Pearl

Chapter Eighteen: The Team

Alina hunched over her desk, the yellow light of the single lamp outcompeted by the bright white glare of her computer screen. Lines of code filled the screen from top to bottom, and she cursed to herself as she triple-checked her script.

She leaned back in her desk chair, absentmindedly rubbing her arms and feeling the stiff hairs that stood at attention all down her skin. She shivered despite the comfortable temperature of the room.

She often worked like this, stuck to her computer late at night in an otherwise dark room, the glow of her computer directing her attention from the soft comfort of the dim lighting. She'd enjoyed it, even, after being subjected to the harsh artificial fluorescent lights of the office all day.

Recently, however, the darkness of her home had changed. Where once it was unobtrusive, both calm and calming, now it was...weighty. The air felt heavy with something she couldn't quite trace, but that left her skin crawling whenever she noticed it.

She arched her back over the arm of the chair in an exaggerated stretch, trying to loosen muscles that had long since petrified from her consistently terrible posture. Her head fell back and she saw the strip of light creeping under her bedroom door and was reminded of the new boarder who had joined them just recently.

Alina wondered if the new girl felt it too, the weight to the air. Her new neighbor was the quiet, spacey type that just seemed like she'd be into the occult or something similar. Alina's only impression of her so far was from the time she had walked in on Gerta teaching her how to fry an egg, when the girl was wearing a flowery apron and a serious expression that didn't match the utter ineptitude as she broke the forth egg in a row against the sizzling pan.

Alina smiled wryly at the image, remembering her own long history in the kitchen. She'd been cooking since she could stand, it felt like, and watching an ostensibly adult human fumble so spectacularly was endearing in a pathetic way.

On her desk, her phone flashed with a message and she caught sight of the time. 3 am. Shit. She had promised Gerta she'd take the new girl around town tomorrow, and she'd been planning to get some sleep beforehand. She ran a hand down her face, felt the slickness of day-old make-up and grease, and decided to call it a night.

She tiptoed to the door (to avoid waking up Hank, whose bedroom was stacked a floor below hers) and crept out to the hall to the shared bathroom. In minutes she was ready for bed, when she noticed that the door across the hall was slightly ajar, with light spilling out.

Was the new girl still awake too? Alina wondered, turning on her heels in her thick socks to look at the far door. The light was still on. Should she check?

What was her name again? Alina bit her lip as she struggled to remember, wanting to warn the girl that she was approaching but drawing an it's-three-a.m.-and-I've-been-scripting-all-night kind of blank.

She took a few cautious steps forward on the hardwood, suppressing another shiver despite the bright overhead light of the hallway. Shadows danced in the corners of her eyes—simple optical illusions, another fun perk to late-night, long-term computer use.

She knew that, but all the same was having a harder and harder time picking her feet up as she drew near the end of the short hall. She wasn't usually the superstitious type, but considered that maybe it was time to take Gerta up on her offer to get the house "aired out" with some sage.

Something was in the air, for sure.

Alina reached the door, her left hand tentatively moving to knock before she caught herself. What if the girl had just fallen asleep with the light on? After what she'd seen so far, Alina wouldn't put it past her. She deliberated for a second, before dropping her arm and cocking her head slightly to the side to peer into the slim opening left between the door and the frame.