Silence Falls

Ultimately, Hermanni dropped his eyes to the floor and bit his bottom lip, deploring that he had been sincere with Bert's queries after all. What do I say now, he contemplated to himself before the rustling of sheets nearby hindered them as they both glimpsed over to see a sluggish Otep now sitting up in bed. “I think I'd readily risk my life by remaining here in this awesome mattress store for the rest of my fucking life than to ever again escape this town only to lie in lumpy hotel beds. Am I the only one here that feels that way, you guys?” Otep sighed peacefully, her head leaning back against the headboard as she regarded them through drowsy eyes.

Hermanni rose up and dashed to her side of the bed, plopping down beside her with a buoyant smile. "Good morning, my lady! You look beautiful today. I prepared breakfast downstairs for everyone. The others are eating right now, so please do not take too long in gracing them with your presence.” Getting back up, Hermanni took this time to make a hasty departure from all of Bert’s interrogating questionings. “I will see you both later. I must unearth other things to read for there is much to learn still. Enjoy your morning.”

Otep gawked at Bert with a 'what the fuck' manner as soon as Hermanni glided out the door, but he merely rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Don't even go there with him suddenly speaking English. Let’s just go downstairs and eat and then we can talk about it. okay? I think I'm literally starting to see my life flash before my eyes and from the looks of it, we're getting closer to present time, so move your sweet ass, Otep cause I’m starving to death.”

Otep and Bert eventually joined the others that were mostly sitting back and rubbing their full bellies in a buffet restaurant. Like the others before them, they too, were stuck rooted to the spot at the plentiful view of food.

“Holy shit, I think I'm pregnant.” Bam moaned, his hands rubbing his crowded belly. His proclamation made everyone at the table laugh in merriment, but he wasn’t kidding. “No guys, I'm serious! I fucking ate so much that it all became a sentient being that is now growing in my stomach. Fuck...it better not be twins. I can’t handle that many kids at one time for my first time!”

Everyone laughed again, the tension, the horror, the fury and sorrow all seemed to have evaporated off of them with every bite they took, leaving them reacting like exceptional friends out to breakfast and having an outstanding time. They looked ordinary for once in their lives, not at all like they had ever experienced anything abhorrent, except plain teenage angst. None of them even acknowledged their shift in demeanor, they couldn't have even if they tried. Hermanni made sure they would have this moment to mask their hardships before he exited the restaurant. Throughout their migration, he had attended very little smiles from each of them, and small open windows of elation. Spoiled as it may sound, he craved to observe those smiles more often, selfishly for himself than for their well-being. Families are supposed to be joyous, not melancholy, or timid or irate. At least, that's what the TVs he examined exhibited, and the more cheerful books insist how every family is supposed to be and should be.

Otep was the first to convey anything after a lengthy period of observation and considering. “This is weird.” She said to Bert in a grim tone. Her facial expression alone was adverse enough to bring everyone else that received them back down from cloud nine. Smiles dissipated, and Hermanni felt it from several stores away, but didn't pause his inspection of the mall despite it. He understood they needed to do what they had to do to get past everything that’s arisen specifically what didn't make any sense.

“Is something wrong, Otep?” Cris asked gingerly, nibbling on his scrambled eggs with a look of uncertainty on his face. He didn’t want to ask her that question, because he knew nothing positive would come out of it. And right now everything is going excellent!

“Look, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be a Debby Downer, but can we all just be real for a second here. We've been through some pretty fucked up shit for the past day or two, and I don't know about you guys, but...I have tons of questions and very little solutions for them.” Otep disclosed, collapsing down between Cris and Natasha to fill her plate up with what little food was left and began to eat.

“You’re fucking right about that, Otep. You are being a Debby Downer.” Connor granted, letting out a fatigued sigh as he rubbed his face of all the glee he’d been feeling in preparation before drooping in his chair.

“What the fuck is wrong with you now? Is your cunt menstruating or something?” Bam feuded, instantaneously getting fired up to clash as he always did. The gasps at the table around him told him he was going too far, but he didn’t care. Instead of suspecting anything, he felt they should be thankful they were even alive!

Impervious to his cruel taunts, Otep lifted up a plastic loopy straw for him to study. “Do you see this straw, Brandon? Make another comment about my cunt again and I will gladly inject this so far up your fucking dick hole I'll start your very own fucking menstrual cycle myself, is that understood?” She plunged the straw back into her drink just as Connor burst out laughing in response. The other girls simultaneously let out a chorus of 'Oooooo' while Bert was trying to keep himself from kissing Otep square on the mouth for making him so proud.

Cris however wasn't tickled and neither was he willing to sit by and let this pursue on either side. “Whoa whoa guys, calm down a little and let’s get back to the subject matter.” Signaling with a hand to Otep, he declared. “Otep is right, we have to talk about this at some point, and why not now? We're all friends here. Let’s not start a fight over this and just talk it out civilly without any name calling.”

“Go on, Otep.” Bert requested her with a supportive nod.

“Again, I'm sorry to bring this up, you guys, but a lot of things are irking me, and I just want to open up instead of keeping it all in my head. I've seen firsthand how harmful that can be and what it does to people.” Otep began before taking a sip from her mug of coffee.

“So, what's on your mind then, honey?” Bert grilled, biting into a piece of buttery toast.

“Do you remember the day we were breaking out of the facility?” Oteo asked them after a minute of indecision. “Particularly when we got Hermanni out from the basement and had gotten captured when we re-entered the confinement floor again.”

“Oh yeah, I remember.” Connor whispered in reflection with a nod. Bam, Cris, and Bert nodded as well in reminiscence.

“Well, when we all got apprehended, Hermanni was the only one still in the elevator. Two men went after him, and of the two men that went after him, one ended up having his head imploded and the other was found hanging from the elevator ceiling. The force of his entire body shot through that metal like wet toilet paper.” Otep reminded them, leaving the girls in astonishment about what had happened while they were impatiently awaiting in their dorms for them to show up.

“Holy shit, I forgot about that part!” Bam blurted in horror, narrowing his eyes at his vacant plate as the visions of that event came flooding back all at once. “How the fuck did I even forget that?”

Otep went on grilling them in hopes they held the explanations she didn’t. “What I’m trying to get at here is that Hermanni isn't exactly a body builder, he has a slender frame. So tell me, how in the world did he murder those two men all on his own in a tiny elevator? Cause they sure as hell didn’t murder themselves!”

Connor frowned, his mind on something else that happened afterwards. “Not to mention when we finally made it into the cafeteria and a whole flock of guards randomly exploded into flames...”