Mable returns to the apartment in the middle of the day having just finished her class. She has just enough time to fix a substantial lunch before she has to be at a lecture on the other side of campus. She opens the front door and steps inside as she makes way to her end of the room and notices her roommate still in bed.
"Marie, what are you doing? You're gonna be late for class," she informs her as she shakes to wake her. If you don't…" The sleeping woman does not stir a bit. "Marie?! Marie?!" She feels a disquiet fill her as she touches her forehead and she stands up as though repulsed. "Marie?" She feels a weight pulling her to the floor, but she fights against it. "Marie, you're not…" The absurd question goes unfinished as the proof mounts up before her.
Her friend is still visibly breathing and is pleasantly warm to the touch. As such, she can't be dead, she just won't wake up no matter what tricks she plies to that end.
She places a hand on her forehead and withdraws it as though it were burning to the touch, but she knows that this is not a matter of physical ailment that makes it seem so. Rather, it is a psychological one, one that delves so deep into the psyche that it borders on magic, which means it isn't found in any text book.
It's a condition Mable has only ever heard of before from a long time ago when she first started her crusade, for lack of a better term. Marie has been infected, as it were, with sleeping sickness, which means she will not wake until either the illness wears off or she is drawn out of it.
The fully awake woman looks out the window and sees that it is very much still light outside. She knows what will happen if she enters the dreamscape when the sun's out, a consequence she pushes far from her mind and is glad she has only experienced once before. But once is quite enough for a single lifetime.
The visitor of others' dreams is uncertain of how to proceed at this point. She decides to cut the rest of her classes and use Marie's phone to message that they are both sick. Simon is only too happy to cover for them both, he's still feeling the butterflies in his stomach. The rest are a bit more skeptical over the sudden illness, but decide to do nothing more than mark them absent, a mark on their permanent record. Ah, but what can you do?
The rest of the day she spends keeping an eye on her friend and wishing she was simply drunk. That she need only look after for a little while, clean her up and she would recover just fine on her own. Instead, she has to wonder and worry if she will ever wake again. How will she- There's a banging at the door which interrupts her thoughts.
"Marie?!" Marion calls from the other side of it. "We know you're in there, open up!"
Mable is completely at odds with herself. She knows she needs to answer the caller, but the situation is too far removed from local reality that it would be difficult, if not impossible to explain.
The banging returns with greater ferocity. "Marie, you can't hide in there forever!" Marion shouts aloud.
Mable is besought on all sides. It feels like the pounding sounds as though the door is going to come off the hinges. "I'm coming," she responds more out of reflex than a genuine plan and decides to follow through all the same. She moves as though a weight were tied to her and stands before the door, unable to move.
More smashing of a fist against the barrier. "I know you're in there!" Marion declares. "I can see your shadow and hear you breathing!"
Mable puts a hand to the knob and twists. She takes a quick breath and deposits herself on the other side while fully shutting the door behind her. "I'm very sorry, but Marie is not feeling well," she gives the barest of reasons as she looks first to the flustered man and then to the quiet, reserved woman who remains seated on the railing with her arms crossed. "She-"
"We're not buying your excuses!" the assaulter of an innocent door barks at her as he advances. "You're both thick as thieves and-"
"Marion!" Janelle snaps outward and he behaves as though a dog whose leash has been pulled upon as she climbs down and moves toward her. "Look, we know you're a good friend, but you don't wanna get in the middle of this. Trust me." She places a hand on Mable's shoulder.
The woman of the apartment in contention takes a breath. "I appreciate the warning," she starts in, uncertain of where to go next as she feels the power of the woman through just her fingertips pressing into her skin. "But-"
Janelle pushes forward causing the other woman to retreat, but feeling as though she cannot get any further than the length of the outstretched arm. " 'But', is not the word we want to hear at this time," she utters with a quiet growl as her eyes give the impression of flashing with maliciousness. "We are here to discuss things with Marie and we are not leaving till we see her." She presses her adversary against the door and puts her hand to the knob.
Mable is frozen solid for the intensity of the aura blasting her alone.
Janelle maintains eye contact as she twists and opens the door wide. How in the world Marie controlled this woman is beyond all reasoning.
Mable starts to say something, but finds she hasn't the words to put to her lips and she doesn't know why. She suspects it has something to do with this power being exhibited by this woman. Just who is she, beyond the obvious? Is this even real? Could she be dreaming and not know it? Could she-
"Marie?" Marion's voice cuts through the enchantment and the woman of power granted to her by the mask finds herself alone. "Marie? Knock it off. We're not in the mood for games. We…"
Janelle kneels down and feels her pulse. She can tell it's there, but she can also tell there's something else too. She turns on Mable. "What did you do?" she seethes with quiet resentment as she closes off the possibility of escape. "What did you do?!" She throws her fist which is barely dodged as it breaks through the plaster wall.
Marion grabs her from behind. "It's okay baby," he whispers into her ear as he places his hand on her extended wrist. "There you go." He pulls her hand out and completely ignores how red it looks. "We'll get that seen to, don't worry."
Mable breathes a heavy sigh of relief as she stares at the hole left over. She knows the fist wouldn't have done that kind of damage, but there's no telling how much it would have hurt.
"Do you have ice?" Marion's question is so abrupt it quite takes the scared woman out of her head.
"What?" is all she can think to say as her eyes remain wide and her brain catches up. "There are ice trays in the freezer."
"What about bags?" Marion inquires as he helps Janelle to sit on Marie's bed and makes his way into the kitchen.
"Bags?" Mable returns, completely confused as she puzzles in her head as to what he could be asking for, the purpose thereof.
"Yeah, for the ice," Marion responds as he shuffles through drawers. "Nevermind, I found some sandwich baggies. These'll do."
Mable settles on her own bed as she allows her thoughts to collect.
"What's going on?" Janelle asks from across the room as she stares upon the keeper of the secret. "What aren't you telling us?"
Mable takes a breath and prepares to speak.
Marion enters the room and hands the bag to the woman who ails without looking the part.
"I asked you a question," Janelle reminds as her mounting authority takes hold of the medicinal item, but does not avert her eyes in any way, not even when the ice is applied.
"She's, well she's, that is she is," Mable stumbles all over herself as she sifts through the information for the believable bits.
"Spit it out," the two parts of the thruple spout at once as they lean forward.
"She's asleep," Mable blurts and feels very uncomfortable.
"I know she's asleep," Janelle snips and intensifies her gaze. "I've taken enough resting pulses to know that. What I don't know is what that strange feeling was that I felt when I touched her skin."
"You won't believe me if I tell you," Mable informs them as she looks upon the sleeping woman, her friend.
"Try us," Marion challenges and crosses his arms.
Mable focuses on Janelle. "Tell me what it is you felt," she inquires as she looks to her while cutting out any possible hostility that could be discerned. "And how that made you feel."
Marion is completely lost as to how this is meant to clear anything up, but he keeps patient as he too looks to the woman in question.
Janelle takes a breath. "It felt cold," she lets on and it is clear she does not like where her mind is going. "And it made me feel as though… like I was…" She takes a moment to steady herself. "Like my veins were frozen over and my blood stopped flowing. It was unpleasant, to say the least."
Mable sighs. "You're not going to believe this, but it's-" she starts off strong, but tapers toward the end as she steels herself the best she can.
"It's sleeping sickness," the words seem to come from out of nowhere, but it is Janelle who spoke them as she goes perfectly still.
Mable goes completely cold. "How did you…" she utters as all the color leaves her face.
"What are you talking about?" Marion reenters the conversation as confusion creases his face.
"That's what it is, isn't it?" Janelle ignores the question put to her and focuses all of her energy on the only knowledgeable person in the room.
Mable fights against the shock. "Yes, it is," she admits as she drops her head, as though she were at fault.
"And what does that mean?" Janelle presses and stands up as though prepared to fight.
"It means I have to go in after her," Mable cuts through all the supposition and gets right to the point.
"What?" Marion interjects as he can't believe what he is hearing.
"And how do you do that?" Janelle continues as she ignores the looks she's getting from the only skeptic in the room.
"Janelle," Marion fights to be heard as he reaches out to her.
Mable looks out the window at the sun which is still fairly high in the sky. "There is nothing I can do, not until the sun goes down," she educates them with the scant information and sighs.
"What are you a-" Marion interjects and looks anything but pleased.
"Then we'll wait," Janelle takes full charge of the situation and settles herself as she looks to the afflicted woman.
"We'll what?" Marion throws back, in complete disbelief of what he has just heard.
"We'll wait," Janelle repeats and gives a slanted look to her cohort.
"No, screw that!" Marion erupts and stands up abruptly. "You're all talking crazy! Marie isn't cursed, or whatever, she just overdosed on sleeping pills! We need to take her-"
"Fine," Janelle interrupts the well meaning tirade and turns fully toward him. "We will take her to the hospital after you have examined her for yourself."
Marion is baffled by the odd request. "I'm not a physician," he points out and looks quite lost. "I wouldn't know what to do."
Janelle takes hold of his hand with a mere snap of her wrist and draws him closer to the warm body.
"What are you doing?" Marion protests and half heartedly attempts to pull away.
Janelle remains silent as she places his hand on her throat. "Do you feel that?" she asks and lets go.
Marion shivers and pulls his hand away. "She's so cold," he remarks and rubs his affected appendage. "Is she dead?" His eyes go wide.
Janelle shakes her head. "She's still breathing," she insists despite the evidence leaning toward her being deceased and sets a hand on her chest as it rises and falls. "And she's not cold, just the feeling. It is merely-"
"Sleeping sickness," Marion speaks the words for the first time and lets his head sink some. "I, I could feel it. It's like she's not in there, but she's not gone completely." He looks to Mable. "What is going on?"
The other woman is startled by the sudden inclusion back into the conversation. "I honestly don't know," she admits and fiddles with her fingers to give herself something else to focus on. "I have to go into her dream, but I can't-"
"While the sun is out," Marion completes the statement and turns around. "This is crap. This is such crap!"
"Again with the skepticism?" Janelle cuts in as she recovers from the sudden outburst.
Marion turns around. "No, it's not that," He refutes the assumption and looks to the sleeping woman. "I'm not completely sold on this sleeping sickness diagnosis, but it is the best explanation so far. No, what's crap is she would pull this stunt when we need to talk to her most."
"You think this is her fault?" Janelle fires back and stands up. "It's not her fault."
"How do you know that?!" Marion challenges her as she falls silent and he looks to the only other conscious person. "What do you even know about this sickness?"
Mable stops fiddling with her hands. "Not much," she breathes and looks quite sheepish as the eyes directed toward her demand more. "I only know basically what you know. It leaves the body warm, but cold to the touch, like death. And it pronounces itself into the mind of the observer through touch."
"Do you know how to cure it?" Marion presses on while staring unflinchingly and Janelle joins in.
Mable starts to feel about three inches tall. "No," she finally speaks and lowers her head in shame.
"No!" Marion erupts and spins in circles as he holds his head before returning his focus to the one in the room who knows more than the rest. "What do you mean, you don't know?! I thought you were the expert!"
"I don't know everything!" Mable explodes and realizes she was speaking as much to him as to herself. "I don't know everything. I only really know just a little bit more than you." She starts to cry. "I don't even know if there is anything I can do. All I can do is hope and try and…" She breaks down entirely.
Marion takes hold of her. "I'm sorry," he apologizes and lets her cry onto his shoulder. "Sometimes I…"
Mable mumbles something before raising her head. "I don't want it to happen again," she breathes outward before a fury takes hold of her and she stands up all at once. "I'm not going to let this happen again." She looks out the window at the bright sky and starts digging under her bed.
"What are you doing?" the awake members of the previous thruple ask as one before Marion takes lead again. "I thought you said you needed to wait till dark."
Mable stares at him with eyes practically burning. "I'm through waiting," she announces as she returns to sifting til she finds the mask. I'm going to end this, now." She sits herself down. "Whatever you do, make sure my body is undisturbed." She puts the mask on and concentrates.