When Words Run Out of Time

Samiyah

Next to Shaina is Paloma. She, much like Nishat, doesn't get stressed easily, but she still does more than Nishat. Paloma looks grim. Her hand reaches up and tugs on the ends of her hair and the other grips the arm of the couch, her knuckles turning white. Jocelyn, sitting on the floor next to that couch, notices and reaches her own hand up. She places it over Paloma's and rubs it gently with her fingertips. Paloma's grip loosens slightly, and she takes a deep breath. Joss seems to be soothing the both of them at once.

Jaiden sits in the corner, his anxiety quiet but suffocating. His body twitches, restless, eyes unfocused, but he makes no sound. He keeps rocking back and forth. The way he curls in on himself, hiding in plain sight—it's hard not to notice the isolation in it.

Further up and closer to the front and center of the room are the beanbags.

Lex is sitting on the one almost directly in front of Jaiden. Much like Busaba, he also looks more frustrated and angry than scared, but it seems less like he's actually angry and more like he's forcing a mask. He'd rather people see him as irritated and upset rather than genuinely scared.

To his left, Austin grips Juno's hand tightly, his stress obvious in every movement. He struggles for breath, rubbing his palms on his jeans and tugging at his hair. Juno isn't much better—he keeps pulling the sleeves of his sweater over his hands and bouncing his leg. Despite his attempts to comfort Austin with hand squeezes, they both seem on edge.

Amani rubs her face, her nerves fraying. She's always done that when stressed, but today it feels more urgent. She's trying to calm herself, but we all know this is bigger than any of us expected.

I clear my throat to get everyone's attention. Normally, I'd do something a bit more, like whistle or suddenly turn off the lights. Everyone's so tense, and they're already quiet, so there isn't much I need to do. I don't want to startle them too much, not now.

"So," I begin. "First off, to anyone who might not have at least heard of her before, this is Amani," I say. "She's my younger sister."

Amani gives a little awkward wave and gets some more waves in return.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Lukas chimes in.

"Yeah, well. Believe it or not, I have a personal life," I joke. "Anyways, moving on."

"So, the pinpricks and flaking have subsided, right? My suggestion is that we take thoughts of those, put them in a jar, and put that jar on a shelf. We'll worry more about them if they come back. In order to stay as calm and level headed as possible, it's best that we try to prioritize and limit the amount of immediate issues to be dealt with," I tell them. "Which means now, I'd say our main priority should be figuring out what exactly is going on."

I turn to the larger whiteboard behind me and uncap a marker.

"In order to keep our thoughts organized," I continue, "let's make lists of what we already know and what we need to find out." I draw two columns and label one as know and the other as don't know.

"What do we know and what do we not know?" I ask. If I keep them engaged, it'll help them stay sane and give them a feeling of having at least some degree of control in this situation. Explaining it might also help them fully process everything.

Austin raises his hand. I nod to him.

"I think we know what happened? Like, we might not know why, but we know that it starts with the tingles, then the pinpricks, and then the flaking. If it starts again, we'll know early on," He says.

"That's good," I reply, writing what he said on the board. "Anything else?"

This time, it's Lex's turn to contribute to the conversation.