A different Era

Chapter 6: Text Fiasco

Rosalin, Where are you?!

It was a text message from my friend Teddy. Which is completely surprising since there is no network connection in this place or even transmission towers. So, how can I receive a message here at all?

"So, how did these Teddy person sent you a message?" Moran asked from his place behind from where William was seated.

"I don't know..." I could only quickly mumble this out. This may be the only time where I didn't have to wreck my brain thinking about excuses to answer the questions of the people in front of me.

"What do you mean you don't know? And what kind of name even is Teddy?" Moran continued, a bit agitated.

"Moran, it is obviously a nickname. But that is not the issue here. Miss, you told us that it is not possible for you or anyone to contact you without a medium. Correct?" Albert interjected from between.

"Yes..."

"But it seems that is truly not the case here. If we made you uncomfortable by any means which forced you to not tell us the truth..." My head snapped up at this. What are they gonna do if they find out I have been lying? "then we apologize.......though by the look of your face it seems that is not the case."

     Wow. Is my face really that easy to read? In the midst of all this confusion, I forgot to keep my facial expressions in check. But at least they realize I am not lying. At least not about this. I looked back at the small device in my hand. Seriously, how did Teddy's message even reach me? Should I answer back...

     As if reading my mind, William said, "Why don't you try to answer it?" I looked up at him especially at his eyes to see anything that would help me tell if he is scheming something or not. They do say that the eyes are the window to the soul. But I could see nothing in those blood red eyes of his. Reluctantly, I typed a message to my friend.

I am in Durham.

     There was no reply to this for a long time. It made me wonder whether the message actually reached him or not but seeing those two tiny tick marks appear next to the message, all my doubts just flew away. Teddy had not only received the message but also read it.

Is this some sort of joke?

Huh? That is strange. Usually if I send him this kind of message he straight away starts to joke with me. He never asks if it is a joke or not. After all, he thinks I am not rich enough to afford tickets for abroad. Not that he is wrong.

Then another message appeared in front of me.

How did you get there?

....What is wrong with Teddy today? Why is he asking me these sort of questions?

I don't know.

There was another suffocating pause. Then an unexpected reply came from him

Ok.

....Ok? Seriously, ok?! Excuse me, your friend just said that she is in Durham which is abroad and she just said that she doesn't know how she got here and the best you can say is OK?!!

"Did he hit his head somewhere?" I accidently mumbled out.

"He sure did." Came Moran's voice from behind me which made me not so elegantly scream (more like I screamed like a literal banshee who got strangled by their own hair). My scream was met with a beautiful response as well. All of the men in the room all scooted back from my scream. The best reaction was presented by Moran who stumbled back from his spot behind my seat.

"What's up with your scream?!"

"Sorry."

"What did that person say?" It was Albert who decided that ignoring Moran was the best option that they currently had.

"Well, he-" I was cut off by Moran who was apparently reading the conversation from my back.

"This Teddy just asked her where she is and how she got here and when she replied that she is in Durham and she doesn't know how she got here he is like ok. You seriously need to find better friends."

"No, wait. From what I remember, Teddy isn't like that. I-"

"Yeah, we can see that. You either need a new friend or you need to get your device mended." Again it was Moran.

There was a short pause before Louis spoke up, "Why don't you try to contact someone else through your device."

It was good suggestion and when I looked up at William, I was met with an encouraging nod. So that's what I did. I contacted someone else. I contacted my caretaker. Mrs. Page.

Hello Mrs. Page, How are you?

But the message was not delivered. Forget about being delivered, the message was not even sent.

"What's wrong?" It was the soothing voice of William. He must have noticed the frown on my face.

"Mrs. Page didn't receive my message."

"....I see. Why don't you try sending a message to another person to check if your device is actually working properly." Albert spoke up.

I heeded his suggestion. I typed a message to one of my fellow siblings. Again the message was not delivered. So I tried sending a message to another sibling. Again the same result. I tried this with two more people before finally giving up. I looked up at them with a defeated look.

There was a thick silence in the air for a while. I didn't need to explain what happened with the rest of the messages. My face and silence must have said it all because no one pressed on the matter.

The silence was finally broken up by Fred, "Would you like a scone?"

     This actually melted my heart. I always thought that Fred was an absolute sweetheart. If I wasn't sure who my favourite character in Moriarty the patriot was then I am sure now that it is Fred.

     I accepted the scone from Fred. Somehow he handed me a handkerchief along with the scone. I was confused as to why he was handing me a handkerchief. Then I realised I was crying.... I was crying in front of SO many people!! Completely disregarding the handkerchief offered to me I wiped my face using my hands trying to remove any traces of the fact I was crying but with no avail. It only helped in making my eyes all puffy and red making me look even more miserable if that was possible.

     After a few sips from my tea and some miserable snotty sobs, I finally calmed down. Seeing that I am okay enough to talk to, the residents of the room actually began to talk to me.

"You should go to your room and rest." It was Albert to which I was more than happy to oblige.

"I will have some warm water sent to your room." It was Louis who was being just nice.

"You can have your belongings back." It was Willia-wait, what?!

     I abruptly turned towards him. He was just smiling with that unreadable expression of his. Did they decide to trust me after that small 'brawling my eyes out- an art' performance of mine. No way. I am not that stupid. There is no way they trust me already nor are they so soft as to take pity on me after my performance right there.

     Is this a test? It must be. Thinking this, I looked at William for confirmation. After a nod of approval and encouragement, I quickly grabbed my stuff, bid a quick farewell and quickly scrammed from the room. I will think about this after I get some good sleep.