3.
ONLINE. TIME ELAPSED: 00:00:00
Astrid awoke in the cold and dark to a noise, beyond the walls of her room. She immediately sat up, wondering if perhaps this would be the time when they came for them, the time when they had to fight. At length, she had calmed down, adrenaline having the strange affect of drowsiness on her blurred senses, now that it had passed. Holding the blanket around herself and abandoning the sheets, she went to the chair, and looked into the glowing computer screen.
:Boolean:
Does anyone hear that?
xXx
Half asleep, Peter heard it, too.
Utopianserpent
More chimes?!
xXx
Olivia rubbed away the drowse in her eyes, frowning in confusion. Not bells, this time, but…
Pureffect.45
I hear it too. No, it's piano. W., what is that?
xXx
glassmouth
Rowrowrowyourboatgentlydownthestreammerrilymerrilymerrilymerrilylifeisbutadreamrowrowrowyourboatgentlydownthestreammerrilymerrilymerrilymerrilylifeisbutadreamrowrowrowyourboatgentlydownthestreammerrilymerrilymerrilymerrilylifeisbutadream
xXx
Peter rubbed his face, exhaling roughly as he squinted at Walter's post.
Utopianserpent
What the hell?! Has he completely lost it, over there?!
xXx
Concern gripped Astrid, and she hurriedly typed;
:Boolean:
W, is something wrong? Are you alright??
xXx
glassmouth
Theyreherewithmetheyrealwaysherewithmemakethemleaveimscared
xXx
Something was wrong, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
:Boolean:
Calm down. Did they come for you? Have they taken you? Try to respond.
xXx
There was virtual silence for what might have been ten minutes, and Peter swallowed, realizing what it meant.
Utopianserpent
He's gone. They've got him. Those bastards.
xXx
Olivia felt her awareness growing, memories of her senseless dreams fading as the dread sunk in.
Pureffect.45
He'll be back, right? They put us back, so he'll have to come back. He's been here forever, right?
xXx
Astrid sighed, massaging her temples. It wasn't fair.
:Boolean:
IDK. I hope so.
xXx
Okay, so maybe Walter wasn't his father. But that didn't mean he wasn't just like the rest of them, in wanting to get out of this place. Peter thought that perhaps, if anything, he deserved it more, having endured this place for so much longer. He made his decision.
Utopianserpent
If he doesn't come back, we'll have to find him. All of us are getting out of here.
xXx
Olivia agreed.
Pureffect.45
Absolutely.
xXx
Astrid was thinking, now. This whole episode was crippling to morale, not to mention presented yet another flaw in her already imperfect plan.
:Boolean:
I didn't take into consideration that they may come to take us all at different times. This may prove problematic.
xXx
Peter presented a potential solution, if only to make sense of the moment.
Utopianserpent
Maybe if just one of us gets out, we can look around for the others. It's a long shot, but at least it's something.
xXx
Astrid, for once, felt Peter's anger. It wasn't fair, how their captors held them so helplessly.
:Boolean:
It's not something, P.. It's the only thing.
xXx
Olivia knew that they couldn't sit around stating the obvious, or she'd go mad. There had to be something for them to do, to make the temporary loss of Walter constructive. She snapped her fingers, diving for the keys as she thought of something.
Pureefect.45
This is going to sound sick, but… maybe we can find something out by calculating the time that W is gone?
xXx
Peter's brows rose on his forehead. That was thinking.
Utopianserpent
Not bad. How will we time it?
xXx
It wasn't so hard, really. At least, not for her. In fact, she had already started, the numbers whirring in her mind with perfect clarity; a talent that, at times, drove her crazy.
Pureffect.45
I'm counting heartbeats. There are approximately 60 per minute, providing the individual is calm.
xXx
Hot damn. The girl was smart. Peter briefly toyed with the notion that she might be attractive, and dismissed himself- He'd never be able to get along with a cop, regardless of how smart or how pretty she may have been. It brought him immediately to a question that was unnoticeably important, for their plans.
Utopianserpent
I just thought of something. How will we know how to find each other, if we don't know what each other look like? We need to give descriptions, or something.
xXx
Astrid shook the worry an fear away from her clouded thoughts. This was no time to be useless, and Peter and Olivia were being exceptionally productive. Not to mention, no bickering, which was a more than welcome change.
:Boolean:
Good thinking, both of you. I don't know if we should interrupt O's counting.
xXx
They were underestimating the control she had over her own OCD, and Olivia smiled, pushing the numbers into her sub consciousness, where she kept them most of the time.
Pureffect.45
No, I'm fine. I guess that I can go first, providing they don't start editing us again.
But she didn't get the chance to start. Something caught her ear, and she swallowed.
Pureffect.45
Is that what I think it is?
xXx
Peter looked over his shoulder, at the door.
Utopianserpent
Chimes.
OFFLINE. TIME ELAPSED: 01:24:14.