The Bellflower Part 12 (Patreon)

In this installment,  Rachel finds out she isn't the only paranoid person at the Bellflower. She finds some new friends as well as a few new developments. Meanwhile, Holly overhears a little news herself.

Hate to keep pulling the temporary post thing, but this chapter was something of a monster. It is an important one though, & what was originally supposed to be the real jumping off point (only took this long... jeez). The problem was there were so many threads & plates spinning, I'd start picking one thing up & remember three more. But then again, that's kind of how Rachel's supposed to be experiencing the meeting in a way too, so maybe this is just like me getting into that mindset more. Method!

But it's all here now. There are edits throughout, but nothing major (I think the biggest addition is Rachel trying to tell them about her run in with Penny in the elevator) in what was already shared. Though I'd say the safest place to pick back up is after Holly finds out there's tiramisu. Most of the bigger changes happen  in the break after that.

After this, things will start getting a little quicker & jumping ahead. Might just be a day or two at a time at first but they'll be quicker, & in smaller doses. And ramp up more from here on out. Thanks for staying with me so far!!

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12

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Another notification chime blipped from her pocket. It elicited a sigh. 

Like the last thirty to fifty, Rachel assumed it was more of just Holly, elated they were going to be coworkers. Texts telling her “how proud of her she was” & “how excited she was that they both worked in the same building now.” Yadda yadda yadda. And okay, thirty to fifty was maybe a bit of an embellishment, but there were at least a dozen at this point. At first, the initial few she received did make Rachel feel good, & maybe even muster a smile or two. But at this point? It was just beginning to become a little embarrassing. Especially as she was just sitting there, on this crowded bus. And not the Bellflower’s Penny-driven drone. Actual public transit, full of actual everyday folks. Not weirdly detached bougie Oakmont types. 

Another chime. 

“OH THIS IS GOING TO BE SO GREAT!” Followed by a bunch of emojis. And then she looked closely & remembered her contact photo for Holly was from High School, running at a track meet. Not that Rachel had been at that meet herself that day, Holly simply had it as a profile pic at the time. Still, it was a decade & at least a hundred pounds ago. 

Another chime, before she could even lower the damn phone. 

This one just composed of even more emojis. Fuck! Did Holly actually ever do any work at her job? It was just getting annoying at this point. And people were starting to side-eye her. Some stared. Others shot daggers. Sheepishly, she nodded apologetically, & muted the sound as a precaution for the next. But then it only buzzed loudly over the dull roar of the buses engine before she could wrestle it back into her pocket. She would’ve thrown it on airplane but she needed to make sure she was transferring at the right stop. This was the furthest out she’d traveled from Oakmont on her own since her arrival after all, & it was tough without her own car. She opened her map app to check the route. Two stops before she had to switch. This “meeting” better be worth her time.

“If you need work clothes, we can share!” She saw a text of Holly’s encroach as the phone buzzed in her hand. Rachel squinted. Did Holly not realize they weren’t the same size? Rachel hit the button to black out the screen & leaned back with a sigh. What had she gotten herself into?

“Don’t know why she stopped responding.” Holly muttered to herself as she hovered over her desk & fought off the urge to send Rachel yet another text. She was all packed up & ready to call it a day.

“Would you stop hassling her?” Courtney directed with a laugh & headshake. “She’s probably annoyed you’ve been blowing her up all afternoon!” It took a second, & some grunting, but she slowly managed to heave her bulk out of her wide, armless office chair all on her own. Just took a few teetering steps to make sure she maintained her balance.

“I’m just…” Holly waved her hands & needed to find the words.

“Excited? We know.” Andrea rolled her eyes. “You’ve told us at least a hundred times.”

“At least.” Camille joined mousily. “I drove by the way, if anyone wants a ride?”

“Oooh! Please!” Courtney jumped (not literally). Andrea seemed to nod as well. After all, it beat waiting in the queue for shuttles. Different departments came in at different times but everyone always seemed to leave here around this time, causing a mass exodus that the shuttles could barely keep up with. That’s when Courtney realized Holly hadn’t piped up to Camille’s offer. “You coming?” Holly looked up from her text app.

“Actually, I was waiting for Deidre to get off the phone to talk to her real quick. Y’know, thank her again? I’ll catch you guys tomorrow!” 

“Suit yourself.” Camille shrugged before giving a wave. She smiled. “But glad your sister’s coming aboard.”

“See ya.” Andrea nodded.

“Have a good one,” Courtney waddled on, shaking a wobbily arm to wave as well.

“Later.” Holly smiled. She hadn’t realized that without them, her & Deidre were the only two people left in the department. Holly impatiently fired off one more simple emoji filled text to her sister before debating about maybe adding her to the ladies’ night group text. Other than being in HR, Rachel met all the other requirements now: living at the Bellflower, working at Hailington, heck, being a lady. Not that there were hard & fast rules or anything.

“Yeah.” Holly could just barely hear muffled from the office. “You remember Nadya? They didn’t really tell me much, but they certainly seemed a little cagey about it.” She realized with the empty department, she could just vaguely make out Deidre’s half of her phone conversation. “And I don’t want to sound… look, there’s no nice way to put it, but I don’t think the department head Dawn’s that far off either. But like… what am I supposed to even do then?” Holly didn’t intend or even really want to eavesdrop. It seemed terribly rude. So at first, she tried humming the bridge of the extremely basic pop song that had been stuck in her head all day anyway. But it didn’t seem to do much in the way of actually helping cancel out the half of a conversation she was suddenly privy to. “I mean that only leaves that girl Trudy & this new one.” Rachel? Any pretense of trying to hum stopped. “And they’re about to get slammed this quarter! So like what then? And I mean like, Trudy’s sweet, she’s apparently pretty great at her job given what I’ve seen of her performance reviews, but she doesn’t… No people skills, that one. To put it lightly! So what, I’m going to bring in this new chick & bump her to department head in like the span of a week?!” Holly gasped at the implication. She didn’t know what Dawn’s situation was where she’d be leaving or stepping down or whatever, but Deidre HAD to be talking about Rachel as her successor. As DEPARTMENT HEAD?! At first, Holly’s already palpable levels of excitement skyrocketed. And feverishly, she started mashing her thumbs into the keypad of her phone. But maybe it wasn’t something she was supposed to share? Hell, maybe it was all still just speculation on Deidre’s part? But then, Holly came to another realization. That within not even a week’s time, her sister would technically be catapulted higher up the corporate ladder than she had managed in all of six months!  And with a crazy pay bump too! And with that, her thumbs slowed. She started to feel… annoyed. Her smile faded & before she could finish this millionth text of the afternoon, she dropped her finger on the backspace button & held it down while staring into the middle distance. 

“What the fuck?” She mouthed to no one, before putting her phone away. She picked up her bag, peered into Deidre’s office to get her attention, plastered on a fake smile & wave. Deidre, who had just entered a lull of “uh-huhs” responding to the other end, reciprocated with a smile & wave of her own. Then Holly turned towards the door. As she did, that smile became more of a jealous, slightly muttering sneer. “I don’t get it. I’ve done so much here this whole time. And then she comes in, she doesn’t even want the damn thing & they just throw something like THIS at her? Do they even realize how fucking crazy she is?!”

After another two transfers & an hour & a half ride when it was all said & done, Rachel had finally made it to what seemed like her destination. Somewhere after the first transfer, Holly’s incessant texts seemed to dry up so she stopped aggravating those around her. But now, she was back out in warm sun as it tilted quickly towards the horizon. Everything was bathed orange, but the neighborhood had honest-to-god trees. Large oaks lining the sidewalks, casting large bits of shade. This certainly wasn’t Oakmont any more. She didn’t know what this neighborhood was called. But it seemed alright. Like it was past some of its better days, but not necessarily sketchy. Just… lived in. And at the other end of the block? Gary's Fine Steaks & Hoagies. 

It seemed like a small mom & pop sandwich shop. Subs? Grinders? Hoagies? Damn. She had no idea. Did they have particular nomenclature here? Would she get called out for using the wrong one? Canceled? Not knowing exactly what to expect, she had done a cursory glance on her phone as a bit of recon during the bus ride. The only really pertinent information she could find were such glowing online reviews as:

“Am a loyal customer. 

Eat here every day for years. 

Clean.” 

-Dale, 52

And then a Three (out of Five) star rating.

Oh, & lest we forget:

“They forgot to give me fries with my order once.

But I’d still probably go back.”

-Jerry, 41

And Jerry neglected to leave a star rating.

Overall, the place didn’t look all that great in the photo, but it looked slightly less bedraggled in person than Rachel had braced herself to expect. So that was a plus. Besides, part of her wasn't opposed to learning about a new decent places to eat. And a down-to-Earth, honest-to-God place to grab a cheesesteak was more her speed than the hoity-toity brunch spot Deidre had brought them to. Even if it was on the other side of creation from the Bellflower. But maybe that was also a very good thing. After all, that sort of seemed to be the biggest impetus to meeting here, of all places. It being miles away from Oakmont. And not only inconvenient, but seemingly the last place most other “Bellflower-types” would probably ever want to be caught dead. Well, wait. Scratch that. They DID serve food. But still…

"Raitch!" she suddenly heard a voice call out. Rachel realized Fran & another woman were flanking the shop’s double doors. Almost as if they had been waiting for her. And they looked stressed out. “Did you WALK?!”

“Hey!” Rachel waved on approach. But it was trepidatious. “No! Bus!” Chucking a thumb over her shoulder towards the stop.

"Hey, I forgot to ask you a super important question." Fran seemed to almost panic stepping forward, no longer needing to shout.

“Hello to you to…” Rachel mouthed at first. “What…?! What’s that?”

"You didn't by chance download the Penny app did you?” Fran asked. The almost as large, busty, darker complected woman next to her jumped in a bit bossily.

“Like, I hear it's your sister's place & all, but onto your own phone? You didn’t get it to access any “special features” or “amenities” or anything, did you?" Rachel shut her eyes & sighed, stopping smack dab in the middle of the building’s mostly empty parking lot.

"I have to be honest with you, I'm so sick & goddamn tired of hearing about this fucking app!" Rachel whined halfway playfully, rolling her eyes.

"Yes or no?" Fran pushed tensely, taking another step.

"No! Fuck no!" Rachel blurted out of frustration. But in her outburst, she noticed a wave of relief flash over both Fran & her friend. This new woman gave Fran a content nod.

"Good," She smiled, reaching for the door handle. "Don't.” Turning her back, she proceeded to talk & point diagonally towards the sky over her shoulder. “And consider any phone does have it? Almost like it's radioactive, basically." She nodded to Fran before slinking her wide body inside ahead of them. 

“O-K.” Rachel slowly let out as she approached Fran pensively. "Paranoid, much?" she snickered softly. Her heart flittered a little. It wasn’t often she was usually on this side of bandying about that kind of accusation.

“Not enough.” Fran said, almost disappointed in herself. “It’s… it’s my fault. I should’ve asked & warned you up front.” She sighed, shaking her head. “It was important but I’ve had a lot... on my plate.” She took a sigh & looked Rachel in the eye. “But here’s the deal. We… still are a little apprehensive about phones though. I know you didn’t drive, but can we leave yours in my car for now? Just as like… a precaution. I know it may be a big ask but...”

“Um…” Rachel stammered. She was usually the paranoid one in most situations, but to be out-paranoided? This was sort of a weird development. It’s not that she didn’t trust her, but without her laptop, she had some stuff she wanted to show them on it, making her reluctant. Fran huffed frustratedly. More because she didn’t want to waste any more time than any frustration over Rachel’s misgivings, specifically.

“Look, I’m assuming I’m probably going to have to drive you home anyway, right?” Her head tilted down, she looked up from under her curls.

“Well I mean... if you’re offering…?” Rachel muttered softly, twisting the corner of her mouth into a slight smirk.

“And besides,” Fran continued with a bit more levity. “You know where I live! I’m not trying to steal it! We just like the idea of keeping things…”

“Private.” Rachel reluctantly finished. Just as she then reluctantly passed along her phone, before nodding & trying to play it cool. “I… I totally get it.” Fran gave a content nod before giving it an appreciative wave. “Here, watch.” she instructed, shuffling to the passenger’s side door of what was presumably her cute little SUV, & squeezing herself in around the door to place Rachel’s phone in the glovebox with her own. “You can get it back after… I always feel weird calling these things a meeting.”“Sure,” Rachel nodded.

“And I mean I’m even older than her.” Holly came in still continuing to mutter to herself. She had given it a rest while riding on the shuttle. At least out loud. For fear of looking as crazy AS Rachel. But she certainly had been thinking the stuff she would’ve been muttering the whole time. And now, at this point, she was practically fuming.

“Welcome home, Miss Holly!” Penny chimed delightfully. “I take it things went well today? Miss Rachel took the job?”

“Ohh-ho-ohh,” Holly sarcastically chortled. “Is she here?!” As if she had been preparing to have it out with her.

“She has not returned.” The AI was slightly scared to inform. Holly growled slightly. “You seem upset. Is there something where I can be of some assistance?”

“I just…” Holly started, hearing herself almost whine. She stopped to take a deep breath. It only seemed to calm her down slightly. “No.” she admitted, sounding a bit defeated. Instead of dwelling, she immediately changed the trajectory of the conversation to something Penny COULD help with. “But I am starving. They got us sandwiches for lunch today, but there weren’t nearly enough Chicken Parms!” She had apparently convinced herself, not catching the whining she was doing this time around. “I mean why else would get sandwiches from that place! That’s the only thing they do great there!” Penny seemed ready to hop into action though, as Holly wiggled out of her cardigan & her skirt in the middle of the floor.

“Would you like me to prepare you more then? For dinner? Or something different?”

“Something different.” Holly responded somewhat prickly, before collapsing onto her couch in only her blouse & leggings with a plop. She was alone in what was HER condo after all. “Surprise me!”

“Will do.” Penny almost laughed, with arms mobilizing in the kitchen. Or had they already been working when she walked in the door? Either way, in the safety of her own home, without her sister there to cramp her style, Holly was gradually calming down little by little. And with Penny there, she didn’t feel crazy working through her thoughts out loud.

“I mean, I know it’s nothing she did. I get that! It’s just random circumstances, with all the turnover in her department, & she’s just lucking out! But I’ve worked SOOO hard there. For months!”

“You certainly have!” Penny interjected, cheerleading, as she did, even if it wasn’t entirely clear if she understood the complete context. 

“And so it just like… sucks! Like… I go to bat for her, try to hook her up with this gig! And then she almost didn’t even want the damn thing out of some weird… moral objection-y bullshit!”

“Quite rude, if you ask me.” Penny threw in as an aside. “After all you did trying to land it for her.”

“So I know I should probably be thrilled that it DID all work the way it’s panning out. Even better than I had first hoped! But like… I can’t help but feel almost as if it’s… it’s… like a sort of slap in the face…to me?” She arched up out of her slouch a bit to shout towards the kitchen, not that she necessarily had to. “Does that make sense?”

“Perfect sense!” Penny said, happy to take her side. 

“Like she’s going to be getting paid more, probably! She’ll definitely have a more important title! A higher position in the company! And she hasn’t even officially started yet! While I’ve been slaving away for literal MONTHS! Like what was that all for?!”

“It doesn’t sound fair at all.” Penny tsked. “But perhaps this might be best for the both of you.”

“Probably.” Holly sighed. “But…” The AI spoke over her.

“This way, Miss Rachel will be able to afford her own place very soon. Perhaps even another unit here in the Bellflower! There are several available after all. And that way, the two of you can each have your own space but still remain quite close.”

“Sure,” Holly acknowledged, not at all mad at the idea, but knowing Rachel better than that. Regardless, sitting here, being able to let it all hang out was something she did kind of miss now that she was essentially sharing the space. “And I know you’re probably right.” She skipped a beat. “You ARE right. I mean, I was SOOO happy for her. Happy that this all worked out, you know? And like, after the whole break up & everything, it felt good to help her get a “win,” you know?”

“Of course!” Penny chimed.

“And so now it turned out to be an even bigger win than we realized! Like it practically leapfrogs her ahead of even me! I just know she’s not going to see it like that, even though she’s hit the lottery here basically. All while I’ve been working hard to earn everything I’ve gotten so far.” She took another deep breath. “Maybe I’m just jealous. Or maybe even a little greedy.”

“Miss Holly,” Penny started, bringing what looked like a giant plate of fettuccine alfredo towards her. It wouldn’t have been Holly’s first pick, especially after basically just having Italian for lunch. But it looked absolutely delicious. Creamy. “It is perfectly acceptable to be a little greedy sometimes!” She put the plate down next to Holly, who was scooting up in her seat ready to eat. “Bon appetit!”

As they entered the sandwich shop, Rachel got a sense that Gary’s hadn’t received even somewhat of a partial make-over since the day it had first opened its doors, sometime presumably in the late 80s. Quite a bit before the counter, off to the side, in the middle of the dining room, she saw the woman from outside situating herself next to another girl. The problem was both were pretty large & looked almost uncomfortably crammed into the same side of a booth. Yet they still both managed to give Fran a nonchalant wave as if to say “over here.” Even though they were the only customers there to eat in at 7pm on a Tuesday evening. 

This other girl looked something like a modern day permutation of the Goth girls Rachel sort of hung out with in High School, & roughly the same width give or take. The type of girl she secretly would've probably dressed like herself if she had the extra cash to spare back then. But most of them were mommy bloggers on social media now basically. Rachel halfway respected this woman’s commitment. Still holding out, after all this time? She must’ve been pretty hardcore. Or at the very least stubborn.

“This is Rachel.” Fran very casually introduced to them. “She’s staying with her sister as of… what last week?”

“Yeah,” she nodded timidly. “Hello.” Giving a mousy little wave.

“Mikayla,” The girl from outside nodded with a wave back. Her demeanor seemed softer now. Not nearly as standoffish, wearing a big, but half way guarded smile. Almost as if maybe the phone thing was a test. And not only had she passed, her frustration ABOUT the app seemed to push her through with flying colors. But that there may be other tests still coming too. She also looked as though she was coming off work herself, she was wearing a dark blue, very subtly patterned  blazer & pants over a light blouse. Her natural hair ramped from dark roots to bleach blonde curls.

“And I’m Marissa.” The goth wiggled her fingers in a facsimile of a wave. “Nice to meet you.” Her voice was a lot higher pitched & squeakier than Rachel had assumed it would be by appearances. Perkier in tone too, as her dark, uniformed bangs bobbed along with her movement. Together with Fran, who was dressed a bit more run of the mill casually, they seemed to be a very rag-tag combination coming from different walks of life. At least at first glance. And until it got to size. 

Rachel took a seat first & scooted in as far as she could to give Fran as much space as possible. The poor thing had to ease herself in, almost wedging herself given how tight the bench was to the table. At least for her. Overall, she seemed proportionately to be the roundest. But the others certainly weren’t slouches by any means. While Mikayla was taller, like Holly, she seemed to carry a lot of her weight in her boobs & butt, but at the same time was still maybe a little too big all over to be considered hourglass-y. Way past “thicc.” Marissa on the other hand was just sort of soft & chubby all over. Like… puffy. At least all the black she wore did seem to trick the eye slightly in being somewhat slimming. Very slightly.

As Rachel & Fran got situated, a high school aged girl in a nondescript tie dyed shirt seemed to be bringing them menus.

“Sorry for the limited options.” Fran muttered to Rachel just out of the girl’s earshot. “But we feel safer at a place like this…”

“No, I totally get it!” Rachel nodded assuredly, to Fran & then to the girl as she took a menu. The table put in orders for their preferred soft drinks. Lemon Lime for Rachel. Diet for Marissa. Seltzers for Mikayla & Fran, but larges all around.

Fran was right. Everything on the menu looked relatively unhealthy, but she did then make it a point to show them they would be able to substitute any sandwich as a wrap instead. Spare them at least a few calories if they wanted.

"Is the food good at least?" Rachel peeked up from the laminated mat, which was tacky to the touch. Years of greasy build it up it seemed.

"I mean, it's fine." Mikayla seemed to grouse, not at all enthused.

“It’s my cheat day. And I’ve been good all week.” Marissa added without looking up from her menu, almost as if to preempt any nagging from the other two.

“Do your thing,” Fran seemed to wince. It seemed couched in concern, but was maybe more out of frustration she couldn’t indulge the way she wanted. “Just…”

“I know. I know.” Marissa sighed. Rachel observed these interactions quietly. Did they… realize? She had the feeling Fran did. But were they all in on it? They’d be the first people from the Bellflower who seemed to. The girl came back from behind the counter with their drinks. After the dry, recycled, not-so-pleasant smelling air of public transit, she was practically dying to take a nice, long sip.

“Apps?” Mikayla asked. Fran shot her a look. “What?!”

“I… I think I’m good.” Rachel smiled politely, reading the room. Or at least Fran. She did so more for what seemed like the table’s overall benefit than what she truly wanted. Like, the “cheesesteak spring rolls” she saw on the menu sounded interesting. No! She went completely overboard with the free lunch sandwiches at Hailington today already. Why was she even entertaining the idea of appetizers right now? Getting her drink, she took a big sip of chilled, carbonated citrus, dulling her anxious thoughts with a wave of refreshingly cool bliss. “Ahhh.” She even exhaled after, sated slightly.

“What can I getcha’s?” The girl asked, making a slight show out of clicking her pen for orders.

“BLT Wrap.” Fran jumped in. “Hold the mayo.” She seemed to rush it, maybe even a little before the girl was ready to take hers. Almost as if it was going to take another second, she would’ve changed her mind.

“Same.” Mikayla seemed to wince. “But mayo’s fine.”

“Oooh, this pizza cheesesteak sounds good! Large. With Fries!” Marissa cooed. “Wait! No! You guys do cheese fries?!”

“Cheese fries. Cheese & bacon fries. Disco Fries.” The girl rattled off. 

“Oooh, Cheese & bacon please!” She added. She looked to Rachel. “I’d totally get disco but I don’t know if sauce & gravy together…”

“Eeeccchhh,” Both Fran & Mikayla uniformly huffed in disgust. Mikayla went a step further with a “What’re you doin’?”

“Cheat day.” Marissa reminded them at a low volume through clenched teeth. 

“I’ll just have… um… the Italian sub?” Rachel timidly put out there. “How big is the large?”

“Twelve inches.” The girl said blankly. “Medium is seven. Jumbo is eighteen.”

“Large is fine.” Rachel restrained, trying not to make her wince seem too visible. “I’ll probably be bringing half home. Oh but… extra dressing though?”

“Fries?” The girl asked. 

“I… if it usually just comes with chips…” Rachel started.

“How about an order of fries for the table?” Mikayla caved. Fran tsked again. More, Rachel felt, because she seemed like she probably wouldn’t be able to help herself.

“You got it!” The mostly blank girl tried to sound chipper before leaving them to it. “It’ll be right out!”

“Finished already?” Penny chirped.

“Mmmmm.” Holly gulped down another mouthful. “Mostly. Told you… Mmmmm... I was starving!”

“You certainly did.” The robot almost giggled with glee.“Please tell there’s still a bit more.” She cooed, dabbing a bit of cheesy sauce off her lips with her napkin. What didn’t get dabbed immediately got licked away. 

“Well, not knowing Rachel’s plans exactly,” Penny said, almost like a slightly disappointed mother. “I did in fact whip up a little bit extra. Would you…?”

“Please!” Holly cut her off, lifting the plate to an awaiting ceramic ceiling arm.

“Happily.” Penny said in her sing-songy digital voice.

“Let’s stop beating around the bush here.” Fran leaned in. Her tone maybe wasn’t necessarily hushed, but keeping exclusive to the table. “Rachel seems to be of the same mind as us.” She told the others. “That there’s definitely some weirdness afoot in the building.” The two girls looked at each other. Rachel didn’t know exactly whether she should pipe up now or not. But also, part of her was a little apprehensive about putting some of her observations out there. Especially given the… size disparity between her & the girls. Luckily Marissa jumped in first.

"How much does she…?” She seemed to try to gauge both her & Fran.

“I mean we haven’t been anywhere secure enough to really…”

“Oh-ho!” Marissa chuckled. “You just want to rip it off, like a bandaid? Just get into it?!" Her squeaky voice was almost devious in tone about this. “Twisted” in a slightly edgy, impulsive way. Mikayla folded her arms over her ample chest in some sort of protest.

"You can't just drop some shit like that on somebody. Poor girl'll have come all this way just to think we're just fuckin’ insane!" she argued. She softened to look towards Rachel for a second. "Not to judge, but I just remember how I took the news the first time around. Because it’s fuckin’ insane." Rachel tried to jump in.

“It’s fuckin’ bananas, s’what it is!” Marissa concurred. Before Rachel could try to assure her otherwise, Fran hopped back in.

"She probably already does think we’re insane," Her brow bounced as she smirked & rolled her eyes. "The secrecy? Meeting way, way the fuck out here, away from Oakmont & everything? Poor thing took the bus! And leaving our phones outside?" She turned to Rachel. "Am I right? We probably seem absolutely nuts." Rachel again almost managed to get a word in.

"So I don't see the harm in just telling her!" Marissa snarked in agreement. “What’s the worst she’ll think of us if we’re already crazy?” Mikayla left less of an opportunity for Rachel to hop in this time, despite her mouth going wide & her finger going up to start speaking.

"How do you even go about trying to tell somebody something like..."

"There's somebody out there that's trying to fatten up every resident of the Bellflower & put on a ton of weight very quickly?” Rachel interrupted, before adding, “Going so far as to even secretly get everyone's Pennies in on the act too?"

A hush fell over the table. The three larger women all stared at one another for a moment. Shit! Rachel panicked. Was that somehow not it? Had she totally misread the room? Was she the one that now seemed crazy?!

"How did y..." Fran started. Her look seemed partially astonished.

"Okay," Mikayla laughed to herself, shutting her eyes, & tilting her head down to give her flab a bit of a shake. "I mean I guess it is pretty obvious."

"Wait," Rachel couldn’t quite gauge their reaction. They didn’t seem appalled or even the slightest bit skeptical of her though. More like surprised. Or rather surprisingly disarmed. It almost made Rachel seem to stave off a bit of a laugh. Weirdly, a part of her still halfway hoped she had overstepped & was terribly, terribly wrong. That she would've been the one to finally out-paranoid the three of them. That would’ve meant her bizarre theory wasn’t true! And that this weird shit WASN’T happening to people like Holly or her friends. Or these new friends even, apparently. But they seemed way too pleasantly surprised by her assertion. "Are you saying... I'm… I’m right?!" Immediately, she felt twenty things at once. Mostly bad. 

At best, there was something reassuring, justifying about the very specific kind of befuddlement the girls seemed to be expressing. It made Rachel feel almost as if she wasn’t alone. That she had every right to be paranoid. And while that made her feel slightly better at first, again, it did ultimately mean she HAD TO BE paranoid, after all. “Oh god. Please don’t let me be right.” She winced sheepishly. 

“I mean…” Fran almost laughed. She fought back a smirk. “I told you guys she’d be a great addition to… whatever this is we’re doing here.” She reminded the other two. 

"Seriously...?!" Rachel’s head lowered, her mouth agape. She hoped they would suddenly reveal it was all a prank. Or that they were so irony-poisoned like the friends she knew back in the city, they were going along with her crazy delusion to humor her. She was waiting for that shoe to drop. For them to just bust out laughing. But they just never did. 

“Nailed it.” Marissa finally cracked up.

Apparently, she had gotten it in one.

“More, Miss Holly?” This time, Penny was providing a fresh plate of noodles before Holly had finished what would’ve been her third already.

“Mmmmmm,” Holly moaned, pleased. Her demeanor was completely different now. No longer upset because of work stuff or stupid Rachel’s stupid leapfrogging her. She was happy as a clam, as she scooped the little remaining bit of the last plate onto the fresh one so an arm could take the old plate away. “You know me too well!” She chuckled with a mumbly laugh while filling her mouth with more. It was so good! The sauce was absolutely perfect & the noodles just right! And each bite just seemed to get better! Usually, she wasn’t even that big a fan of fettuccine alfredo. In fact, as a kid, she always absolutely hated the stuff! But her Penny was just way, way too good at this! Everything she made was just… perfection. “If there’s still enough for Rachel, I guess,” Holly punctuated begrudgingly, before lightening again. “Just keep it coming!”

“Oh, trust me,” Penny chimed. “There is certainly plenty to go around. Eat! Eat until your heart’s content.”

“Okay.” Marissa leaned in, wiggling in her seat a little as she did. There wasn’t enough room for it not to also effect Mikayla, who seemed slightly annoyed being butt right up against her. “A few… small points of order to your initial theory though?”

“First off,” Fran jumped in from Rachel’s left. “They play it off like each condo has its own Penny? And like each one is slightly unique? Probably as like... a PR thing. Each being individual gives off a sense of exclusivity, security, privacy?”

“Do they even actually ever say that outright?” Marissa asked more broadly. “Like in any of the brochures or social media selling you on the place. I think everyone just sort of assumes there’s one attached to each unit because it’s supposed to be their personal assistant. And then Penny keeps that act going. For her… I mean its benefit.”

“It seems like there’s only just the one.” Mikayla continued their thoughts more concisely, turning back towards Rachel.

“One? What?” Rachel’s brow lowered inquisitively. “Just the one... Penny?! Running that WHOLE building?!” 

“I know a thing or two about AI.” Mikayla seemed to wobble her head humbly. “And… yes. There’s no “Pennies,” per se. Just “Penny,” Singular. It might seem like a lot, but with enough processing power? It’s certainly not impossible.”

“It seems more than likely,” Fran went on. “Given how she always knows everything going on in the place. WIth everything! And every bit of information going on with each & every one of the residents.” 

Rachel suddenly thought back to that very weird notion of Camille’s Penny giving her dirt from Courtney’s Penny about medication. It seemed so convoluted & dumb. Just one Penny made so much more sense! Why would she have ever assumed otherwise? Of course an AI could compartmentalize & run each unit at the same time, so long as it was advanced enough. But how advanced did that make the damn thing?!

“And do you know HOW they know each & every little thing about all of the residents?” Fran asked while Rachel was still reeling.

“Why do you think I was so worried about the app?” Mikayla nodded towards the door. “Fuckin’ insidious, that thing.”

“Seriously.” Rachel muttered. It made perfect sense. Downloading the app was essentially consenting to wear a wire for an evil robot, exactly like she had suspected. Her reticence immediately felt justified, a thousandfold. 

“And at the absolute very least?” Fran shrugged. “Penny doesn’t seem to bully its way onto your systems if you don’t want it on there. Not without permission.”

“Meaning the thing doesn’t just come at you like any sort of  malware.” Mikayla clarified. “You have to basically accept the TOS first for her to infect your hardware.”

“TO…? Oh! Terms of Service.” Rachel realized, feeling dumb but noticing Mikayla smirk when she caught herself, saving her the hassle of having to spell it out.

“Yeah! Like a vampire, basically!” Marissa was the one to ironically throw out there. 

“That make sense actually.” Rachel realized, looking down before putting her thoughts together & addressing the table. “The bitch confronted me!”

“Confronted you?” Mikayla asked.

“Fucking stopped the elevator while I was alone in it, insisting I download the app! Multiple times in a row. Even went so far as to threaten my sister over it, it seemed like!”

“Not even a week in & it’s pulling that shit on you already?” Fran asked with amazement, seemingly almost proud of her. “Must be furious with you!” She laughed. It wasn’t quite the reaction Rachel was expecting. She was hoping telling them that would’ve garnered some sympathy maybe or a “oh you poor dear” maybe. Not a pat on the back. Fran seemed to make it almost like a badge of honor.

“Penny’s done that to you guys too?” Rachel asked, her shoulders drooping slightly.

“Oh, all the time!” Fran laughed.

“Constantly!” Mikayla pawned off.

“On the reg!” Marissa rushed. “But hey! Only a week? It’s like you’re basically Neo! Or something. That’s not all though! The app?” She turned to the others. “CanI tell her about the app?” The other women didn’t seem too bothered by giving her the honors. “Listening into everything, monitoring heart rates & stuff? All THAT pertinent data?” She seemed keen to elaborate. “That’s not even the worst part of what that FUCKING thing does!” She seemed to overannunciate “fucking” with hard emphasis on the “ing” to get across just that much more disgust.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked, on the edge of her seat. Marissa pursed her lips before scooting again in place, shaking the bench & their whole side of the table

“Girl…” Mikayla huffed, tilting her head down to shoot a nasty look that her seatmate was too excited to notice. But Marissa seemed very nerdily in the zone.

“So… have you ever heard of… infrasound?”

“I… think so?” Rachel tried thinking back. “Like a frequency that human ears can’t pick up but still affects a person, right?” The fact that these women even knew a term like infrasound meant they weren’t anything like Holly or her friends. As sweet as most of them had turned out to be. Fran, Mikayla, & Marissa just all seemed… much more her speed, in a way. And not because they were all as equally paranoid, either! But just like unassuming weirdos. Like her friends back in the city.

“Smart girl.” Mikayla nodded with approval & folded arms, seemingly impressed. Rachel didn’t want to elaborate on having first heard the term in a grizzly online article on some vaguely paranormal website she read once. In a story about campers dying in the wilderness after setting up camp next to a cliff face. Apparently the way their own noises reverberated off the rocks made them get progressively paranoid & more frightened until they all freaked out & ran out into the elements, ditching their clothes, only to basically be found much, much later. Not the best pre-dinner conversation probably. Not that evil robots fattening folks up was much better, frankly. But still! That’s where she first heard the term.

“My brother works over at Pell Labs, just outside Oakmont?” Marissa continued. Rachel nodded, taking her word for it. “They do all sorts of very sensitive testing for things like that. Pretty much anything having to do with sound, really. Very, very sensitive equipment!”

“Okay.” Rachel nodded, to show she was listening, but not knowing exactly where this was all leading.

“So one day, I go to meet him for lunch. Pretty much right after I moved into the Bellflower.” The goth went on. “Basic Bellflower bitch newbie, didn’t know any better! Had the app on my phone & everything, & I can’t figure out while I’m always absolutely starving!” She took a sip of her drink. “So I walk in? And suddenly all their stuff starts beeping, going off like crazy. Here, I’m fucking up all of their super-sensitive research & equipment… calibrations or whatever.”

“Because of the app?” Rachel surmised with slight squint. She took another long, much-needed sip of her soda.

“The long & the short of it,” Mikayla seemed to jump in, as if Marissa wasn’t telling the story fast enough for her liking. “Was that they deduced the app actually puts out some pretty strange infrasonic frequencies. At varying intensities.”

“And if you know anything about infrasound, like you said,” Fran piped up. “It can have some pretty crazy side effects on people. Side effects they might not even be the slightest bit aware of.”

“Like… making them docile?” Rachel asked coyly. Almost as if she was innocently hoping that maybe that was all. Almost as if she didn’t want to come right out & say the immediate implication that struck her.

“Probably.” Mikayla nodded, but then prodded towards that obvious conclusion. “But more importantly? Here?” 

“What…?” Rachel was being slow to admit where it was going. Because Marissa was right. It was almost so insidious she didn’t want to say it out loud. “You mean… fucking with people’s appetites? They can do that? With… sound?!” Like the very same x factor she couldn’t account for in her own initial theories.

“Bingo!” Marissa said with a finger point. Rachel’s mouth was agape. And she suddenly had a billion questions. But the waitress had also, just as suddenly returned, having set down a tray with each of their orders. And the other three  seemed a little too hungry to not have their attention immediately diverted. As plastic red baskets got passed around, Rachel rewound the last few days back in her head. Things began clicking. In fact, frighteningly, it almost made too much sense. The ubiquity of everybody having a phone, & the convenience of having the app on that phone would work as one hell of a trojan horse! Only to then have it basically make you want to freak out & want to start shoveling food in your face? She suddenly remembered the weird game she was playing that time she had first ran into Dawn at the grocery store. Or rather when Dawn almost ran into her. How proximity seemed to matter. How the closer she seemed to get, the hungrier she herself seemed to get. She had blamed Dawn herself. But her phone made a lot more sense! As if the wavelengths that it was very subtly putting out became something like… like… a sonic field of… hunger! This was all sounding too weird!

“Are you sure?! Have you tested that part of it for sure? That’s what it does?!” She asked, still kind of in shock, not realizing that the waitress was still hovering. The teen’s eyes shot wide, more out of reaction to Rachel’s intensity than understanding the context of her ask.

“Thanks,” Fran nodded to the girl, sending her off. “I think we’re good for a bit.”

“How do you really even test for that specifically?” Mikayla asked Rachel softly with a lean in, getting softer for what seemed like the crazier bit while reaching for a fry in the basket at the center of the table. “I mean do you really want to volunteer as a guinea pig for…?”

“Fair point.” Rachel sighed.

“I… I can’t say exactly. All I know is, I deleted the damn thing.” Marissa said, looking impatiently at the basket in front of her. “Got a brand new phone even afterwards. And I haven’t been… well.. AS… hungry. Not like I was back then!” It took both hands to manage even half of the greasy log of meat, cheese, bread, & sauce she had ordered. “This looks so good…” she murmured to herself, struggling to stretch apart the mozzarella they had used between the two cut portions of sandwich.

“Mmmmm.” Mikayla bit into her wrap, though she seemed a bit more distracted by Marissa’s. Rachel, regaining her composure while looking down at her own sub. Twelve inches suddenly seemed smaller than she had realized. Wait, no! It was plenty! That was the infrasound… hold up! 

“But I’m starving right now.” She said, slowly lifting half of her sandwich. “And I never even had the damn app! And our phones are all outside, right?”

“We all still live at the Bellflower.” Fran said with a snicker almost as if she’d covered this ground before. “And you WITH your sister. She’s got the damn thing, right? I mean you took every precaution you could for yourself but others…?”

“So many people in the building have the app buzzing on their stuff.” Mikayla went on. “And not just phones. Tablets, laptops, hell, smart tvs! It’s basically like the whole building resonates with its own low grade hum. Like a tuning fork. And the longer you’re there, the more it seems to affect you over time. At least that’s my theory.”

“Yeah. My brother brought some of his gear out from the lab. Tested my place. Not only my unit, but the halls, the lobby. Hell even the hill outside. Whole place reverberates with that bullshit. And honestly,” Marissa admitted with a sigh. “I think now, for me at least, just because I already got fat. It’s a bit like I can’t help it sometimes.” She was almost forlorn for a split second before immediately chomping her jaws into a huge bite of her massive greasy cheesesteak. “Mmmmmmmm.” Her expression almost immediately turned around. Fran & Mikayla fought off reacting. Both seemed ready to nag her for, & yet also sort of envious of her order.

“And I mean, it’s also just like… dinnertime?” Fran didn’t mind throwing out there, trying to assuage the fears of whomever needed it. Maybe even her own. “You probably would anyway.” At the same time, the plate was sitting there, staring at her. “Fuck.” She bemoaned, caving & snatching a fry from the center of the table. 

“It… it makes sense. It’s just…” Rachel shook her head. She picked up her sandwich, but despite how hungry she really was, almost couldn’t bring herself to take a bite.

“Crazy?” Mikayla asked with a smirk, holding her wrap aloft near her mouth. “Welcome to OUR world.”

“Y-you… should’ve... cut me off s-sooner.” Holly feebly tried to admonish her robot, flapping her hand very weakly. She stared at the tight, but round bulge of fettuccine-filled belly she was now suddenly pinning her to the couch. If only because bending was entirely out of the question for her. “Oh god, I’m… -urp- so full.” She managed, before taking a sip of the wine Penny had painstakingly paired with her meal. She felt like a bomb composed of mostly of cheese sauce, ready to detonate.

“I sincerely hope not, Miss Holly.” Penny said, almost sounding slightly perturbed. “Because who else will enjoy this tiramisu I had hoped to surprise you with?”

“Tira... -hic- ...misu?!” Holly winced. It was both weirdly pained & interested at the same time.

“It was supposed to be in celebration of Rachel’s recent, gainful employment.” Penny tried to explain. “Again, I am not quite sure if it is indeed one of her favorites. Just something I was able to glean from a photo on her Instantgraph profile once a few years ago. But I purposely made enough for two. Since you did after all do most of the work to get her the job.”

“I did... didn’t I?” Holly huffed, struggling to not belch. “I… I think I have… enough room…”

“Positive?” Penny almost playfully poked.

“Yeah, dammit!” Holly seemed to will herself on.

“Delightful!” Penny cooed, with the plate already in transit towards the couch.

“It IS insidious.” Rachel agreed, taking a forcibly modest bite of her own sandwich. It didn’t taste that great. The bread was soggy. The dressing wasn’t quite right. And there was hardly enough meat on it. But she was still just so hungry, it still somehow managed to hit the spot. “I mean, I’ve only been here for like 5 days & I already feel like I’ve gained ten pounds!” Rachel said, with the fingers of her free hand stretched across her own tummy. At first, she felt she might’ve been a little hyperbolic, but she noticed one of her buttons just under her bust had pulled undone, putting her sandwich down to frantically redo it. Fuck, how long had it been…?

“Yeah, I didn’t want to say anything...” Fran said as a bit of an aside, taking a bite of her wrap. The bacon had a crunch to it. Rachel’s eyes widened when she realized Fran wasn’t being playful or catty about it either. She was actually being much more matter of fact. Sincere.

“Wait… seriously?!” She panicked at the notion that what had maybe been a halfway disingenuous embellishment to try & endear herself to these girls was in fact maybe an objective reality she wasn't fully aware of. Was she blind to it? Like Holly? No! She remembered her shirt not fitting right! But wait, ten pounds worth?!

“I mean...” Fran realized what she blurted probably seemed mean & rushed to correct herself. “Trust me! It’s through no fault of your own! You came into this situation & it is literally like, engineered for that exact purpose!” But the damage was already done, & Rachel couldn’t help but look down at the tight buttons of her gingham button up. That “ten pounds” was going to weigh even heavier on her mind now. And the feeble “Besides, it looks good on you!” Fran added didn’t seem to have the benefit it was intended to have.

“It’d probably be a little worse without your whole “be mindful” advice.” Rachel feebly tried to recover. Or at least seem like she wasn’t crestfallen. Or distracted.

“Mmmm. Ten pounds is nothing! So far, you’ve gotten off so light!” Marissa seemed slightly envious, even though Rachel was ready to argue it may have just been only seven or eight. She was rounding up. Hyperbole! “I turned into a real marshmallow. From the minute I first moved in! Before I caught Fran in the elevator one day. I mean maybe I wasn’t necessarily skinny to start off with, but I definitely wasn’t the chunkster I am now! So glad she got me straightened out before… well…” Everyone at the table kind of had an idea of where that sentence was trailing off towards. For Rachel, visions of Courtney & now, her new supervisor Dawn flashed in her head.

“Fran here saved my ass too.” Mikayla nodded appreciatively, tipping her wrap. “Before things got WAY out of hand.” Her eyes shot wide on “way.” 

“She’s seen.” Fran nodded, before looking to Rachel. “Some of your sister’s friends, right? The one seems to be getting pretty...”

“Courtney…?” Rachel asked. Seeing as Fran lived just down the hall from Deidre, it didn’t seem implausible for her to know. But what? Was she like spying on them? Through her door’s peephole?

“I don’t know names.” Fran crunched the bacon of her wrap. “I just see them come by every couple weeks since the one’s just down the hall. The big one was coming in as I was leaving for my jog the other night. Seemed to move pretty good, considering. But I mean, poor thing’s only going to keep getting bigger.”

“Yeah, Courtney’s the… heavier one.” Rachel reluctantly nodded. “My sister, Holly? She swears she was like this really sweet girl. And I’ve seen glimmers of that. Today even. But that night? All she did was sit there, not even talking to anybody, just… putting it away! Oh god, they bought sooo many pastries that night.”

“Mmhmm.” Mikayla nodded. “That’s what happens. The further they get along. All they seem to care about is food!” Rachel clocked the detachment to the “they” in Mikayla’s statement. “It’s almost as if the ones that don’t pay attention? They just keep eating & eating.”

“Mmmm,” Fran waved her wrap to acknowledge, “And the thing about little get-togethers like that? Or if they work together, in an office? You have to realize too, they all don’t know what’s happening. But they’re all in a room together, all of their phones are kicking out these tones at once…” Rachel winced.

“So you’re saying it like… kicks out a feedback loop of…”

“Pure, unadulterated hunger.” Fran nodded. “Courtney, if that’s her name, was probably getting lit up & pingged from all angles. Poor girl probably couldn’t help herself!”

“Is there… something… anything... we could…possibly…?” Rachel fumbled, as she already kind of knew the answer but for her own conscience, figured it better to ask.

“What? “Do for her?” Honestly? Sounds like she’s too far gone.” Mikayla surmised, pretty directly. “If she’s already as big as Fran’s letting on, & as focused on food like you’re saying? She’s probably way past the point of helping. You have to realize, she’s been practically conditioned into being an eating machine. There’s probably not much anyone can tell her in hopes of getting her to stop. Especially not with an AI running interference.”

“I hate to say it,” Fran sighed. “But she’ll probably keep going for a little. It’ll probably only get worse & worse until she gets to the point where she really does have trouble getting around.”

“Even leaving her apartment.” Marissa said, staring into the middle distance while taking another large bite of her mess of a sandwich. “Mmm,” Her indistinct gaze broke when she fumbled to lick some sauce off her lip. “And that's no exaggeration."

“Then what…?” Rachel gulped. Seeing Courtney, or Dawn, it all seemed a little too plausible. But it still somehow seemed a little difficult to ask.

“Well she certainly won’t slow down. None of them do. That’s for sure!” Mikayla sipped a sip of her club soda. “Couple months ago, the lady across the hall from me? Seemed perfectly nice. But like… completely oblivious. She ballooned like crazy. Real fast too. She got to the point where, I’d see her. She started getting stuck in her doorway!  So then when leaving started becoming a problem, it seemed like she started working from home, getting her groceries delivered. So I started…” She froze for a second. “Fuck it! I’ll say it. I was snooping. Watching her. Seeing if she ever left. Wondering if she even could at that point anymore! April 4th, last day she got a delivery. Four extra large pizzas. With five, family orders of knots."

"More knots than pizza really." Fran interjected, seemingly partially offended, as an Italian, partially trying not to be too into the idea of anything beyond her BLT at that moment.

"I watched her door like a hawk." Mikayla continued, trying to stave off the same temptation herself. "Nothing. Gave her door a knock a couple days later, worrying, you know? Like I thought this girl had a heart attack or something!”

“And…?” Rachel asked suspensefully. 

“No answer. Tried to call the police, but I think my Penny spoofed the call."

"What?!" Rachel asked, confused.

"Like it made a fake operator voice & made it seem like police, when really, the call never even left Mikayla's apartment." Fran tried to explain, robbing another few fries from the table, this time by the handful.

"I know. I mean, I get what spoofing means, but...  like... it can do that?" Rachel asked, trying to ignore the shiver going down her spine. They didn’t seem too worried about the shit Penny seemed to pull with her in the elevator, but at the same time, showing the machine was capable of something like this seemed to merit at least SOME concern.

“All I know is I thought I left a report.” Mikayla explained. “But the next day, I went to the precinct? Officer I left the report with? Nobody there by that name. So I’m thinking it had to be Penny, fucking with me.”

“Intercepted the call & just pretended like she was the police!” Marissa shook her head. “It! Sorry. It pretended it was the police.”

“Anyway, the police never came when I called. And when they did go back with me, the apartment was completely empty. No trace anyone even lived there. By the 14th, the unit was on the market. Door open! I could go & look for myself. And like, that girl? Nowhere! And I definitely would've heard them carting her ass out. But no. She just seemed to… I don’t even know. Evaporate? Like, she straight up disappeared!" Mikayla finished, taking a long slurp from her soda.

“And you didn’t hear her leave? That whole time?!” Rachel seemed baffled.

“I mean I wasn’t personally watching her door night & day, but I did rig up a pinhole camera. And nothing!” She said, her yellow curls bobbing with her headshake. “And to be honest, given the trouble she was having getting through that door? I was thinking they might have to take the wall out to get at her!” She leaned back, feigned nonchalant. “Nah! Nothing of the sort.” She folded her arms again. “She just… wasn’t there any more.”

“How…?” Rachel seemed confused. “Didn’t her family…?”

“Don’t know if she had any.” Mikayla admitted. “But no one seemed the least bit worried about her. If you ask me, I think Penny hops on their social media. Keeps posting. Keeps suspicious folks from suspecting anything & people stay off its tail.”

“Fuck!” Rachel trailed, slowly sitting back.

“Eee-Yeah.” Marissa nodded in 100% agreement.

Okay, but… like... why though?" Rachel asked, leaning back in. “I mean, why even do this to people in the first place?! What’s the motivation? For fattening people up the way it does! As much as it does! And then disappearing them…?” She watched Mikayla & Marissa’s eyes meet, kind of confused. They suddenly seemed a lot less authoritative. Then Fran sighed in such a way, demonstrating she wasn't that satisfied with the response she was about to give.

"That's the part we've been trying to parse." She shrugged emphatically. “Why indeed?”

“You guys haven’t…?”

“No.” Fran responded with dismay. “Guesses, but none good. Or based in any sort of evidence.”

“And definitely not for lack of trying.” Mikayla said before shuffling another massive bite of her wrap into her mouth.

“But it’s so… weird…! And senseless. Right?!” Fran continued. “They treat people like… like… livestock! And… WHY?! It… it fucking drives me INSANE! Why INDEED?”

“Honestly,” Mikayla took a big gulp. “I’ve kind of gotten to the point where I stopped caring what the motivation is. It’s just apparent that it’s definitely happening & I’d like to put an end to it. Glad we could catch you in time, though it seems like you were doing pretty alright without us.”

“Thanks but… my sister…” Rachel looked down apprehensively. “Holly… I tried telling her she looked like she had… put on some weight. But she… she just seems in SOOO deep. She’s almost like… a mostly different person than she was before. Like she’s still happy-go-lucky. Really extroverted.” She said blinking & shaking her head, almost disapprovingly, but almost laughing. Like she hated yet accepted it about her. “But she used to be so… active. Like she was…”

“An athlete?” Fran almost chuckled. “Bellflower seems to love them! But also, you coming to stay with her? That’s why I asked you about the “homeowners’ association the other night.”

“Yeah what was that about?” Rachel wondered while shifting her weight & taking another bite.

“It’s… it’s who’s ever really pulling the strings.” Fran frustratedly huffed. “We’ve tried to do some digging. Tried to explore some leads, but… nothing! Nada!” She stopped to take another bite of her wrap. Rachel plopped her notebook on the table.

“Oh here we go.” Marissa seemed to giggle with a mouth full of pizza cheesesteak. With a few errant fries shoved in for good measure.

“It’s so weird,” smirked Rachel, wiping some dressing off her fingers to keep the oil from staining the pages. “Here I thought I was coming in here having to convince you guys! I did all this digging, had all these notes I took…”

“Well... like what…?” Marissa’s head tilted almost at a 90 degree angle, like she was trying to read it from the opposite side.

“Like trying to find who actually owns the place.” Rachel started. “Bellflower Acquisitions? GOF Futures? Those names mean anything to you guys?”

“Been there.” Marissa giggled.

“Yeah, done that.” Fran continued.

“Philo Bell?” Mikayla even managed to preemptively jump on. “Yeah. Been down that rabbit hole. Not much to extract from any of that beyond probably what you saw.”

“Oh…” Rachel drooped before casting a hail mary. “Hailington…?”“Hmmm.” Mikayla seemed amused.

“I’d say the vast majority of the building works at the nearby office.” Marissa acknowledged. “We haven’t ruled them out, to be sure, but we can’t find any connection beyond that though either, really.” Fran jumped back in finishing her thought.

“I asked about the Homeowners’ Association though because your whole situation, them letting you come stay with her? A relative coming in? Actually being able to notice a resident’s change? You drawing attention to how much your sister might’ve plumped up? That’s something “they” usually seem to avoid. I mean… unless there’s some sort of ulterior motive. In which case…” Rachel wanted to hear where that thought trailed but Marissa cut her off.

“Yeah! I don’t mean to sound shitty, but…” She seemed to huff, biting into another fry. “If your sister’s in deep? You should really worry about you!”

“No,” Fran disagreed with a scowl, turning back to Rachel, trying to be a little more comforting. “Keep at her. It might work!” She said optimistically. “But then again, it might not. But at least you’ll know you tried!” She took a deep breath. “But to Marissa’s larger point, you do have to remember to look out for you too in all this.”

“No,” Rachel tried to assure them feebly. “I know.” But that got her thinking. Maybe it was her own paranoia cropping back up but she suddenly became a little skeptical of the three of them. “Hey though. If you guys all know this same horrendously terrible stuff, realize how risky the place is… why are you all still…?”

“There?” Fran laughed.

“You’re not the first to ask.” Mikayla laughed along with.

“You’re not the first person we “caught” before it got too late.” Marissa smirked.

“What they mean is, we’ve invited others to these… meet-ups before.” Fran explained, nibbling another fry. The table’s plate was looking a little sparse, & seemingly Fran was the number one culprit. “And while most times, they just think we’re clinically insane, there have been a few other instances where people asked the same thing. And instead of dealing with this kind of bullshit, they typically just… got the fuck outta Dodge!”

“Honestly, I would’ve too, if I didn’t have my mortgage hovering over my head like the goddamn sword of Damocles.” Mikayla went on to explain. 

“Kind of the same, honestly.” Marissa sighed, before taking the final bite of her sandwich. “I mean I paid good money for my place, dammit!” She then proceeded to lick the excess pizza sauce from her fingers. “But I also just love a good conspiracy!” she tried to speak through the mouthful. Rachel looked over to Fran. But before she could speak, Mikayla piped up for her.

“And she’s just stubborn as FUCK!”

“True.” Fran didn’t protest. But she did get a little animated. More than she had been all night. “I mean yeah! Fuck it! I bought the place! It’s mine! They don’t get to fuck with me like this! Besides, at the very least, sticking around? I can help folks like you look out for this… this… bullshit!” She told Rachel. “Although, given the situation with your sister, you’re probably…?”

“Yeah, stuck there for now. At least for a little bit.” But she remembered the earlier half of her day & perked up a little. “But I do start a new job soon though!” She was reluctant to once again name drop Hailington. Both because of the conspiracy AND the… you know… war crimes. “And once I get some money coming in, hopefully I can get Holly to listen. Come with!” Rachel said optimistically. “Sell her place!”

“To some other poor soul to get tricked into this whole scam…?”

“Oh god.” Rachel realized, facepalming at her own stupidity. “No. You’re right! I didn’t mean… I just…”

“No! I get it!” Mikayla laughed, as if she was just fucking with her. “Just… another problem with me trying to get out from under this place! I don’t want something like that on my conscience. Would rather bring down the whole thing!” She nodded. “What else have you got in there?” Mikayla peered down her nose at Rachel’s fancy, unpronounceably Dutch or German-named, way too expensive, red notebook. Rachel started leafing through.

“Oh. I have other stuff too. Like the timeline of my sister & her friend’s gains?” Rachel said, looking at the notes she took after finding that New Years’ Eve photo. “Like I found this photo? I’d show it to you if I could but… no phone. But they all seemed to like double in size in like… the span of six months…?” Fran & Mikayla looked at each other with a nod.

“Yeah, that sounds pretty on par.” Fran sighed, as if it was unfortunate.

“Things ramp up,” Mikayla nodded. “It’s almost exponential. The bigger ones would gain more in the shorter span of time.”

“Yeah!” Rachel said, looking at a note she put next to what she jotted down about Courtney. She pointed it out to her, showing she had the very same thought. She was scanning for more but felt bad not really having much else in the way of what felt like pertinent stuff to offer. “Penny confronting me in the elevator. The automated grocery deliveries. Oh & I’m sure you guys know about the thirteenth floor, right?”

“Thirteenth floor?” Fran asked, puzzled. Rachel scanned across the table at the other two who seemed equally confused.

“None of you ever…” Rachel realized what she was asking amongst these heftier ladies but was a little too far along to stop. “... took the stairs?” The sideways glances & eye rolls were pretty much what she expected. “Literally right after we introduced ourselves to one another,” Rachel told Fran. “Friday night? I took the stairs from your floor up to Holly’s. And there was like… an actual floor there. Like right between twelve & fourteen. The way there should’ve been. There was no door & it wasn’t marked but it’s like… THERE!”

“Get the fuck out!” Marissa gasped. 

“No.” Mikayla shook her head, but it seemed more denial than fact based. “Seriously?! I gotta go home & look!”

“That’s… that’s fucking…” Fran seemed dumbfounded. Words weren’t coming to her. “How did I never even bother to like… count?!” She turned to the other two. “If she’s right… that’s gotta be something! Hidden right in front of us! In plain fucking sight!”

“The fuckin’ gall!” Mikayla was angry.

“Again though!” Rachel felt like she needed to stress. There’s no like… door or anything. I don’t know what’s there or even how you’d go about getting to it! But there’s definitely… like… a floor’s worth of space!”

“We… we gotta go look.” Mikayla shook her head. “You’re blowing my mind!”

“Miss Holly, are you alright?” Penny’s tone was a bit sheepish.

“Unnnnnnngh.” the plump blonde’s tight, round belly was now suddenly a lot tighter. And rounder. She was so impossibly stuffed she could hardly think straight, let alone move. “Penny… I… -urp-” was all she could manage.

“Aww, Miss Holly.” the machine cooed sympathetically before vaguely taunting. “It looks like you overdid it.”

“Looks... like…” she strained, unclear if she was questioning or mocking sarcastically.

“I, at least, hope that you did enjoy it though,” Penny chirped. “Even in Miss Rachel’s absence.”

“You… -hic- kidding me…?” Holly managed. “SoooOooo… -urp-... good.” And honestly, no Rachel meant she could let herself go a little overboard without feeling too bad… well, self-conscious about it anyway. But that idea was too complex to express at the moment, given her current capacity.

Speaking of capacities, she had seemed to have graduated from simply sporting a food baby to food babies. Twinsies, given just how much her tummy was sticking out in front of her. She tried to avoid grappling with the idea of how much she was going to regret overdoing it. Again. Instead, she tried focusing more on just how worth it it all was going down. Fuck, Penny was such an amazing chef. How did she even eat prior to moving here?! She very tenderly rubbed her hands over the bulge, but it was so sensitive, she couldn’t help but wince at first.

“How about we get you to bed, Miss Holly?” Penny suggested. “You have had a long, jampacked day.”

“I… no…” she protested. “I can’t…”

“It is fine, Miss Holly.” Penny tried to reassure. Two mechanical arms swiveled down from above her, pinching for her hands. “This way you will not have to bend as much.”

“I’ll… I’ll… pop.... Or puke!” She winced, trying to bat them away feebly. “I’m jus’ too… -urp- full!”

“If you insist, Miss Holly.” Penny sighed, using the arms instead to clear her dishes, while Holly slouched deeper & cradled her bulging gut.

"Hey, speaking of mindblowing though. You want to tell her your galaxy brain theory?" Marissa slipped as an aside to Mikayla.

"What's that?" Rachel seemed interested.

“Literally, galaxy brained!” Marissa chortled squeakily.

"It's..." Mikayla tried to wave off. She clearly didn’t want to get into it. 

“Full disclosure,” Fran told Mikayla. “We should maybe lay it all out there for her, so we’re all on the same page here. Even if it does sound fucking nuts.” Rachel was already too invested.

"Look, I thought I was going completely nuts over all this. Nothing you tell me's going to shock me." She tried to assure her.

“Fine.” Mikayla caved. "Don't think any less of me, but I’m one of the ones that works over at Hailington." She admitted almost woefully. "AI development."

"Oh!" Rachel perked. Almost as if it gave her cover to fess up too. "I just... I just landed a gig there. Temporary. In their copywriting department."

"I'd say congrats,” Mikayla twisted the side of her mouth into a smirk. “But some of the stuff they're up to?"

"Is it really that bad?" Rachel was now second-guessing, popping one of her chips into her mouth.

"Well... the pay's good at least." Mikayla laughed worriedly, not helping Rachel feel any better. “I… I know AI though. I mean… that’s what I do! Neural networks. Deep learning.”

“Okay,” Rachel prodded along.

“We kept looking for who’s doing this. Who’s running this whole operation. Who’s putting Penny up to this.” She continued.

“And…?” Rachel spurred on.

“And I started wondering after like the third or fourth dead end… what if there wasn’t?” She froze. Rachel gesticulated.

“What does that mean?” Mikayla sighed, almost not wanting to 

“I mean, like, what if no one’s putting Penny up to this. What if… it’s just… Penny…?”

"As if you didn't trust the bitch already!" Fran rejoindered.

"Wait... so like... you're saying...?" Rachel’s eyes went wide.

"She... It's behind all of this." Marissa caught herself.

“Penny?” Rachel asked. “The AI built the building, runs its day to day? Is this “Homeowner’s association” or whatever? And is obsessed with making everyone who lives there very, very fat?”

“Tried telling you it was… out there.” Mikayla scoffed. “But it’s not impossible to think that the thing set up these subsidiaries, had the building constructed & then just moved in & set up shop. After that, there’s a certain… Occam’s razor quality to it, you know?”

“But it still doesn’t answer like… why though! Or to what end?” Rachel was skeptical but not entirely dissuaded.

“For sure!” Mikayla acknowledged. “I was just… trying to find some sort of rationale as to why we’re not able to find any relevant information the higher things get. Maybe the machine’s… it!”

“I gotta tell ya,” Fran started. “It’s… yeah… out there! But I’m not fully writing it off either, honestly. Some of the shit I’ve seen.”

“But that makes her even more… threatening, don’t you think?” Rachel winced.

“Definitely!” Marissa agreed. “But at the same time, you know… like Asimov! I don’t think she can kill you. Just… my guess is whatever she’s doing, she almost sees it as… I don’t know. Helping?”

“It’s definitely not helping.” Fran almost growled, adjusting her bulk uncomfortably in her seat. Mikayla regained her train of thought.

"The only thing that keeps me from entirely buying that theory in whole is working in the field of AI myself. I mean, I know where the technology's at. And we're just nowhere near that! Not yet.” She contended. “But even that's kind of… flimsy as an excuse in some ways.”

“Flimsy? Flimsy how?” Rachel squinted. But it went unanswered.

“How’s everything going?” The waitress interrupted. She seemingly came out of nowhere, scaring the table. 

“Uh-uh! Great. Um… I don’t think we need boxes…?” Fran looked around the table. Rachel was about to say she did, having originally intending to bring half with her. But she realized that she had been so enraptured in the conspiracy talk, she hadn’t even realized she was down to her last few bites of that very remaining half. Fuck! She ate the whole thing? At least the others seemed to polish off most of the fries. But still!

In fact, Rachel hadn’t really even been paying attention at all. All of the sandwiches were eaten, the fries for the table, completely picked over, & the drinks empty. Even Marissa’s ridiculously messy meal was mostly gone. In fact, for all their talk of trying to stay healthy, she was the slowpoke, with the last bite of her sandwich & a few remaining chips in her basket. 

The waitress didn’t split the order the way she had been instructed originally. Meaning it took some reconfiguring to find out who owed what. Rachel was just sure her’s came to roughly about fourteen plus tip, as she really didn’t have THAT much more to be spending until she had money coming in. After settling up, Rachel exchanged contact info with Mikayla & Marissa, using her notebook, given their phones were still outside. Fran then laid down the law about what was & wasn’t cool to say. Not only for Rachel’s benefit, but apparently because Marissa had needed something of a refresher as well, according to Mikayla. And then the girls went their separate ways back towards the building of which they were all extremely suspect.

The direct route, instead of transferring between three separate bus lines, made the trip back to Oakmont a heck of a lot shorter. Roughly ten minutes even, given the interstate’s light traffic this late in the evening. Shorter given the way Fran seemed to fly. She had her music going, & while not necessarily Rachel’s thing, not terrible either. She seemed pretty cool. But then again, the music meant something of a dearth in overall conversation. Rachel spent a portion of the ride either bobbing her head to the beat, or putting her new friends’ contact info into her phone. 

“Overall? That went real well.” Fran said in hushed tones as she & Rachel entered the elevator together, keeping it very vague. “They seem to like you. And it’s good to have somebody else onboard.” She looked up with a genuine smile. “Four heads are better than three. Especially given how much you were piecing together on your own.”

“Yeah. But… I just… I feel so… coming back here…?”

“Trust me!” Fran almost seemed to cut her off without trying to be rude. “I get that!” She looked at the digital floor read out, letting several floors pass quietly. Which was a while, given how slow the elevator was. “You know, just try to keep your wits about you. I know people throw “mindful” around a lot as a buzzword these days. Especially in icky corporate ways. But I mean it!” She insisted. “Pay attention to things that just don't seem right. For you AND your sister. And all I ask is that you keep this thing,” refering to the meet-up & theory sharing sessions with the other girls, “on the down low. But at the same time... let us know if you do notice anything."

“Obviously.” Rachel nodded as the door dinged to let Fran out. “Have a good one! Thanks for the ride”

“You too! Don’t mention it.” Fran waved back. The door started to close when suddenly Rachel remembered. She bolted to grab the door.

“Hey!”

“Well ain’t that a bitch!” Mikayla stared at the portion of wall a door should’ve been.

“I mean, I pulled over before entering the garage & literally counted.” Marissa said, also astonished. The two were already there, between the floor painted with the giant “12” & the one above with the giant “14.”

“You guys too?” Fran laughed as she heaved herself up the last few steps, trying to not make it seem like a big deal.

“Like I said though… I’m sorry I can’t offer more.” Rachel said mousily. “It just stuck out at me…”

“No, no!” Mikayla laughed, waving behind herself as she inspected it. “This is… this is really nuts.” 

“We honestly, didn’t have much in the way of a new lead in like... forever.” Fran seemed slow to admit, running her hand along the span of wall. She even gave it a bit of a wrap. “But this was here this whole fuckin’ time. Right in front of us!”

“Our fat asses were just too lazy to ever take the stairs!” Marissa delighted.

“Hey, I kept threatening to…” Fran huffed. “Just… never got around to it.”

“Uh-huh.” Mikayla seemed to laugh. 

“Look, you’re all amazing! Thanks for… trusting me with all this!” Rachel said, taking a step up the next flight. “But after… well… finding out that new stuff…? I want to go check in on...”

“Oh! Of course!” Fran nodded. “Your sister. Yeah.”

“Thanks again for the ride!” Rachel nodded back. “For real this time.”

“Of course!” Fran turned to laugh & gesticulate towards the seemingly blank wall. “Thanks for…” “Yeah, by all means, check on her.” Mikayla snickered with a wave. “We’ll probably be here for an hour, banging at this, seein’ if we can find a way in. We’ll be in touch!”

“Bye.” Marissa waved with a pleasant smile.

“Good luck!” Rachel waved, dashing up the next flight. 

"Holly?" Rachel asked softly as she opened the door. It wasn’t that late, but her volume was measured, just in case.

"Ah Miss Rachel. Miss Holly is sound asleep on the couch." Penny projected with a lower volume. It wasn’t much, but knowing just that little bit more? Hearing Penny’s voice terrified Rachel now. But she tried to play it cool. Tried to not let the shivers down her spine seem too apparent. Sure enough, Holly was passed out alright. Half undressed, her face a mess, & her stomach poking upwards like a round hill. 

“She must’ve stuffed herself silly,” Rachel sighed as Holly kind of let out a snort. She seemed to retreat deeper into a dream. It could've been way worse, but it certainly wasn't good. And it reinforced a lot of Rachel's fears. “What did you make her eat?” Rachel worded intentionally towards the robot.

“For dinner, she enjoyed a sumptuous fettuccine alfredo as well as a tiramisu for dessert.” Penny, albeit softly, seemed pleased to announce. “While I am afraid your sister did happen to have the lion’s share, as it were, there still are a few left overs if you’re intere…”

“Fuck no thank you.” Rachel cut the machine off, scanning the area around Holly. No pockets. “Where’s her phone?”

“Her purse I believe. Why?” Penny asked, but Rachel had already marched over to the table to start rooting through. When she found it, she went about trying & unlock it. She would never have been this forward if it wasn’t some kind of an emergency. But then again too, couldn’t figure out the pin. Fuck. She waved it close to her head. She didn’t necessarily hear anything. In fact, it kind of blocked off the general room ambience the closer she brought it to her ear. But she did notice that the satiated feeling she had gotten from her sandwich seemed to rapidly fade. And that leftovers were starting to sound like a good idea. Hell, it might’ve simply been psychosomatic. Maybe after hearing them talk about shit, she was ramping herself up to think it did this when it really didn’t. Either way, she didn’t want to take any chances. She marched over to the kitchen, opening the refrigerator.

“Something I can fix you?” Penny chimed. But it went ignored. Instead, Rachel turned Holly’s phone off, & chucked it into the back of the top shelf.

“I… um… believe Miss Holly relies on that for her morning wake up call.” Penny warned. “You do not want her to be late for her job, do you? After all she has done to give you the same?”

“Well luckily, she has you to give her a shout, right?” Rachel nudged facetiously. “And when she’s looking for her phone, you can easily tell her where to find it.” 

“Miss Rachel, I am a bit confused by this behavior you are exhibiting. Is there, perhaps, something you wish to share.” Penny asked, restrained. Rachel realized she was watching what she said in case Holly was to suddenly wake up.

“No. Nothing beyond a simple “go fuck yourself” maybe.” Rachel said proudly, marching back towards her sister.

“Tsk. Miss Rachel. Penny tutted simply before shutting up. 

“Holly?” She shook gently, careful not to poke at her swollen gut. It just looked uncomfortable. “Hey, can I help you into bed?”“Huh?” Holly blinked in the unit’s dim light. “Wha…?”

“Here, I wanna help you to your room.” Rachel said delicately. “Let me help you up.”

“Nuh,” The half awake older sister slurred. “Effffuhin Depar’n’t ted… bech.”

“Okay!” Rachel tried to heave her up onto her feet as gently as possible but it was tough, given how heavy she was.

“Oh-ooooooh.” The girl cooed. As she reached her feet, the contents of her belly seemed to settle, causing her to wince.

“Come on,” Rachel instructed softly, helping usher her along. “Let’s tuck you in for then night. Get you comfortable.”

“K…” Holly clicked. “Silll hayyewtho.”

“I’m sure.” Rachel agreed, not entirely sure what her sister was even trying to say.

With Holly situated, Rachel returned to the couch. She unbuttoned the snug buttons of her gingham top, winged off the sleeve & shimmied out of her skirt before wiggling into a black tanktop & flannel pajama bottoms instead. Laying back, there was a ton on her mind. And fuck, she was still feeling hungry now. Would her headphones help? Probably not much, but fuck it, she was willing to try! It took a second to  dig them out of her bag, & cranking the volume. It helped, but maybe not as much as she would’ve hoped ultimately. 

She also took out her fancy little red notebook, clicked her pen & started writing every new detail she had learned that evening.