Cloudy Waters Mansion

| Cloudy Waters Mansion - Part 2 |

|Chapter four – metronome |

The rest of the day went pretty fast for the fox, who kept thinking back to the blissful feeling of laying on that mattress. Eventually, he met up with Roc again at dinner, as the chameleon'd been missing from the lunch break. Roc spotted the fox and waved at him.

"Hey bud, where were you at lunch?" The fox asked. Immediately the chameleon raised an eyebrow.

"I was.. at the main hall, just like everybody else. You're the one who was missing." Roc replied. The fox tilted his head in confusion. "regardless," the chameleon continued, "what was that unlocking thing about?" the chameleon asked.

"ohh, let me tell ya. It was amazing!" the fox began excitedly. The fox proceeded to explain how he'd been hypnotized by the teacher, and how he'd never felt as blissful in his life before. The fox described it as if his brain was drunk on relaxedness. Roc appeared very interested, listening to what the fox was telling whilst stuffing his mouth with an assortment of vegetables. Eventually the fox finished his story, still somewhat dreaming back of the session. The fox emptied his plate, after which the two roommates returned to their chamber.

"How was your meeting with the rector?" Roya asked, searching for the room key in his pocket. The chameleon remained quiet. The fox got the key and put it in the lock, looking over his shoulder at the chameleon who was staring into nothingness. "hey Roc, you there?" the fox asked. The chameleon blinked and looked at his roommate. "Sorry, what?" he replied.

"I asked you how your appointment with the rector was." Roya repeated himself. The chameleon shrugged and mumbled "oh, nothing special I guess." Before walking into the room. Their beds had been cleaned, but on Roya's bed there was a small brown box with a letter directed to him. Meanwhile Oliver was laying on his bed playing video games on his phone. He waved at the two freshmen entering the room without looking away from his game.

"Has this package been here the entire time you've been here?" Roya asked the goat. The goat shook his head. "Lunch." Roc walked to the bed of Roya, picked up the wooden box, and threw it towards the fox. "Do you know what it is?" the chameleon asked. The fox shook his head. Before Roya opened up the package he picked up the note and scanned through it.

"To Roya (room 263),

In this package you will find your own personal metronome to practice our session for yourself.

See you next week,

Layne"

The chameleon peeked over the shoulder of Roya. "A metronome? What for?" he asked.

"For the self-hypnosis thingy, remember?" the fox replied.

"ah, yeah duh."

|Chapter five – nightly routine |

As the night fell, the sleeping quarter slowly grew more silent as the students fell asleep one by one. After a few hours of sleep, Roya woke up again. The fox moaned and helped himself out of his bed, sneaking through the dark halls. As the sound of claws ticking on the floor filled the halls, the fox groggily daydreamed about the forest. Thinking about the metronome's slow ticking almost made him see the scenery again, but he got snapped out of it by the sound of the bathroom being flushed. The door opened and a leopard he hadn't seen before walked through the door. The leopard nodded at the fox as a greeting and disappeared into the night, leaving the fox alone to finish business.

Roya returned to his room shortly after, only to realize that Roc was missing. The fox looked at the sheets of the chameleon, which had been meticulously folded in half. The fox shrugged, got back in his bed, and tried to go back to sleep. However, despite his best efforts, the fox couldn't manage to fall asleep. Roya yawned, grabbing the small metronome from his bedside. He put the thing to 30bpm and let it tick from side to side. The fox shut his eyes and concentrated on the slow, monotone ticking of the metronome. Eventually the fox could feel his mind get foggy and his body start to slip away, however he couldn't get into a complete trance. Something kept the young fox awake. After a while of listening to the droning ticks, the fox turned off the metronome and sat back up again. The chameleon had now been missing for, at least, half an hour. He for sure wasn't at the bathroom since Roya came from there himself before noticing Roc was missing. So, the fox put on his shoes and started roaming the sleeping quarters.