Chapter 2 - Something Strange

"See you later Pearl!" Opal called back as she ran off.

Pearl waved goodbye, she wasn't fond of calling or shouting goodbye to people anymore, not since… Pearl bit her lip as she watched the taller girl run up the street, she looked as if she was running for her life and never looked back. But Pearl knew that was just her imagination, Opal was a rather athletic person and she had obviously forgotten something.

Pearl turned back into the house and closed the door behind her. The silence was overwhelming, she thought that it was strange that she could not hear the sea that well, despite being right next to it. At least she had a nice view. The dancer glanced once more around the room, Opal had helped her pack a few things into shelves or cabinets, as well as place some mementos around the house.

Opal was a good friend, forgetful and rather blunt, but she was so concerned for Pearl during her most difficult times. Pearl couldn't help but smile when Opal offered to stay the night despite her initial panic at forgetting about 'something important'. Pearl glanced at the clock, '8:30' not even close to when Pearl usually goes to bed. It was at a time like this that something happened that she dreaded…

She was bored.

Pearl hated being bored, because when she is, she thinks about 'her'. Not wanting to sink further into her depression, Pearl took a flashlight and approached the panel.

"haunted…" Pearl chuckled, she was going to open the hatch at some point, why not now? as she was about to pry open the panel when she heard a sound from the bathroom. It sounded like a scream or a high-pitched whistle, it would then slowly diminuendo into a low sound as loud as a fog-horn. The house seemed to rattle violently, she could hear the creaking of wood and cracking of glass. When it finally stopped she glanced round to find nothing unusual with the house. Slightly scared but incredibly curious. Pearl pried off her hands from her ears and approached the bathroom, opening the door.

There was nothing there, it was empty. Only the light sound of dripping water was heard. Pearl tried flicking the light switch but found there to be no power what-so-ever and Pearl gasped at how cold it was, like ice-cold water in the sea. When she stumbled out the bathroom, Pearl gasped at the sudden darkness of the mentioned power outage by Opal. Not thinking too much about it, she navigated around with her only light source in her hands.

As she approached the basement entrance again with some hopes of finding a power-box, the lights came on and Pearl could see again. She shuddered and looked at the clock with some strange compulsion. '10:00'. Pearl froze, "what? how?" she looked outside to confirm her suspicions, the sun had already set and night has fallen. Pearl was utterly confused only a few minutes went by surely, but it's not like she never suffered this before.

After all, when she thought about 'her' she could go into a trance-like state, staring at nothing and would snap out hours later. Rationalising her thoughts, Pearl decided she had too much excitement for one day and concluded that she needed rest. She turned off the lights and went up the stairs, closing the curtain behind her. Pearl watched the moon and sea from her window, it was calming and despite the earlier drama she felt like she could relax and fall asleep anytime.

She heard a buzzing and reached to check her phone. Unlocking it she discovered several messages from the others and began reading them. She started with the oldest from Garnet, who was always to the point with her texts, and began reading the more important messages.

"Hope you're okay-"

How very generic, Pearl had lost count the amount of times people had sent her such messages and promptly skipped to something a little more recent.

"We're fine, Amethyst is still being herself, she's worried about you."

Pearl scoffed at that, Amethyst liked to act like she doesn't care…

"Moving is exhausting, we are here to help."

'like usual' Pearl sighs and skips ahead slightly,

"We won't make it tomorrow, will make it for Saturday."

Pearl sighed, she quickly checked the calendar and seen that today is Wednesday, or was Wednesday… She focuses back on her messages and decides to read through some other contacts she had, she flinched when she seen Rose's name. Despite all these years, she could never let go of Rose. Pearl hovered over the delete button, but no matter how much deep breathing or logical thinking she done, Pearl just moved on… Leaving 'her' there.

Slender fingers found their way to Amethysts texts, she groaned as she began reading.

"Yo P! hope ur not homesick already!"

'That arrogant little!-' Pearl huffed as she moved on, she would forgive her for now.

"Ur rooms trashed now, room for me!" Pearl frowned even more, and huffed in irritation, skipping more texts of mockery from Amethyst. Then she skipped a few more... Found a message that was meant for someone else... Then she skipped a few more again... 'Seriously?' Pearl thought as she continued scrolling through the never ending supply of texts. The dancer yawned and looked at the time, she had somehow managed to spend two hours sorting her collection of messages and fighting against every compulsion in deleting Amethyst as a contact.

She placed her phone down on the bedside table and stood to get dressed. As she turned her back, she heard her phone buzzing and soon a faint, melodic tune followed. 'Who could be calling me so late in the night?' Pearl wondered as she reached for her phone, as soon as she touched the screen the buzzing stopped. She never even got a notification that someone called her. Pearl brushed it off and put the phone back down, just as her fingers left the edges of the device it began ringing again.

Hoping to answer this time she lunged at the phone, yet once again it had stopped. Pearl decided to play it smart this time and turned the screen on facing up, she was going to catch them this time… As she placed down the phone and took a few steps back, she eyed the phone. Once again the phone lit up and began to ring, Pearl looked at the screen before answering and found the one and only Amethyst. She quickly answered the phone and brought it to her ear.

"Very funny Amethyst…" Pearl said lowly, This had to be some sort of prank by the younger girl, she never knew how she timed it so well, but she was far to stressed and irritated to consider any other explanation.

"What? what did I do now?!" She could hear her on the other end,

"You called me twice! and then disconnected as soon as I touched the phone!" Pearl replied angrily.

"Look, I never called you!" Amethyst snapped back, Pearl huffed in distain, "I wanted to call and see if you where okay!"

"And calling at midnight was an acceptable time?" Pearl began to walk back and forth in her room.

"I know you never sleep Pearl!" Amethyst answered to that, her voice gradually getting louder and she began to huff, "look, you can just go ahead and blame your problems on everyone like you always do! Sorry for caring! See ya!"

She hung up.

Still highly irritated, Pearl dropped her phone onto her bed and finally got dressed. As she lay down, the phone went off again, quick fingers answered and brought the phone back to her ear.

"Amethyst I don't want to talk right now!" Pearl was met with wheezing and coughing, "T-this isn't funny…" Pearl went slightly pale, it doesn't sound like it was faked.

"H-help…" The voice said on the other end of the phone before it was met with more coughing and then finally disconnected. If Pearl wasn't freaked out before, she definitely was now. Whoever was on the other end of the phone, it wasn't Amethyst that's for sure. But what if it was just some prank? she did get prank calls like most other people…

This couldn't have been real.

Pearl checked her phone to find at least the number of whoever called her, she was disappointed when nothing came up. With new found determination, Pearl pulled up her Laptop and connected her phone to it. She knew that what she was doing wasn't completely legal as she sieved through recent contacts and through some careful alterations to the coding, she quickly found the number of the caller in distress… She would have to thank Garnet that she even allowed Pearl to have such a program on her laptop and making sure she wasn't caught tracking people down for the police force.

Pearl took note of the number and safely began restoring the coding, it was simple and quick. As Pearl held her phone once again, she tapped the number in and held her breath for a reply. She was once again disappointed when they never answered. Pearl huffed and placed her laptop beside her on the floor and put her phone back onto the bedside table.

The room was plunged into darkness once the light was turned off, although Pearl was quite surprised that her room was relatively quite bright in comparison to her room in the city. The moonlight was quite relaxing. Pearl was lying on her bed for what felt like hours. It was as if she was trapped in a state of limbo. She heard the faint breeze outside, but not the sea. She felt the moisture in the room, but not the light covers over her. She smelled the sea, but not the perfume she wore. Suddenly a chime was heard and Pearl forgot everything.

Water, water all around her. She was drowning. Opening her eyes, she seen machines, so many machines, all attached to her. She can't feel anything below her stomach. Red, water dotted with red. It tastes of metal and a bitter substance. Pain, everywhere, she can't move.

She bolted awake, the fabric clung to her wet skin. It was a nightmare, a terrible nightmare.