Ch 4; Pandora's Box
Four floaters, three Vets, three team Mel, and Two team Dani. I like it!
This was a puzzle competition this time. Untangle the bomb wires to the bomb so you can defuse it. The theme was apocalyptic... cool
So here's a rundown of what Julie read. We have to follow our cord to the end of the bomb, and untangle it so that you can put the end in the top slot without crossing over someone else's wire. One wire for every house guest, and the first inch was a different color. After that they were all dark blue, and long, and a disaster.
Shelly and Adam didn't even try. Jordan and Porsche were just too confused. Daniele and Kalia started out great, but it was obvious when the pressure became too much for them. Cassi, Lawon, and Keith were okay, but trailing compared to us. It's dejavu from week one all over again, when I see Jeff and I are in the lead with the most cord free.
This time, I really will let him win it!
So everything's good! Jeff is HoH, Daniele is no doubt going up, and my alliance is safe! Sweet! This was going to be ANOTHER easy week!
...yeah, if only.
After Kaila and Dani were nominated, the robot voice called Jeff up to the HoH room. What's all this about?
"Maybe it's a twist!" Lawon excites as we gather in the kitchen.
That's Lawon for ya though!
"Dude, you think everything's a twist!" I grin.
"Actually Mel, I think he's right." Cassi contradicts. "Did everyone else forget about Pandora's box?"
Oh, that's right!
Nods of agreement and mystique linger thought the room.
Ten minutes later, Jeff comes back downstairs with an envelope.
"What happened?" Lawon asks before he's even down the steps yet.
We were all curious.
He doesn't respond, just opens the envelope and starts reading.
"Houseguests, I have chosen to open Pandora's Box..."
"Called it!" Lawon says proudly.
"Big brother will unleash 'three terrors' on us thought the week, which could come at any moment, and will happen without warning."
My guess? ZZZZZZZING!
"...wow..." Jeff says to himself, out of context. He sets the note down.
"So wait... what happened?" Porsche repeats, and we were all just as curious.
"Dude- I have, NO CLUE." He says, starting to freak out. "I went up there, and they just trapped me in!" He explains. "I thought you guys were getting some sort of money rain or something!"
"No, we've just been waiting here." Adam answers.
"...man. This sucks."
This is very suspicious... Jeff opened Pandora's Box and only bad things happen? Even though in the myth, Pandora's Box is completely different in every way, Big Brother's idea is that you are tricked into thinking it's something good, and are rewarded before pushing it too far and being punished. We all get punished, even Jeff, but it's obvious he's somehow benefited from this.
We're all gonna be mad at him, either way. He is the cause of these 'terrors' being unleashed.
"Guyyyyyyys!" Shelly calls from the living room.
I was in the animal room with Cassi and Jordan at the time, just chatting about normal, not game stuff.
We all run in there when we here Shelly's voice.
"Shelly you okay?" Jordan asks with concern.
Then we notice the TV screen.
There was a big gold question mark, just, ON the TV screen.
We fine everyone and take them to the living room, and sit down and wait. The voice told us we all needed to gather there via intercom...
From the diary room there's a knock, and we look at each other before Jeff stands and opens the door.
"Eval Dick has RE-entered the building!" The frightening monster announces as he steps through the door.
Jeff and the Vets look happy, but the rest not so much. Especially Dani...
She was actually becoming very involved in the house activities. She was spending less time sleeping and instead playing corn hole and playing improv games and just talking! His return to the house is worse for her then it is for me...
I DID evict him, after all... There's no doubt he'll come after me.
As all this was running through my mind, I missed the part where he said he wasn't staying for more than five minutes. ...oops!
"Well, okay. As you know, Jeff has opened Pandora's Box, and, I am here."
Riiiight?
"But this isn't the punishment." He continues.
I lean in and whisper to Cassi "It's not...?"
She glares at me, and then returns focus to the speaker.
"The 'three terrors' I'm to unleash upon you are the real punishment."
"Ohhh!" Was the response of most, along with groans and stress levels rising.
From there the teleprompter turned off, and he pulls an empty sack from the hall of the diary room, the door to which was still propped open by his foot.
"So! Since you all evicted me, I get to, uh, 'deliver'" Eval begins, using air-quotes. "All your little terrors!"
There wasn't anything we could do about it, but Dick had locked himself inside the storage room and we waited and listened.
When he came out, it looked like a mess! I think the producers came in and made it look all nasty though, cause Dick didn't have onion dip or guacamole on his hands, which made the hand-prints on the wall- well... he didn't do it. He just walked in there, gave the empty sack to a producer or set-design guy, took a sack from him which was CLEARLY not full of food, and came back out.
We were so bummed... all our food is gone!
"But do not fear, for I have left an endless supply of big brother slop for you all to enjoy. Compliments of Eval Dick." He takes a bow, seeming very pleased with himself.
With that, he leaves us. Surely we'll be seeing more of him.
"It's obvious how they'd tricked Jeff into opening the box." Porsche concocts.
"Why should I care!" I freak. "He's here! He'll be back! He's gonna kill me in my sleep- Ahhhg!"
"Mel! Get a hold of yourself girl!" Cassi laughs like this problem isn't serious at all. "What were you saying Porsche?"
"Oh! Just that I'm sure Jeff opened an envelope saying that if he opened the door, Dick would return to the house." She explains.
"...so?" Cassi sates, still not following.
"So if Jeff read that, he may have thought Dick was coming back to stay and play the game again."
"Ohhh..." I pick up. "That makes sense!"
"Anyway, I'm just brainstorming. I'm not saying Jeff DIDN'T gain anything from it." Porsche adds.
There's silence for a moment, as we all think about what to talk about.
I speak. "So, what do you think some of the other punishments will be?"
"Dunno." Cassi sighs. "We'll have to wait and see.
We patiently wait for the veto ceremony to start.
First trivia then puzzle... and now we're playing a hide and seek game! I notice a lack of physical competition...
"It's time to pick players for the veto competition." Jeff announces, and goes through the whole spiel.
He pulled the first, and it was 'house guest choice.'
"Brendon." He called.
We didn't know what the competition WAS yet; otherwise I'm sure he would've picked me or Jordan.
...
...okay confession time. A lot of us play hide and seek. Don't judge! There's not much to do in this house, okay! Anyway, me and Jordan always think of the best hiding places.
The others ended up pulling Porsche and Keith. This should be interesting...
We step into the backyard, and... it just looks like our backyard.
More rules, but you guys can figure this out. We get a chip with a name on it, we go in one at a time, we hide it, we find it, end of discussion.
I was sitting outside the whole time, along with the others who weren't playing. They provided us with chips, which we all scarffed down bowl after bowl! It was the only thing that wasn't slop that we'd be able to eat for a while, after all.
Keith comes out with Dani's chip, and she is eliminated from the search.
No one really seemed happy though. I thought they'd be psyched! She's going home, finally! ...right?
Jeff returned then with Keith's chip, and Lawon looks relieved. I really wish I knew what's going on with those snakes... but its better I let things run their course and stay out of the line of fire.
Finally it's down to just Kalia and Porsche. Who knew Porsche was good at this game?
They exit the house at the same time, and Kalia holds up Porsche's chip. It's game over, and Kalia is awarded the PoV. Obviously, she'll use it to save herself, someone will be put up as a pawn, and Dani will finally be evicted from this house. Piece of cake!
Turns out only me and Cassi think this.
After the veto, our alliance hid out in the have-not room. Porsche gives us new information that brings clarity to, well, a lot of things.
"Kalia says she and Dani aren't the targets." She explains, and we look at her with disbelief.
"What?" I say, eyes wide.
"The Vets don't think her and Kalia are a threat anymore. Apparently there's something big going on with Keith, and he and Lawon are making deals left and right!" She begins. "Kalia said he and came in and made a deal with them and Dominic, and later she found out he was really on a team with Lawon, who was ALSO making deals with the Vets."
"Oh my god!" We flip.
"So did you tell her that he and Lawon came to us?" I ask in concern.
"No." Was her response.
Good girl, Porsche.
"But I think we should."
"No, no, Porsche. Why?" Cassi whines.
"Because! It proves that we were victims of their attacks too." She reasons. "Dani agreed to go on the block this week, to throw Lawon and Keith off. They still think they're good with everyone!"
So?
"If Dani and Kalia start working with the Vets, then who's the next eligible targets?"
Oh... "Us." I wince.
"Mel, I think you and Cassi need to go talk to Jeff and Jordan about this." Porsche suggests. "I'd come too, but I don't want things to become too overwhelming."
After some discussion, I find myself knocking on the dungeon doors. Jeff had already opened, probably seeing me come up from the telescreen.
"What's up Mel?" Jordan greets.
"Hi." I smile. "Um, I wanted to talk about nominations..."
"We're not gonna put you up hun." Jordan says right off the bat, thinking I was concerned.
"Thank you! Um, actually I wanted to get something strait..."
Jeff signals toward the couch, and I take a seat on the other side from Jordan.
"Okay, so during the Veto, Porsche told me she let Kalia win, because she wasn't really your target?"
They look slightly concerned.
"Who all did Porsche tell?" Jeff finally asks.
"Oh just me! And Cassi." I reply. "We haven't told anyone else." I assure them.
I wait for a response.
"Mel, there's been some sneaky rats, running around the house..." He starts. "And right now they're more concerning to us then Daniele."
"I get that." I inform. "Porsche also told us that Kalia said Lawon and Keith had been making deals...?" I say, waiting for them to confirm this.
"Well, yeah!" Jordan says. "They were playing all sides of the house and it's getting to that level where it's just, I don't know, dangerous."
"That's what I wanted to know!" I reply. "Because they came to me and tried to make a deal too!"
This caught their interest. Jeff sits upright. "What?"
"When I won HoH..." I begin. "Lawon came up to the dungeon and offered an alliance of me, him, Cassi, Porsche, and Keith."
Technically, I'm telling the truth! I'm just leaving out the part that everyone else was up there with us, or ever knew about it.
"So what you tell him?" Jordan asks, which was what's coming next.
"Well I told him I'd think about it." I lie. "I knew, you know, since I was Head of Household, people would offer me deals and stuff, and there was no way for me to know if he was sincere."
"...that shouldn't happen so early in the game." Jeff informs me, talking like I should have known better. "I wish you would have told us sooner."
You know now, at least.
"So what do you need me to do?" I ask, waiting for their instruction.
"Just, vote Keith out this week, get Porsche and Cassi to do so too, and... you know, we're going after Lawon after that." Jeff replies.
"So try not to get in a fight with Dani." Jordan adds, and Jeff nods.
Dani and I may have minor disagreements every now and then. You know, small fights over who cheated in monopoly or one of us isn't following the rules in an improv game. We avoid being involved in the same activity most the time now though.
"Got it." I nod. "So should I win HoH next week, put up Lawon and someone?"
"We'll cross that bridge if and when the time comes." Jeff states, and then I leave.
Kalia takes herself off the block, Jeff calls out Keith and Lawon for playing all sides of the house, and Keith goes up. This meeting is adjourned!
We only have two days before eviction, and we haven't received our last punishment yet! I was told the second one was some loud notices thought the night. Dick came in with a radio and blasted the music, flicked all the lights, and yelled everything he was instructed to say. ...I slept through it! Oh well, my loss.
So when's the third punishment gonna arrive? We were waiting in the living room to find out now...
This time, instead of coming through the diary room door, the main doorbell rings. Jeff gets up first and opens it, and we all trail behind. Big surprise! It's Dick! I neeeever would have guessed.
"Hello again, houseguests. I have returned for your third and final punishment."
He holds up handcuffs. ...what?
"As the final punishment, I get to personally choose two houseguests to get hand-cuffed together."
SHIT!
He looks at me with that evil grin, and I freeze in my spot.
"So, who does Melanie hate?" He taunts viciously, stepping closer in the house.
Why? Why would they ALL look at Daniele? Why couldn't someone just say I can't stand Cassi or Jordan or Porsche? ...common guys.
The idea of making me and Dani miserable was just too irresistible. He signals his daughter over with his finger and latches the first cuff to her.
Maybe he won't cuff me! I mean, he wants to help his daughter's game, right? Not make it worse! Maybe he'll stick her with, like, someone she can get along with and build to her alliance. Pick Shelly... pick Adam! ...no, no. He wouldn't chain his daughter to Adam. But still! Pick Shelly!
All hope is lost when I hear the cuffs click around my wrists.
"Heh!' He mocks. "Good luck to all of you for the next seven days!"
"Seven days?" Dani cries in despair.
"Try not to sound too excited..." I sigh.
...fuck. Are we sure we can't still evict her? ...please?
After five minutes Dani and I were called into the diary room. We were given a key, which is only to be used when instructed, or like, in case of some emergency. Or if we have to vote, or Dani's evicted, or if we have a competition, or Dani's evicted,
Or Dani's evicted...
And she couldn't stand me all the same. I thought Dick was trying to help her daughter! Why this?
"How am I supposed to change?" I question.
I'd been pointing out all the negatives of this for the past five minutes while she was eating, and clearly it was getting on her nerves.
"How am I supposed to shower? Like, I guess if you put your hand over the thing, but I can't get my shirt off anyway. I wonder how we'll play cards without like, being able to see each-other's hand? Do I just hold the cards with my toes? Oh, but how will I balance? How-"
"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" She answers furiously. "Shut the fuck up!"
Feisty.
"Common Dani, she's just trying to have a conversation." Shelly sympathizes.
"Yeah, with herself." Dani grunts.
...bitch.
Shelly sighs and walks away.
It was very difficult to talk game with anyone with Dani here all the time. I got the chance to tell Cassi and Porsche about my conversation with Jeff and Jordan in the dungeon, and how Lawon was the next target. But... what about next week? What if one of us wins? We know Lawon goes up, but who sits next to him?
On the positive side, this is also preventing Dani of speaking to Kalia, and ultimately defeating Porsche's fear that she'll try to join up with the Vets. I guess that makes it okay.
...wait what? This is DEFINATLY not okay! I'm chained to Daniele Donato! What am I saying, it's okay? It's living hell!
We played cards with Rachel and Brendon until nightfall. I literally used my feet to keep me and Dani from seeing each other's cards, and no one really seemed surprised. I use my feet for a lot of things I should be using my hands for. It's just fun! We were playing spoons first, which didn't quite work because if Dani went to get a spoon and tried to be sneaky about it, like, my hand would go with hers and that's completely unfair. And if I put my foot up there to get one- ...that's not totally obvious at all!
So we switched games to 'go fish'. It worked out.
Finding out how we were gonna sleep was a story in itself! ...Not really. It's an expression. ...actually 'a whole nother story' is an expression, but it's one of my biggest pet-peeves when someone uses the expression 'whole nother'. I mean, really guys! Maybe I failed English in the ninth grade but I still know the word 'nother' doesn't exist! I'm getting pissed off even thinking about this, which doesn't help to the current situation at hand.
"I'm NOT sleeping on the floor." I protest when Dani says I can't share a bed with her.
"Okay, then push the beds together and sleep on that one." She suggests.
"Oh, you mean the one Lawon's sleeping in?" I point out. "Just come sleep in the tiger room!" I pitch for the twentieth time. "No one else sleeps in there. Dominic was evicted, Jeff and Jordan sleep in the dungeon, and Keith has to sleep in the have-not room.
"Well why didn't you tell me that the first time!" She accuses.
"Cause it's so obvious!" I argue back. "I thought you were aware of this!"
"I'm not the one who sleeps there every night." She glares back
I tense my fists.
"No, cause you decided to sleep out in the fucking yard for the first week of the game."
"Excuse me?" She snaps. "I slept out there by choice!"
"GIRLS!" Lawon interrupts. "There are people in here who are trying to sleep!"
Eventually she agrees to sleep in the tiger room, but tells me there is no way she's sleeping in the same bed as me. We open the door.
"About that..."
This room was the only one that was still an absolute wreck from the hide and seek competition. There was stuff everywhere; on floors, on beds, on shelves that were pulled apart and all over the floor. My bed was cleared because I cleaned up all my stuff, and threw everyone else' on their beds.
"No." She replies.
Another hour of arguing and pulling, and finally she'd decided we shouldn't make poor Melanie sleep on the floor of the living room while she slept on the couch.
"DANIELE! You can't do that!" Porsche accuses.
Dani was curled up on the couch while I had to sleep on the floor underneath. My hand was raised onto the couch.
Kalia and Rachel were in the room too, but Rachel left soon after.
"I tried to sleep in the nomination chair, but my back doesn't really bend that way." I complain.
"Oh, sob sob." Dani says, rolling her eyes.
"I know you two didn't pick to be cuffed together, but you're gonna have to figure this out because it won't go away for another week."
And that was Kalia's hidden way of telling Dani she needs to put up with me and my needs. Such as sleeping.
Jordan had to come down at yell at her then. Dani was sick of it and didn't want to cause any more trouble, and in the end we both sleeping on my bed.
It's the day before nominations.
I wake up and hear Kalia's voice, then remember Dani's chained to me. It took me a moment to realize they were talking game, so I pretend to still be asleep, and listen in.
"What does he have to lose?" Kalia finishes.
"I don't know, I just don't trust him. I don't see any point in teaming up with him." Dani answers.
Trust who? The Vets? Maybe Porsche was right!
"All I'm saying is they've been completely exposed! Lawon has no one to go to, and all hope is lost." Kalia argues. "We need the votes, and if he ends up in a position of power-"
"Even if he does, he's not gonna put up one of us." Dani reasons. "Plus we don't need safety this week."
Kalia wants to recruit Lawon. Makes sense. You know, if you're completely crazy.
"No Lawon." Dani enforces. "And remember what I said about HoH."
"..." No response, and I hear the door close.
Dani lies back down in the bed, and rests for a little. I wonder what she'd said to Kalia about HoH. Maybe to throw it? That's what I told my crew too. No reason to take the blood off the Vet's hands; let them do all the dirty work while we sit back and wait in the shadows. Dani had the same idea, I assume.
The whole house, minus Keith and Lawon, was having a full-blown corn hole competition. We're so glad they decided to leave it here, even after the competition was over.
I won up to three rounds, until I was up against my chain-buddy.
We both threw three corn holes on our first three turns. Then Dani slipped up and it just missed the center.
"You messed up my shot." She growls, and I glare back.
I miss the shot completely that round, not wanting it to seem like I really did mess up her throw. I had nothing to do with it, but it might look like I did if I scored a corn hole that round.
Then it was Jordan vs. Rachel, and Rachel won. Now all that's left is Dani and Rachel for the championship.
"You better not mess me up..." Dani grunts.
"Why you gotta be so mean to her?" Shelly defends for the millionth time this week. "Just because you dad's a bully doesn't mean you have to be one too!"
I was sorta sick of it. I could fend for myself! Shelly was just making it worse.
Dani won. Thank goodness...
I'm so sick of her already! I feel like communication with my alliance has minimized. They only time I get to talk with Porsche or Cassi is when we're all sitting eating. There's no way to talk game with them anyway, unless one of them get the wits to come wake me up in the middle of the night while Dani's asleep, and hope we don't wake her.
We were all eating right now, by chance. Dani and I are very different, but some of our interests and other things I find are alike. Our eating habits are one example.
"You girls are so small!" Adam comments. "I get that you don't like slop, but you don't eat when you're not on slop anyway!"
"I eat!" I defend. Dani continued to play with her nails.
"Yeah, you eat an apple maybe once a week." Adam reiterates.
"You sure you're not gonna have anything Dani and Mel?" Jordan asks one last time. "I'm gonna put it back in the store room."
"I'm not hungry." Dani sighs in response.
"Of course not." Adam smites.
"No thanks Jordan." I smile, then return to my vicious staring contest with the couch.
"Alright, well I'll put it on the counter in there if either of you guys wants it."
"Thanks." I reply.
"Thanks." Dani mocks, trying to copy my voice tone and inflections.
Whatever Dani.
Later we went out to the pool. We couldn't really put on swim suits, but I climbed in anyway. Dani sat on the edge with her feet in the water.
Everyone out there was playing bang. I sat and watched, but there was really no way for me to go under without pulling Dani with me.
"BANG!" Rachel shouts, her gun pointed at Kalia.
Kalia shoots in both directions, but Adam forgets that I'm not playing and doesn't duck.
"Aw man! I didn't know!" He freaks. "It's too confusing with her there!"
"Maybe she should just get out then." Dani rudely suggests.
"Aw, Dani and Mel aren't getting along!" Rachel taunts.
Now that Brendon's gone, it's been up to JJ to keep her in line. Jeff gently slaps her arm, but Rachel ignores it.
"No! Are you kidding?" I start boldly. "We're best friends ever!"
No one really laughed. They typically don't when someone plays with fire. They did watch intently, however, to see how she'll react.
"No we're not." Dani huffs and rolls her eyes.
"Yes we are." I protest. "Gimmi a hug!"
Her eyes get wide, and she sorta backs up. "No! You're soaking wet!"
Then they started laughing when Dani's smiling too.
"Common best friend!" I tease, standing up.
"Ee!"
She tries to walk away, but I just pull my hand back and hug her from behind.
"EE! No! It's cold!"
Some of the houseguests, even Lawon, peek out from inside. They watched Dani squirm and fight me as I tighten my grip around her waist. She was pushing away, but laughing and giggling at the same time.
It was a shocker to even me.
As I ran back over to the pool, I dragged her along. The rest saw what I was gonna attempt and jumped out, but Dani was clueless. Before she knew it, I'd launched her in the pool.
"You little BITCH!" She shrikes.
I crack up, until with the yank of her arm, I'm pulled head-first underwater.
We both crawled out after that, and Porsche handed us towels.
"Of all the people...!" Dani dispute, but her nods and smile contradict her thought.