Lynne

Chapter 31

 I don't know how much time had passed. I had fallen asleep, and, every time I woke, forced my eyes shut once more. I had traversed the cycle of consciousness and unconsciousness for what felt like days.

But, it turned out, it had only been one night.

Only once I had arranged the furniture into somewhat of an organized room was I able to turn on the TV, placed on a the most solid surface I could find, was I able to tell exactly what time it was. All the clocks in the flat had reset once Anon and Kanon unplugged them, and my phone was gone. Cable told me it was almost noon.

I could only wonder what Len's night with those two had been like. He probably spent the majority of it locked in his room, just as upset with I was. Did they trash my room yet? Did they care enough? Would they wait for when I came back?

Came back, I repeated. I will come back.

It was a hopeful thought. Long-shot, but hopeful.

The worst thing about it all was that I couldn't even ask him. I couldn't text him, call him, nothing. Erik will fix it, I tried to convince myself before I flew into panic mode again. Just lay low, watch some TV, and let Erik handle it.

The worst part of it all was having no idea what was going on with everyone else. I couldn't ask Erik for updates. I had to wait for him to come to me.

Wait and wait and wait.

Ia.

I thought of her with a grimace. We texted daily. Would she think I was ignoring her? Mad at her? Not her, too. I wasn't forbidden from talking with her, but I might as well have been. My only option was to go visit her, but that would involve taxing a taxi, leaving the safety of the flat and risk seeing the other callbacks, who I was not keen on seeing, knowing their reputations, and having to traverse this unfamiliar side of town.

All of which would have been much easier with a phone.

Instead, I decided to try and recover myself today. Sitting on the bare frame, I looked at the TV, but my mind was elsewhere. I had spent the entire day before wallowing in my own self-pity that I hadn't even begun to think of a solution to this. There has to be something, I thought. But where do I start? I had no way on contacting Erik, or any of the higher ups, and speak to them about it. I had no way to convince the company leaders that I had been wrongfully accused.

But you weren't, I pointed out to myself. The contract said it, and you went against it.

I sighed. Now that I put more thought into it, a small glimmer of that memory began to appear. What a stupid rule, I thought. But there was no point in dwelling on the contents of the contract itself; I would be unable to change that.

There were footsteps outside my door, and then knocking. I tensed.

"Rin, it's me."

I jumped across the room, pulling the door open for my manager. Erik looked... awful. He had bags under his eyes, hinting that he hadn't slept at all that night. His hair had fallen out of its usual order and stuck out around his face. Exhaustion covered his face. I imagined I wasn't much better.

"How you holding up, kid?"

I frowned. "I'm trying."

"Me too." He looked past my shoulder at the room behind me. "What'd you do?" He furrowed his brow.

"I actually made it better," I informed him, glancing at the room behind me. "Anon and Kanon left me a great housewarming present."

"I can't believe those two are with my Vocals right now." There was anger in his voice.