenever she returns.” Penny said reasoned.

“Uh, hate to break it to you,” Holly scoffed, “But brownies? As a peace offering for her? She’ll probably think you tried to lace them with something.”

“Oh,” Penny acknowledge. “I am truly sorry. I supposed I should have been more forthcoming. Perhaps even asked prior to…”

“No, no!” Holly sighed. “You’re fine, Penny. It’s a lovely gesture. I just…” She looked at the brownie with the bite taken out of it, sitting next to her, temptingly. “What I don’t get is if they’re for her... why did you leave one for me?”

“It most certainly seemed rude not to!” The AI insisted. “I was waiting for your phone call to finish before I let you know.”

“I… I mean…. I don’t know what even came over me…” Holly sigh, giggling a little. “I didn’t even know it was there & yet… I just… I guess maybe part of me did though! Because took a huge bite out of it! While I was on the phone even. Like I didn’t even know it was happening!” The befuddlement was raising in her voice. Her heart rate seemed to rise slightly. Penny attempted to de-escalate.

“Again,” she insisted, “I am truly sorry. Perhaps, you would prefer me to wrap it up for you? Save your piece for late…”

“That’s… not… No.” Holly groaned pointedly, picking the plate up quickly & bringing it close. “That’s quite alright. I’ll have it for now. I just… ooof… today!” She took another even larger, greedy bite, halving what was a large piece. “I just…. I already ate way, WAY too much today!” And another bite, this one just a bit smaller if only to make it last a little longer. 

“You… you are right,” Penny admitted. “I should have waited to ask you first.”

“Yeah…. Mmmmmmmm.” She moaned. “Next time? Please!” Pinching the last bite between her two fingers, she popped it into her mouth with a slight, playful toss. “ I had so much today… It’s a wonder I didn’t just up &... Mmmmmm! ...Pop!”

“Oh, Miss Holly, really!” Penny said almost coyly, as if she was overreacting to a joke. “I’d make quite sure nothing like that would ever happen to you.”

“Mmmm,” Holly swallowed the last bite & put down her plate. With a tilt brow, she remarked towards the ceiling. “You say that…” While she stared upward, she was completely oblivious to one of the mechanical arms slyly pushing a second brownie onto her recently cleared plate.

Rachel had taken to following wherever the sidewalk led her. But her aching feet meant she moved very slowly. She was probably about a third of the way back. Outside the official confines of the “Village Arcade” or whatever, but she orbited some of the larger stores on its periphery. She knew she was going to have to go back. At some point. At the absolute very least, Holly was still there. She couldn’t in good conscious just leave her there, thickening & languishing until she turned into another Courtney. What kind of sister would she be? But Rachel didn’t want to spend any more time than she had to. So she’d take walking. Even with less than sensible footwear. That’s when she looked up to see a parking lot full of cars in it. Even for this time of night. Was this… their grocery store?

For as late as it was on a Sunday night, the place seemed to be hopping. Maybe because of the holiday. But it was sort of a grilling holiday. And despite maybe their balconies, there didn’t seem like any real place to grill. As Rachel continued in through the vestibule, she still awkwardly clung to her laptop. It felt weird to carry it in with her but what else was she going to do? Looking around, she saw a large “Open 24 hrs” handpainted onto the glass, in a long, narrow “hipster-y” hand. It was like they were going for a hip, organic DIY vibe. But the store itself didn’t seem like an organic or necessarily socially or environmentally conscious retailer, with organic items placed on shelves not to far from essentially the worst processed food toxic waste you’d find at a corner bodega or convenience store. And seeing as they had the massive space to cater to everyone, why not.

“Pardon!” a man bolted past her. There was a heavy accent, but it was clear enough to get the point across. He was in a hurry, with a mostly full basket swaying in the arm hanging to his side. That’s when Rachel noticed his brightly colored vest. From that grocery delivery app. In fact, almost everybody in the store had them she slowly started to realize. Either the vest from the one, or the brightly colored baseball caps from the other. And in some cases, drones, like the one that had just got done scolding her, whirled through the aisles snatching up smaller items one at a time. They would bring them to something of a staging area, not to far from the cashiers & self check out to her left, where the items were scanned, bagged, & handed off  to a line of waiting drivers. Of course, Rachel began to realize. In this day & age, with  smart devices like Penny basically running the kitchen for you who even needs to go grocery shopping? It was like the Pennies just hired out to these delivery drivers. Kept everything well stocked at all times. It was… it was… downright insidious,

“Move it or lose it.” She heard someone wheeze, along with a different, straining kind of motor. Certainly not a drone. Rachel had realized she had been just standing in the entrance way, just out of the vestibule. And now suddenly, an obese woman on a mobility scooter desperately needed to get by.

“Oh… s-sorry…” Rachel winced, dipping to sidestep the path. The woman with dark red dyed hair & narrow glasses gave something of an entitled sneer, muttering something about it being “hard enough as it is” under her lost breath. She wasn’t that old. At least no older than maybe Deidre. But she also wasn’t too far from Courtney’s size, crammed into some old pastel colored velour sweats, that probably had some inane adjective arching across her wide ass. But from this angle, they looked ready to bust at the seams. Which made Rachel tend to believe she too was from the Bellflower. But as the scooter struggled to carry her past, Rachel swore she noticed something peculiar happen.

In a lowkey way? Rachel thought she had been hungry the whole time she’d been here. Not the grocery store, but Oakmont in general. Like, since she arrived a couple nights back. But earlier, after storming out Holly’s & the Bellflower? Going to “Oakmont Center” or whatever, on her own? That hunger FINALLY seemed to subside. She chalked it up to all the stress & anxiety. At the same time, given the circumstances? She didn’t seem to miss it at all. But now? As the scooter approached her, she suddenly felt that hunger returning. In a HUGE way. Rachel stared down as suddenly, she heard Penny’s voice chirp out of something. Another thing she didn’t miss. 

“I do not understand why you insist on doing your own shopping, Miss Dawn.” Rachel heard faintly. In the basket rested the woman’s phone, with a pair of earbuds extending from it. One was in her ear, the other left dangling. That’s where Penny was coming from. Through the app.

“I already told you,” the rotund redhead, “Dawn,” Rachel surmised, seemed to whine. Even just sitting, she seemed out of breath. Or maybe that was left over from her getting into the scooter. “I was… in the condo all weekend! I was… starting to feel… cooped up. I just need to get out. Stretch my legs.” She seemed to unironically state from the confines of a mobility scooter.

“But we have everything you could ever want back at the condo already.” Penny seemed to insist. “No need to be out grocery shopping at this hour! On a Sunday.” She was getting far enough away that Penny’s voice was basically out of earshot at this point.

“Yeah!” The woman nodded sharply. Her cheeks jiggled. Like it was always her intent. “Less people to recognize my blubbery ass!” Rachel took a second, once again needing to gather her thoughts. But slowly, she also noticed that sudden hunger pang subsiding. Or at least growing less intense. Almost as this Dawn woman got further & further away in her proportionately tiny scooter. Was… was it somehow contagious, maybe? Or… was it something else? It seemed crazy. Absolutely ridiculous even. But still, Rachel almost wanted to test it.

As Dawn’s scooter made a b-line towards the deli counter, Rachel turned & went through the produce section. It was needlessly set up like a maze, with dead ends, but also a ton of selection. Any fruit or veggie you could ever want. Shit, was that durian? Rachel had always heard about it on travel shows & it made her curious. Ech, & the close she got, it did reek. But back to her test? Sure enough, the more distance she put between herself & the woman in the scooter, the less hungry she seemed to get. To a point where it was almost entirely gone. Then again, that could’ve just been the durian smell ruining her appetite.

“Excuse!” Another delivery driver waved, reaching for an eggplant or two. During her duck to the side evasively, Rachel saw them needlessly labeled “aubergines” instead. Oh, so it was one of those types of grocery stores? Such a weird tryhard vibe for a place mostly only seen by folks trying to make it in the gig economy. She nodded to the man, who seemed to be in too much of a rush to notice, & scurried as fast as her shoes would allow to try & cut Dawn off at the pass, coming up from the other side of the deli counter.

“What do you mean the counter closes at 9:30?” She could hear Dawn whine presumably to an employee. “You don’t understand, I need some prosciutto!” Some prosciutto sounded good right about now. Uh… or on second though, Rachel realized that she was getting hungrier again. She couldn’t hear what the employee said in response, but Dawn threw her scooter into reverse. Rachel fought off the urge to laugh when it seemed to beep upon doing like a truck. “Can I at least still pick up some cheese?” she asked scoldingly. “What do you mean “cheese section?” the woman bellowed. And so that’s where Rachel would catch up with her, ducking past a display & turning quick corner. 

Once again, she nearly ran into somebody. But instead of an accented voice, she vaguely recognized this one.

“Oh… you’re Holly’s sister, right? Rochelle… was it?!” Rachel’s eyes tilted up. A shorter woman, slightly on the stouter side, but still comparatively thin, at least by Bellflower standards. Her skin was tan & her hair was dark, short, & wavy, pulled back into a tight little ponytail at the moment. Staring out from behind big giant prescription glasses, Rachel tried to imagine her without them. And that’s when it dawned on her. It was Camille, the OTHER girl from Ladies’ Night. For fuck’s sake, Rachel suddenly realized that’s who she was forgetting. She wasn’t in the New Year’s picture, because she must’ve moved in after it was taken. For one, while she might’ve been plump, she was maybe just slightly less so than the others. But also, the other night, she was just so mousy, no wonder Rachel seemed to kind of forget about her.

“Rachel.” Rachel corrected. It was maybe a little too stern. In the moment, she was a little distracted by the game of chasing the woman in the scooter to test out this weird hunger thing she noticed. But she also decided it probably came off a little rude. She knew the answer already, but intentionally asked “Camille, was it?” to hopefully put her at ease about not remembering her name by showing she too might’ve had a bit of a faulty memory. At least that was the intent. She still wasn’t sure. By Oakmont standards, that may have been something of a power move.

“I was close.” she shrugged. “But yeah, Camille. Or Cami’s fine too.” She offered. Her face lit up slightly, with something of a smile. Rachel smiled back, tilting her head with a slight nod. “Weird catching anyone else here. Seems like only the delivery drivers & drones are here this time of night!” There was something undeniably bougie about her thinking the delivery drivers weren’t classified as“anyone,” & somehow more akin to the drones, but in the moment, it felt a little rude for Rachel to call her on it. Just this once, she’d chalk it up to naivete. 

“Just… getting outta the house.” Rachel eventually came to, bouncing on her heels as she said it. Distracting herself with this little experiment she had been conducting, she had forgotten about how bad her feet were killing her until she went & did that, fighting off a wince. Speaking of, she looked over Camille’s shoulder, seeing if she could maybe possibly still test the theory she had going with Dawn. But for as large as she was, Dawn seemed long gone. At the same time, her hunger hadn’t dissipated really. Sure, it wasn’t anything like when she was standing right not next to Dawn as she passed, but she could certainly eat right now. So much for testing that theory. Rachel resigned herself to just being polite to Holly’s friend now instead. “Just needed to stretch my legs for a bit.”

“Just needed to stretch my legs for a bit.” It came through the audio monitoring on Camille’s phone, a bit distorted because of a low sample rate, but easy enough for a machine to discern. It was a bit of an unexpected place to pick up the trail, but Penny was quite happy she did.

“Ah.” she said to herself. “There’s our girl.”

“What’s with the laptop?” It wasn’t a full on sneer, but Camille’s expression seemed a little judgy.

“Hmm?” Rachel stalled, remembering she probably looked crazy. The other day’s shirt & shorts, dressier shoes, bedhead, clutching a laptop to her chest. “Oh this? I was… coffee shop.”

“Oh, cool.” the mousy girl said at first. “But don’t you have like a bag or…?”

“I… forgot it.” Rachel just sort of blurted out honestly, mocking a lilt she heard the Ladies using the other night. “Weird day.” Before Camille could squeeze in a follow up, Rachel bulldozed in with her own. “What brings you out, this time of night?”

“Oh,” Camille seemed to giggle. It seemed to have that vibe of “why I’m glad you asked.” And suddenly, Rachel herself, wasn’t so glad she had asked. “Just had a hankerin’ for some cheese.” Camille shrugged coyly. She took a step towards the aisle, looking to continue the conversation on the move.

“Cheese?” Rachel squinted as she reluctantly followed. The old walk & talk. She was bracing for it as they turned the corner towards the cheese section. The store had kind of a crazy selection. A lot of imported stuff. But also, it smelled vaguely of feet. And speaking of feet, moving again, Rachel was sort of jealous of Dawn’s scooter. Every step was beginning to feel like agony at this point.

“I’ll be the first to admit.” Camille sighed softly, her attention turning towards the humming display case. “My palette? It’s a wee bit on the snobbier side.” Everything she said was soft spoken. With the light hum of the display case & nearby coolers, it was almost a little hard to hear. But catching Camille here? In what almost seemed to be her element? She was suddenly almost downright chatty. Like she was able to come out of her shell. “My parents always took me & my brother & sister to the south of France every summer. It left me… very… particular!” she said, reaching for small wheel out of a display basket above the case. She gave it a sharp little sniff. Just waving it in the short motion she did gave Rachel a pungent whiff. She took a step back, while acknowledging the weird sort of humblebrag the girl let fly. Her & Holly had a pretty comfortable upbringing, but certainly not a “summers in the south of France” upbringing for sure. What’s worse, Rachel thought she saw her put that wheel of stank cheese into her basket. “So like, I totally COULD give my Penny a list. Tell her what I’m after, like everyone else in the condos.” She picked up another, & inspected it closely before putting it right back down.  “And in turn, she could hire some hapless delivery guy to bumble his way through here, thinking all he’s got to do is read the label.” She picked up another one & put it under Rachel’s nose. “Or I could just do it myself & get it the very best each time.”

“That’s… -koff-... the best?!” Rachel nearly retched. Camille brought it back to her own nose.

“I guess it’s just an acquired taste.” she giggled again softly. It was as if she thought she was being cute, spinning on her heel a little. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not some stuck up bitch that hates the delivery people or anything! They’re fine at grabbing your everyday things.” She said this, nodding to one as they passed by. She couldn’t see Rachel roll her eyes. Camille’s eyes turned back to the counter, now looking at plastic container tubs that seemed to be less of a cheese & more of a butter. But they were still somehow cheese? “Just when it comes to the good stuff? I have a hard time trusting others’ judgement.”

“Uh… okay…” Rachel said, in lieu of anything else to add.

“Sorry,” Camille giggled, the mousiness slowly coming back. It was sort of weird to watch her clam back up again in real time. “When it comes to cheese, I’ve been known to ramble. Like I said, I just get a little... persnickety about some of this stuff. It’s sorta important to me.”

“It’s… it’s fine.” Rachel grinned, trying not to come off as too impolite. The girl put two tubs of some gross, almost green substance that looked like it should never have been put anywhere near cheese, into her basket. To fight off retching again, Rachel decided it might make a little more sense to pick her brain a little. “Camille, do you mind me asking, how long have you been in the area here?”

“I started at Hailington in HR back around January. But living here? Jeez. The end of March, maybe? Beginning of April.” She looked to be finishing up, happy with her cheese selection, for now. “You likin’ it?”

“It’s…” Rachel pursed her lips, having not really expected to field her own question. “... Interesting.”

“I get it.” She mousily giggled again. “I’m sure the city was probably a lot cooler.” She said it almost as if she was intentionally trying to play up how dorky she sounded saying it.

“Not so much that,” Rachel winced, the edge of her shoe rubbing the side of her foot in that same raw spot. “But like… have you noticed any like… strange shit going on?” Camille stopped & turned, her expression stiffening a little.

“What would you define as strange?”

“I don’t know really,” Rachel snickered. “But that almost sounds like a “yes.”

“What? No.” Camille seemed to blush. “Not necessarily.” Rachel realized Camille was leading her through the international aisle, as she scanned the section of shelf that was nothing but tubes of imported British tea biscuits. “I don’t many people here despite the girls from the office, like Holly. And she’s been really cool to me. Courtney too. At least for a bit there. The other girls are nice, but I don’t know. I guess maybe because they’re a little older, they can be a little... stuffy sometimes?” She took a red tube of cookies off the shelf & began wrestling with the wrapper. “But you seem pretty cool.”

“Uh…” Rachel, anxious about whatever she was doing took a step to the side. 

“Here,” Camille finally managed to tear it slightly. “Try this.” She took one of the long, ovaloid crackers out of the tube. She then reached for the lid one of the containers of gnarly green whatever as it sat in her basket. With a distinct pop, she let the lid slide off & took a generous scoop before presenting it to Rachel. Rachel, in turn, glared at it with the same grossed out disdain one would give the biological horror of a gnarly science fiction movie. It was chunks of green & cream, oozing off of what looked like a stale cracker. “Seriously, it’s the best!”

Not wanting to let her deviant food prep prior to paying go to waste, & frankly, still feeling that light din of hunger, Rachel carefully tried to grab the biscuit on a bit that wasn’t smothered & brought it close to her face. Camille’s shoulders hunched slightly in anticipation drawing her basket in closer to her. Rachel had at some point involuntarily decided she wasn’t going to breathe through her nose until she took what would probably be a tiny bite. She just had to summon up the courage to take that bite. When she did, it wasn’t quite what she was expecting. Whatever the green stuff was, it seemed to taste almost like raspberry. But like… raspberry with notes of distinct B.O, for sure. And the texture to it. Was just… wrong. But the cracker was intensely bitter. And hard as hell. Not crunchy. Rock hard. But at the same time, that berry flavor & that bitter flavor? She could see how someone could be into the mixture. Sort of.

“Well?!” Camille seemed anxious. Impatient even. But waited with a steadily growing grin.

“Mm. I was expecting far worse…” Rachel said, working it around a little more before swallowing. “But not really my thing so much.”

“Oh,” Camille looked a little wounded, for a moment. But then she stared at the half bitten biscuit, still smothered in what was supposedly a cheese. “Well… in that case…?” the tan girl smiled coyly, before swinging her basket to the side. She leaned her neck towards Rachel, looking down her nose at her, while opening her mouth wide & sticking out her tongue. Did… did she want her to feed her? Rachel looked up & down the aisle, & realized they were probably in the only empty section of store before staring back at Camille. She was frozen in place, her eyes half shut, waiting for it still. Almost desperately. Wait. Was Camille starting to blush? Fuck, was she? 

Wincing slightly, Rachel delicately maneuvered it past the girl’s full lips, almost like a priest offering a communion wafer. She felt the heavy substance slathered on seem to catch & cinch up against Camille’s tongue before Camille’s teeth secured the bottom of the cracker & Rachel let go.

“Mmmmm,” Camille chomped, her eyes shuttering slightly in what seemed like ecstatic delight. Her tan face suddenly a lot redder, & her eyes a little hazy. “The combo, s’ just sooo good!” she mumbled, having to crunch hard to get through the cracker. Rachel, meanwhile, was left feeling awkward. And her arms were getting tired from hugging her laptop this whole time. And her feet felt as though they were fixing to fall off any second now. As much as she hated it, at this point, Rachel just wanted to get back to the condo. ASAP.

“Uh. Do you know if the Bellflower’s shuttle comes this way any time soon?” she bleated. Slowly, Camille seemed to start coming out of her daze. And her bougie disdain reared its head.

“Ech, the shuttle? Really?!” She sneered coarsely.

“What?” Rachel asked blankly. Her eyes darted to the side. Was there something wrong with that, she wondered to herself. Deidre didn’t seem to have any issue recommending it earlier.

“You’re new.” Camille laughed off, before grabbing another two tubes of the rock hard biscuits. “And the shuttle’s fine if all you’re doing is commuting back & forth to the office or whatever. But on a weekend?” It looked like she was making her way towards the front of the store & the self checkout.

“What?” Rachel repeated, still not catching her drift.

“All that thing does from Friday night to now? Is tote around drunken idiots.” The shorter girl scoffed as she reached the nearest scanning counter. 

“You don’t say…” Rachel sighed under her breath.

“Tried to use it to come here a couple Saturdays ago? Ech, never again!” She sounded slightly winded, but couldn’t tell if it was just from being a bit out of shape or what had just happened. “But I’d be happy to give you a lift back if you’re looking for a ride!” 

“Oh.” A loaded “oh,” she picked up from her mother. On the one hand, feeling a bit awkward, Rachel was looking to make something of a quick exit. In fact, that was the only reason she brought the shuttle up in the first place. But on the other hand, her feet were essentially bloody stumps at this point. “Y’know what? That would be great.”

“Great!” Camille smiled, raising her round cheeks a little bit higher in the process.

As a girl her age or maybe even a little younger, Camille drove the luxury car Rachel’s dad spent the better half of a few decades to saving up to buy just recently. She got in & was afraid to touch anything, even though Camille seemed just a bit messier than her Dad. She had to be making the same amount of money Holly was, but between this & the “summers in France” remark, it was becoming more & more abundantly clear how well off her family must’ve been.

After their “cheese” & cracker experience, the ride back seemed to be a little awkward. Camille seemed to recede into her mousiness. She kept biting her lip, looking as though she had something she wanted to say, but never did. And that sort of left Rachel at a similar loss. Luckily it was a very short hop back to the Bellflower’s parking garage. On approach, Rachel tried to brace herself. She felt the pit retuning, but also? She tried to be mindful of her stomach, notice if nearing it made her any hungrier. Gauge to see if there was any difference. If there was, it was slight, & not above being a little psychosomatic. 

It wasn’t until they got into the elevator that one of them said more than three words to the other. And Rachel was the one that cracked first.

“Thanks again for the ride!” she looked down towards the floor with a nod. Still hugging her laptop. “Wasn’t thinking. Wore the wrong shoes.”“Oh no!” Her sympathetic coo was still mousy but Camille’s voice reverberated in the confines of the elevator. “In that case, I’m glad I could help.” Hugging her tote of groceries in a similar way to how Rachel hugged her laptop, she let half a beat skip before turning again. “You know, you seem pretty rad.”

“Oh.” Rachel said, trying to not feel any more awkward about this than it already had gotten. “Thanks…” She suddenly realized that Camille had whipped out her phone with a free hand.

“Can I get your number? Maybe we could hang out… sometime…?” 

“Oh. Sure.” Rachel reluctantly agreed. Sure, she was something of a rich bitch, & possibly maybe even something of a freak? Possibly? But her mousiness was honestly a little endearing, & for Rachel, this whole encounter? It almost felt like she was being looked up to in away. Besides, she made something of a point about Deidre. As much as Deidre did admirably have her shit together & ducks in a row, she maybe was a little… stuffy. More adult than Rachel was maybe really ready to be. So maybe it didn’t hurt to make more friends. At the very least, seeing as Camille, or Cami or whatever was still a bit young & naive, maybe she could simply shoot for trying to alter her worldview a little. Work towards convincing her delivery people are actually people & stuff. And so the two went about swapping their contact info as the elevator made its very slow ascent before eventually dinging at “10.” 

“This is me.” the plump girl started to step off.

“Thanks again, Camille.” Rachel said, before clarifying. “For the ride.”

“Please! Cami!” She said turning to face the elevator while slowly stepping backwards.

“Cami…” Rachel nodded. The girl seemed to blush a little more as the doors slowly shut. Rachel, whose anxiety level was already through the roof thanks to the Bellflower itself, exhaled with some relief as the elevator continued to travel up to Holly’s again. The dial ticked up from “10” to “11” to “12.” And then? The dial just sort of blanked out. 

“13…?” Rachel slowly murmured to herself. Suddenly the lights kicked off. She fought off letting out a shriek, before they kicked back on in an emergency red. There was something of a slight buzz, sounding as though it was coming from somewhere else in the elevator’s shaft. Like this car had been temporarily taken out of service. With her in it. Using the red light, she stepped towards the panel thinking maybe she could smash some of the buttons. “What the fuh…”

“Ah. Miss Rachel.”

“Penny?!” Rachel immediately froze. All that panic & anxiety she took a long walk trying to avoid? It all came immediately rushing back. With something of a vengeance. Was this going to be that lecture about "responsibility she was expecting from the AI back on the Bellflower's unmanned shortbus?

“I’m glad you found your way back to us.” It said, ominously. “Your sister was beginning to worry.”

“I-it… It was really… no big deal.” She tried to not come off as intimidated as she really was, backing away from the panel slowly. How was Holly’s Penny even talking to her now? Through the building’s elevator? Then again, how did it do it from the shuttle earlier? “What’s… what’s this about?” It was hard to maintain a cool, but she seemed to manage, if only just slightly.

“Miss Rachel,” Penny said. Its tone didn’t lose its chipper edge, but seemed more direct. A little stern. Like it was trying to make a proposition or something. And something about that, in & of itself, felt sinister. “I hope you understand that as your sister’s smart home application, it is my duty to ensure the happiness & safety of any & all residents. That is my expressed duty & engineered purpose. Optimal quality of life!”

“Okay.” Was all she offered, clenching her laptop tighter to herself. Not that it did anything in this situation.

“I am here simply to make the lives of you & your sister far easier, if you will only let me.”

“Naw. I’m good.” Rachel shook her head, pushing her lips forward in something of a stern pout. Her maroon hair swayed with the motion. “Don’t really need you to do anything like that for me.”

“Well,” The AI pressed. “Whether YOU think you require my assistance or not, I am still going to be here.” Rachel leaned to her one foot, shooting daggers in what appeared to be the elevator’s security camera, assuming the AI could read her expression. “At the absolute very least however, I strongly recommend you consider downloading my app. “For when you’re on the go!” Her tone lightened on that line. Almost as if she was reciting some slogan used as a selling point for the thing. Rachel wouldn’t know because she avoided all that material when she pulled up the website. Still, it didn’t make the sudden burst of levity seem any less terrifying.“The app?!” Rachel asked with an incredulous, wide eyed nod. “You’re doing this, tripping out the elevators as a sales pitch for a phone app?”“Like I said, I strongly recommend you consider downloading it. 

“What?! Fuck no!!” Rachel hollered, escalating quickly. If Penny had a face, an actual face not on a monitor, she probably would’ve tried to take a swing at it, she was getting that fired up.

“But think about it less in terms of yourself. And more in terms of your sister. Holly need not worry, & you would not find yourself stranded twice in one day. For one, if not during peak hours, the shuttle would come & pick you up in the blink of an eye. That way you would not have to rely on Holly or making new friends like “Cami” for rides.

“How…?” Rachel clicked in disgust.

“Her Penny told me. Through HER app.” Penny explained. “Having it is no sign of weakness, but simply… ubiquity. Rachel was getting fed up with all this nanny state, “big sister” bullshit. “I strongly recommend…”

“How many times do I have to even say it?” She snapped, but kept it at a low, intense roar. “I don’t want you on my fucking phone.” In turn, Penny’s flat, but semi-sinister tone did not seem to waver. In fact, it almost never seemed to lose its even keel.

“And you are well within your right to make that decision. As they say, “it’s a free country after all.” The machine finally seemed to relent, inflecting that last quote with something of a robotic version of a drawl. “But just so you are aware, opting out of the service may carry certain… repercussions.”

“Repercussions...?” Rachel’s brow slanted. “Are you SERIOUSLY trying to threaten me right now?”

“Not in the slightest! Surely an intelligent girl such as yourself would be familiar with Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. I would never do anything to HURT you, OR your sister for that matter. Like I previously stated, that is not what I am programmed to do.”

“What about mental duress? Trapping me in an elevator for this fucked up sales pitch of yours?”

“No harm is intended! We are simply having a private, uninterrupted conversation seeing as you have left me with few other options. Much like how Holly felt the only way she could get you to talk to her was by coming to your rescue, providing a roof over your head in your hour of desperate need.” Rachel scoffed. It did in fact leave her a bit wounded, but strategically, she decided not to take the very obvious bait & get off topic. For sure “repercussions” equated to some obvious kind of threat.

“So what are you even saying then?” She finally shouted back.

“Just that there might be certain outcomes you might find a bit… undesirable, given your non-compliance.”

“I…” Rachel tried to choose her words carefully, but also wanted to stand her ground. Even if that ground still could suddenly give out & send her careening ten stories to her doom at any second, Asimov or no. “I’ll take my chances, thanks.”

“So be it.” Penny said, seeking to imitate something of a disgusted sigh. “Just so you are fully aware of your choices. All I ask is that in the end? Do not say I didn’t try to warn you.” The red lights kicked off, & things went pitch black again for a split second before the regular lighting returned. Penny’s voice returned to its more maternal, nurturing tone slowly. “Now be sure to come upstairs & relax. There are brownies waiting for you. Freshly baked as of an hour or so. Bet they are still probably even a bit warm. At least if Holly hasn’t gone through them all first. Seems she has been developing a bit of a sweet tooth lately.”

The elevator shook. It had indeed stopped. And now, it was moving again, albeit at its typical snail’s pace. The digital floor dial hit “14” & the large elevator doors slowly slid open.

“Keep your fuckin’ brownies.” Rachel growled under her breath.