Sleepwalker

Stage 2

The Erbie convenience store was much as Daria and Jane had suspected it would be, dingy and slow.  A few other students that had braved the trek to the ancient building with its rusty gas pumps milled about, looking for various snack foods with which to waste their night away, but it still wasn't packed with people.  The bored cashier behind the counter barely looked up from his magazine as he rang up their purchases, took their money, and handed back the change.

Paper sacks of junk food and soda in hand, the two girls made their way back to the motel while keeping an eye out for any watchful teachers.  While they hadn't been expressly forbidden from visiting the store, they still weren't sure if it was okay to do so either, and neither of them had any desire to hear a stern lecture from DeMartino.

Opening the door to their room revealed a sordid scene.  Jennifer and Andrea were both passed out on one of the room's two beds, on top of the covers with their day clothes still on.  The blonde girl was relatively quiet, but Andrea was intermittently letting out a series of snore-snorts.

The remains of a joint smoldered in an ashtray on the nightstand between the beds, and Andrea had a deathgrip on the neck of an empty whiskey bottle.  How they had managed to smuggle either past Li's paranoid personal property searches, neither Jane nor Daria could figure out, but both of them were happy enough that the combination had put the other two girls to sleep.

After setting their bags on the table just inside the door, Jane moved to turn the blaring television down and change the channel while Daria went to grab the ice bucket.

"They could be anywhere . . . they can look like anyone . . . your teacher, your boss, your best friend, or even you!  Do genetic copies dream of cloned sheep?  Next on Sick, Sad World!"

Satisfied with the selection, Jane muted the TV.  Daria placed a plastic ice bag in the bucket and the two of them stepped back out into the night again.

"So, how's that insomnia treatin' ya?" Jane asked once they were outside.

"If I could be sure I'd be learning anything worthwhile, I'd wish I was this alert every day in school," the other girl replied.  "It's almost like being hyper awake.  Even the dark seems to be vibrating right now."

"That's probably what Quinn feels like all the time."

"What a horrific proposition," Daria said with a frown.  "But it would explain why she always wears bright pink shirts.  They're the only color that really registers with her jacked up eyes and nervous system."

The rumble of the ice machine hit their ears as they approached its little alcove right at the halfway point of the building.  Daria pressed the bucket under the dispenser, causing chunks of ice to gradually and very noisily fill the bag inside.  As they waited for it to do its business, Jane looked out across the parking lot and stifled a yawn.

"Keep your shirt on," Daria told her.  "We'll get you filled with more caffeine than you can stand soon enough."

Jane laughed softly, then blinked as the parking lot went completely dark.  The ice machine rattled to a complete stop, leaving the entire area in utter silence.

"What the-"

Jane had only started her sentence when ice started clattering into the bag again, accompanied by the faint pop of the lot lamps striking back up.

"That was a little weird," Daria said, topping the bucket off and turning around to watch as the lights slowly built to full brightness again.

"Yeah," Jane agreed.  "Must've been a brownout.  We're probably half a state away from the nearest power station."