Permanent Vacation // 5SOS

19. Tess

Ugh. It's WAY too early to be awake. Why is it so bright in here?

I squeeze my eyes shut tighter, hoping to reclaim what's left of the dream I was having. I think it was something about a green-haired guy laughing at something I was saying. Weird. Maybe I shouldn't go back to that dream after all.

I sigh and open my eyes, sitting up and stretching on the way. Wait, this isn't my room. What the hell? And there's somebody sleeping on the floor. Isn't that the green-haired guy?

"Still dreaming." I sigh in relief. I take a deep breath and close my eyes again. I pinch myself, then open my eyes again. "What the--?" I'm still here. Maybe I didn't pinch hard enough. I try again, but I'm still not waking up. I slap myself across the face. "Ow what the fuck?" My hands cover my mouth quickly; I just swore. Oops.

And I'm still here.

Okay, so maybe I'm not dreaming. But then how did I get here? Maybe I should try to get out of here.

I slowly get up, almost stepping on a sleeping cat. I try desperately to walk as quietly as I can so that I don't wake up that guy or the cat.

"How do I get out?" The lights are off, but the blinds on two of the walls are letting shafts of light past the sides of what I assume must be windows. A couch lines both of the windowed walls, as well as the one where I was apparently asleep. The only other wall is taken up by a small coffee table, a TV and gaming consoles, a couple of suitcases and a floor-to-ceiling mirror smack-bang in the middle.

Wait, there's a little red light there. Maybe it's a control panel.

"Tess?" I may have just squealed really, really loudly; a random green-haired guy groaning your name tiredly would make any person in their right mind freak out. "Where'd you go?" He sits up and accidentally puts his foot on the cat. Good going you idiot.

"Uh, I-I'm fine. I'm just, um... I'm just stretching my legs." I stumble over my words, super glad for the lack of lighting because I am literally shaking in fear; I have no idea who this guy is, but he seems to know me.

"You sure? Did you have a nightmare again?" He asks, sounding worried. He starts to get up and I panic, grabbing whatever's on the coffee table.

"Don't move." I say firmly, brandishing whatever the heck it is that I picked up. His hands shoot up into the air and he stops moving.

"Tess, it's okay." He says cautiously.

"Really?! I don't even know who you are! How do I get out of here?!" I yell a lot when I'm freaked out.

"Threatening me with a remote isn't going to help the situation." He says calmly. Suddenly the mirror moves to the side and I see yet another stranger standing there.

"Could you guys keep it down?" This guy is so tall. He's rubbing his eyes and a yawn seeps through his words.

"Sorry Luke, go back to bed." Green-haired guy says. The blonde, evidently named Luke, doesn't go anywhere.

"Everything okay in here?" He asks curiously.

"Yep, absolutely fine." As green-haired guy speaks, the lights in the room come on. I squint my eyes, blinded momentarily. I grip the remote tighter, ready to throw it or beat someone with it.

"Tess, what's wrong?" Luke asks. I point the remote at him, then back and snot hair, then at Luke again.

"She's forgotten again." Snot hair says, looking at me but talking to Luke. The blonde glances at his friend, then refocuses back on me.

"I thought it wasn't an issue anymore." He says. What the heck are they on about?

"Maybe it's just the last stretch of it?" Snot hair says it more like a question than an answer. And I still have no idea what's going on.